The agony and ecstasy of Yoes Rizal's paintings

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): Vincent Van Gogh once wrote that quick work doesn't mean less serious work, as it all depends on one's self- confidence and experience.

Van Gogh must have thought that emotions were sometimes so strong that one could really work fast. His strokes came with the continuity and coherence of words flowing in speech or a letter. But things were not always so easy. Sometimes, there were hard days empty of inspiration.

Yoes Rizal, it seems, follows this example to express his feelings on canvas. At his first solo exhibition, which runs through today at the Executive Club of the Hilton Hotel, Jakarta, Yoes has 30 paintings and 15 graphics on display.

"For me, Yoes's works reflect an emotional intensity of the young, restless Indonesian artist who is constantly sensitive to the dynamics of society and expresses himself with a modern artistic style," said Sabam Siagian, former ambassador to Australia and a member of the board of directors of The Jakarta Post who opened the exhibition Monday.

Most of Yoes's works vibrate with a spirit of expressionism: canvases are done in grim and bright colors, evoking a mixture of tension, which borders between "order" and "crisis". This is reflected, for instance, in his paintings Diptych (1997), Dua Penari Di Atas Kanvas Kecil (Two Dancers on a Little Canvas, 1997) and Taxi B2942 (1992).

"When painting, I emphasize 'freshness'; sometimes I don't emphasize the process. With freshness I find the intensity, and when repeated, the intensity decreases. So, I just let what is on the canvas happen. I can't restrain emotion to finish quickly," Yoes said.

Yoes painted instinctively to get great quantities of paint onto the canvas, squeezing colors directly from the tube and painting quickly.

In general, his works indeed show a flare of emotion and an instinctive mood, as evident in his Empat Batur (Four Maids, 1997) and Roring (1997). While in Taxi B2942, his impasto appears so thick that the painting, in profile, is like an unfinished work.

The subject matter for Yoes doesn't have to be attached to a theme, but could be a dancer, a laborer or just figures or letters. In Pesta Kuli (Coolies' Party), for example, he does not show pity for the laborers, but just their reality. And reality is not just of laborers or troubled people, but also taxis, figures, lines, colors, etc.

"Realities are only starting points. Painters are not merely tools of a certain class of society. A painter's task is to paint -- to find truth through painting. In an unstable condition, one could possibly aim for stability, but returns to instability. That's what a painter does and that's what I do." he said.

Tension

Yoes also belongs to a class of painters who believe in the tension of colors in emotion. According to him, color has a meaning that transcends mere visual impressions. "Yellow, red, and blue -- indeed any color -- can represent something that lies beyond rationality," he said.

Precisely what the meaning is might be a complex matter. But it is thought by many that colors and emotions are interrelated; without thinking about it, one speaks of a red rage, a blue mood, or being green with envy.

Yoes also has some graphic-etching works on display and quite strong sketches like Tragedi Merah (Red Tragedy), Multi Tradisi, (Multi-Traditional) and Dewi Kesuburan (Goddess of Fertility). It is interesting to know that these works were made almost 12 years ago, but they are still comparable to contemporary art.

In his graphic works one can find several war tragedy themes, and in his sketch Sebodo (I Don't Care), there is a form of satire about social reality, reminding us of Sudjana Kerton's works.

It is apparent that Yoes is not only playing with color and paint, but is also capable of bringing forward a technique of drawing with strong lines.

Yoes Rizal, 40, graduated from the Fine Art and Design Department of the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1985. He participated in many exhibitions, including the International Art and Fashion Show in Paris (1985), sponsored by the Paris-American Academy and the International Tourism Board, and the International Graphic Exhibition in Turkey the same year. He is a designer and illustrator for The Jakarta Post.