The layers of meaning of RI, Australian artists

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): Painters from Australia and Indonesia are holding a joint exhibition at the Puri Lukisan Museum in Ubud, Bali, from June 13 to June 26.

The exhibition, named Patterning in Contemporary Art, Layers of Meaning, will subsequently be held in Bandung next month and in Jakarta in August.

With curators Jim Supangkat, Asmujo Irianto and Merryn Gates, the exhibition is an alternative statement to the trend of "rivalry" between the art of crafts and modern art.

According to Gates, regular patterns do not only occur in decorative fine arts. They can be found in the fine arts expression of every era.

Patterns are the unbroken lines from era to era. Starting from that theme, the curators have chosen a number of artists whose works express the cultural richness of the place where they live.

Indonesia is offering, among others, Widayat, 75, with a Javanese cultural background; A.D. Pirous, 65, whose works show traces of the cultural pattern of the place where he grew up in Aceh, North Sumatra; and Heyi Mamun who combines the decorative art of Kalimantan with his installation work titled Impian yang Terkoyak (Torn Dreams).

There are also ceramic works created by Ketut Nurija who was born in Gianyar, Bali. The artist brings to the fore the Gianyar engravings which in the region are practiced by very skilled craftsmen. In the hands of Nurija, the engravings and the faces become the artist's subjective creations, unconnected with the ritual procession in most Balinese engravings.

The works of these "modern" artists -- who usually do not care in which category their works are classified -- show a continuation from the decorative arts.

Patterns occur regularly in such arts, or may follow rules handed down from generations of teachings.

"For me, tradition is not a lifeless object," says Nyoman Erawan, who exhibits a work called Citra Bali Kuna I (wood, cloth, oil paint, 130 cm by 175 cm, 1990).

With "modern" audacity, the artist, a graduate of the Yogyakarta Institute of Arts (ISI), makes holes in wood which represent decay and the colors of blue, yellow, brown and red which tend to be dark.

In his other works Erawan, 40, shows no hesitance in using the paintings of the traditional Kamasan wayang style as a collage, the painting style that started in the 16th century when King Waturenggong ruled Klungkung.

"I do not reject tradition. I continue living in tradition. Through the traditions of the past I wish to create new works," Erawan said at the exhibition. Works by other artists reflect a similar spirit.

Australians

Eleven Australian artists are also taking part in the exhibition. They come from different cultural backgrounds like Greece (Constanze Zikos) and Italy (Wilma Tabacco).

Others among these artists have been inspired by the many countries through which they traveled or researched.

Sara Thorn, for instance, traveled to collect cloth in Mexico, Spain, India and Indonesia.

Their works show their impressions of their explorations of both the visual forms of decoration and also the exploration of values in other nations' cultures.

Zikos' work named August 15 shows these pluralist images of cultural origins. It expresses the heritage of Greek culture but is formed in the context of the culture of suburban Australia where he now lives, according to the curators.

Exploration of the values of the patterns of a nation, for example, is also done by Jaishree Srinivasan.

In her ceramic work named Tiffin carrier Srinivasan clearly states in the catalog, "To explore the idea of continuity, of the cyclical nature of things which is the essence of Hindi thought."

Her cultural background is Indian, and she was trained in the United States before leaving for Australia. Organizers note the Japanese influence in her artistic training.

Her creations are inspired by usage objects in Indian households, with decorations taken from architectural motives or ornaments on metal objects. The material, terrasigillata, is clay that was used in ancient Greece.

Indeed, the exhibition of artists of the two countries shows differences of shades between Eastern and Western artists. Eastern artists tend to dig into archetype values of the place in which they live and grew up, while Western artists look for those values wherever they live. All that is valid provided we accept pluralism in art.