The logic of form in Ibnu's wooden sculptures

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): The road of Indonesian sculpture is a silent one. When this nation is in turbulence, the art of painting appears and grows in unison with the national struggle. Chaos is reflected with lines and colors in two-dimensional expressions.

When the economy in this country started to improve a little, painting charged into the market. But this did not drag sculptures into the "boom" stream, as most sank into exterior projects which were unlikely to be monumental. We do not lack in talented sculptors even though there are less of them than painters. A few worth mentioning are: G. Sidharta. Edhi Sunarso, Rita Widagdo, Sunaryo, Dolorosa Sinaga, Amrus Natalsya, Arsono, Barnauli Pulungan and Nyoman Nuarta. However, only a few are really productive and loyal in making sculptures, while some also take part in painting or are busy with other projects.

We know that contemporary art has broken the border between two-dimensional and three-dimensional space, creating a new art form: installation and object art. However, the restlessness that appears in the discourse of that art shows there is a problem in two-dimensional space, and does not answer the problem which always splashes around with three-dimensional space. And it seems that the discussion about contemporary fine art now neglects the development of the world of sculpture. There is indeed a silence in this area.

This silence is also felt by sculptor Ibnu Nurwanto, who for years did not solely exhibit his works. But now he breaks the silence as he exhibits more than 50 sculptures at the Cipta II Gallery at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Art Center in Central Jakarta from Oct. 2 through Oct. 12. If Ibnu's exhibition gains a rather special momentum, perhaps it is because this sort of activity is quite rare and he has broken a silence beside the fact that his works, of course, deserve attention.

There are various shapes and images created by Ibnu, from realism and representation of animals, people and plants to biomorphic abstract. As common with sculptors, Ibnu is wise in regarding the origin of shape. A shape usually can be born from a meeting between a material that has unique characteristics on one side and the power that works in that material on the other.

This meeting is a process that ends in balance. Nature shows the power that bears a shape doesn't work at will, but follows a law or certain order.

However, a sculptor is also a capable soul who catches a universal principle of formation to create a special or particular shape. Sculptors usually work based on the "logic of formation". With Ibnu, this logic of formation is produced by the meeting between the power of life, or growth, and powers coming from the environment. In this meeting, it seems unavoidable that a change of form will happen as the simplification, distortion and deformation in Menggeliat (Stretching) or even in the abstraction of something, like in Wajah (Face) and Matahari (Sun).

There are other parts, like protrusions, which seem made for the need of association to signal certain parts of the body or life organisms, which at the forming were not of the same principle or as logical as other parts, as seen in Wajah.

Wajah and Matahari do not depict the face or sun as they are. If not guided by the title, these sculptures will take our imagination to several kinds of other ideas of shape.

Ibnu's other works truly look rich in ideas of form, not merely as an image or representation of certain object, which we recognize in reality. Let us try to forget for awhile the titles of his works so we can also enjoy and trace the structure, creation, and configuration of the sculpture itself. The intrinsic values or forms are of itself. At the intrinsic form and structure and configuration, we also find the meaning and value of a sculpture.

We might suspect that Ibnu is in the process of making his works based on the improvisation of shape, depending on the powers that appear in the material. Moreover, when we see his works which tend to be in biomorphic shapes, it is as if they are produced by an inner power pushing outside in several directions, varying itself. The meeting among several outside powers led to variety and irregularities, like in Takdir (Fate), Benih (Seed), Matahari and Wajah. The form in these sculptures, and a number of his other works, besides presenting a rich variation, look like they are avoiding a sharp corner as he seems to avoid geometrization.

Ibnu acknowledged, however, that he did not make many improvisations when he was working, even for his biomorphic works. Unlike sculptors who rely on a natural process or coincidence, since the beginning, Ibnu made concepts in the form of sketches which then become his prototype. He is very disciplined to obey such a work method. Such methodology shows that he is wise in making a logical shape and obeys the principle.

However, apart from all these problems, Ibnu said that a wonderful feeling of love has pushed his creative process.

"When we love something, silently we own an ideal image about it. The process of making a wooden sculpture is similar with the process of loving," said this sculptor, who graduated from the Jakarta Institute of the Arts. Yes, it is love that seems to immortalize a slab of wood which will be cut and made into something valuable. And with this energy, too, he attempts to tear the deafness of wood, break the silence of sculpture, until it is "full of sound". That's why he calls his sculptures Nyanyian Sepotong Kayu (Sonata of a Piece of Wood).