Tomkins controls space with color

Mario Koch, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"Painting by Riduan 2002-2005" is the title of an exhibition at Bentara Budaya Jakarta, South Jakarta through Dec. 18.

On display are the latest works of British artist Riduan Tomkins.

As a mother might name colorful scrawls of suns, trees and houses by her five-year-old son, the title hints at a certain unpretentious innocence. Innocence may also be found in the paintings featured -- on the very first look.

"My paintings might frequently create the impression that they were done very quickly, but the opposite is true. They often take a very long time", Tomkins told The Jakarta Post.

From the second look onward -- and there is a lot that might follow -- a cosmos in bright and light but never clamorous colors, inhabited by different types of figures, unfolds.

Ron Shuebrook, in his excellent introduction to the exhibit's catalog, writes: "Each canvas is charged with a poetic consciousness that invokes a reassuring universe that is, at once, mysterious and meaningful."

In a Modernist straightforward notion, Riduan Tomkins leaves a lot of the coming-into-being of these universes as something to be observed by the viewer.

Earlier lines are covered by layers of color too thin to completely hide them. Thus, it is made clear what the artist means when stating:

"It is the paintings, which tell you what to do; not the other way round."

This does not mean that Tomkins starts to work on a new painting out of -- or into -- the blue. "It is like being an explorer. Whatever you might discover in the end, you have to have a goal in mind before departing on your journey", he said.

"That also symbolizes that, very often when you think you're almost there, you suddenly have to realize how far it still is; It is a reflective process, a constant state of flux."

Riduan Tomkins was born in 1941 in Weymouth, Dorset, England. In 1968 he received his MA from the prestigious Royal College of Art in London.

Asked about his first name, he said:"The name was given to me by an Indonesian spiritual guide. Now it is written in all my official documents."

Since the late 60s, teaching and lecturing activities have taken Tomkins to the U.S. and New Zealand -- where he was senior lecturer in painting at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch from 1989 to 1996, to Canada and to Indonesia.

The main reason for his current visit here is not to be found in Jakarta, but in Kalimantan. Tomkins is a founding member of the Central Kalimantan Cultural Collective (CCKC).

The project, situated in Palengkaraya, Central Kalimantan, seeks to turn a former museum into a cultural center and to open the arts department at the city's university. All this in response to local needs and with the involvement of local people.

Tomkins has participated in countless group exhibitions and featured in as many solo exhibitions around the globe. His works were shown in such renowned places as London's Whitechapel Gallery or the Betty Parsons Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art, both in New York.

Going back to today's exhibition, Tomkins' works often show vast colored spaces inhabited by a few, small -- and even tiny -- figures.

The seeming dominance of color is convincingly neglected by the artist: "The whole notion of color is space; you control space by the use of color. Color and drawing, though, reinforce each other in quality; there is no component in isolation."

When it comes to questions about the size of the most frequently appearing and smallest of the figures, Tomkins is not exactly sure, either: "Maybe their small sizes are the only way of showing the inconceivable size of all the rest."

Observers might feel some irritation at their own emotional reaction to his paintings From the hanging series.

As indicated in the series' title, the figures at the center of the viewer's attention are attached to vertical lines originating from the top of the canvas. They have obviously been hung. However, the ambience radiated is not one of depression, but rather one of comforting beauty.

Tomkins says, "Painting these was an interesting experience as it didn't come out of a narrative, but a formal way of thinking.

"You can never produce a piece of art detached from your personal background, so there is certainly something autobiographical in this series. I've got cancer -- but I'm not afraid of dying and I don't think these paintings are morbid at all."

The exhibition will be on show for five more days. If you have the opportunity, do not wait until the weekend to visit, you may well want to go a second time.

in box Painting by Riduan 2002-2005 through Dec. 18 at Bentara Budaya Jakarta Jl. Palmerah Selatan 17, South Jakarta open daily 10 a.m. through 6 p.m.