Two colorists offer a fresh start to 1997's art scene

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): The idyllic works of two Indonesian colorists provide a fresh start to this year's art scene.

An exhibition of the paintings of Salim Martodiredjo and the watercolors of Benny Setiawan was opened Tuesday at the Galeri Santi in South Jakarta, and will continue until Jan. 30.

The two painters have both created delightful and colorful works. Salim's paintings tend to be narrative scenes which involve a couple of young children. Rejeki Tak Berpintu (luck has no door), for example, depicts two girls playing in a garden. While one girl works hard to catch a flying butterfly, her friend appears calm, with a butterfly already resting on her hand.

Most of Salim's work featured in the show is not much different from his paintings in the past. They are idyllic scenes which tell stories, and hence tend to appear akin to children's book illustrations.

Dalang Cilik (young puppet master), shows a boy putting on a performance with two hand puppets of the wayang characters Gareng and Petruk. Behind him, a girl calmly and attentively listens to the story he is telling.

Another painting, Teman Lama Dilupakan Jangan (don't forget your old pal), shows a girl affectionately carrying her old doll, while she looks at a small kitten. The title reminds the viewer not to forget an old friend. However, it is not clear which is the "old friend" in the painting, the kitten or the doll. Perhaps it really does not matter. The painting is indeed a touching depiction of friendship.

It is no wonder that the painter has won four awards for his works, which have been used as illustrations in books. He won the second place award for the Seventh Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations -- ACCU Tokyo (1990), third place in the First Asian Biennial of the Works of Illustrators of Children's Books -- Teheran (1991), and a commendation in the Eighth Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations -- ACCU Tokyo (1992). He also won a forth place encouragement prize for this year's Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations. The award will be presented in Tokyo next April.

One of the most unique aspects of Salim's award-winning works is his technique. Unlike most painters, he paints using sponges. This is how he manages to create the soft and diffused images in his paintings. Each color he applies on the canvas is smoothed out using the sponges, creating gradations of colors and shapes.

Salim distinguishes the main subject matter, which is rendered using sharply defined forms in the foreground, from the rest of the scene, which is rendered using soft, diffuse shapes and colors.

In Yang Terlelap dan Yang Terjaga (the sleeper and the awakened), a girl falls asleep on her friend's lap. The other girl protectively takes care of the sleeping girl. Both figures are depicted in clearly defined forms. The large trees sway in the same diagonal direction as the sleeping girl, as though they share her restful spirit. Rendered using gradations of colors and softly defined shapes, the two figures stand out. As with most of Salim's works, this painting brings forth the main subject matter of the painting right away.

By contrast, Benny Setiawan's watercolors are basically decorative compositions of colorful patterns, without clear hierarchical order. His Lumbung Padi (rice barn), for example, shows a series of rice barns in a Balinese village, thereby presenting merely a general scene of daily life. The painting does not seem to have a clear focus. Placed on a dark green background, the barns are brought to the foreground. However, the focal point of the painting is not immediately established.

Gunung Kapur (limestone mountain) shows chalk/lime manufacturing structures nearby a mount of limestone. Although the monumental structures can be easily differentiated from the mountain range in the background, they are rendered using various colorful patterns, which tend to make the painting more of an esthetically pleasing decorative composition rather than a depiction which is meant to show the dramatic scenery of the place.

In some of his works, like Burung (the bird) and Jual Burung (selling birds), Setiawan does distinguish the main subject matter of the painting from the background by differentiating the size and color of the patterns he uses. The figures, the bird seller, the birds, and the trees from which the bird cages are hung are rendered using smaller and lighter-colored patterns. By contrast, the background is created using larger and darker- colored patterns.

Opening the show, Jusuf Wanandi, chairman of the trustees of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, pointed out that the exhibition affirmed the equality of the use of two media, acrylic painting and watercolors. The exhibition also proves that "in the midst of the emergence of young painters, the two senior painters are still creative and continuously hunt for new expression," Wanandi continued.

Yet, according to Wanandi, the exhibition's most important significance is reflected in its title, "Distinction and Development". "This title is the core of the creative development of Indonesian painters anywhere," he said.

Although most of Salim's paintings are no different from his previous works, some of his paintings show clear evidence of technical development. In Ngadu Tangkas Bola Karung (skill competition in football with sacks), for example, two girls are depicted playing ball in front of the gateway of a house in the village. Unlike his previous work, which consists of foreground and background only, this painting shows a clear distinction between the foreground, middle ground and background. In the foreground, the two girls are delineated by differentiating their opaque shapes from the soft, diffused middle ground and background.

The gateway, which forms the middle ground, is rendered impressionistically using soft forms. The scene beyond the gateway, the background, is handled in an even softer manner. The differentiation of the painting's layers seems to be derived from the photographic notion about depth-of-focus.

Setiawan

Setiawan's paintings featured in the exhibition also show some change from his previous work. Although they still remain in the decorative spirit of his past work, as Agus Dermawan points out, in this period, the artist seems to be more detailed in his ornamentation.

Although the works of Salim Martowiredjo and Benny Setiawan featured in this show do not offer any major breakthroughs, there is evidence of some positive development in the two painters' techniques. The beautiful and colorful paintings of the two colorists certainly offer a positive start to the Indonesian art scene this year.