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

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.