Ubud and Batuan paintings need proper appreciation

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): What do you expect from exhibitions? A museum exhibition should contain an element of muse. It should provide a meditative or contemplative mood for a visitor. A visitor should be able to walk out of an exhibition and feel like he or she has learnt something new, acquired a different insight into a certain subject matter, or at best achieved an enlightenment on life.

Visitors to the exhibition of Ubud and Batuan paintings at the Bentara Budaya need not expect much in terms of acquiring new wisdom. The show was a mere display of works by 80 painters. Although many were brilliantly executed, the exhibition does little to draw people to the works, and much less to provide information about the significance of the painters.

Not one interpretive label appears in the exhibit. There are only labels that tell you the title of a painting, the artist's name and the dimensions of the work. There is not even any indication as to the origins of the artist. Visitors are left to wonder if the works they are viewing are done by a painter from Ubud or Batuan.

Enlarged photographs of the highly publicized Ida Bagus Made and Ida Bagus Belawa of Tebesaya, I Made Gatra of Pengosekan, and I Dewa Nyoman Tjita of Batuan are displayed in the center of the exhibition, as if they are the focal point of the show. However, once again, the photographs are not accompanied by any kind of information about these prominent figures in the Ubud artistic scene. It is uncertain why their portraits were presented with such reverence.

If anything, this display of photographs is misleading, if not confusing. It suggests that Ida Bagus Made is among the artist whose works is on display. In fact, none of his work can be found in the show.

An essay by Ipong Purnama Sidhi in the catalog accompanying the exhibition delineates the general development of Balinese art, but only devotes a brief discussion about the role of the exhibiting Ubud and Batuan artists in the development. Hence, albeit quite impressive, the essay contributes little to the exhibition.

Therefore, the show can only be seen as nothing more than an incoherent display of works by Ubud and Batuan artists. What you see is what you get. And that's about it!

Support

Since 1970 Kompas, according Bentara Budaya Executive Director GM Sudarta, as written in the foreword to the catalog, has supported the development of art in Ubud, Bali, by means of distributing paints, paint brushes and canvases, and by buying and collecting the artists' works. Many of the works of masters such as Anak Gunung Gede Sobrat, Ida Bagus Made, and I Gusti Ketut Kobot are currently maintained in the collection of the Kompas' Bentara Budaya.

Presently, Kompas continues to support young artist from Bali. "Apart from providing them with painting implements, we also often exhibit their works, so that their expression of ideas and feelings can be communicated and interact with the public," Sudarta adds.

The intent is indeed noble. However, perhaps one of the problems of the show is that there seems to be no attempt of selection. This indiscriminate display of 170 works by 80 artists becomes overbearing. There are simply too many images for a viewer to appreciate. In the end, viewers will no longer remember the images they liked.

Presenting a smaller selection of works would better serve the purpose of exhibiting. After all, less is more. And in this case, I am sure that Gropius is right.

Lack of selection seems to be the rule rather than the exception in art exhibitions in large cities in Indonesia. There seems to be a general need to present quality in guise of the lack of quality.

Apart from that, there is also a tendency to treat exhibitions as marketplaces. When I asked students at the Jakarta Institute for the Arts why people go to exhibitions, the common responses were "to see the methods of the exhibiting artist", "to learn", or "to enjoy". But one student answered jokingly "to collect". Ah, I forgot about that! Of course, some people do go to exhibitions with the intention of buying works of art.

It seems that this exhibition is also meant to be a marketplace to sell the works of the Ubud and Batuan artists. Sudarta's statement confirms this intention. "For a newspaper like Kompas, the minimal support that can be provided to the painters are in the form of reportage or review. But the most realistic aid is to buy their works," he adds.

The works exhibited are for sale, with price tags that range from Rp 200,000 to amounts that are by no means modest. The most expensive painting is priced Rp 20 million.

I doubt that the most realistic support we can provide to young emerging artists is to encourage people to buy their works without the appreciation of their artistic value. How superficial. To the contrary, in the long run, such an approach may prove detrimental to a painter's artistic career. Without an actual appreciation of the works, a buyer will have no true interest in the paintings. It will only be a matter of time until the buyer will forget about them.

What I am sure exhibitions need, is sound interpretation which can offer viewers the means to further appreciate the art works presented. Although the exhibition was also intended to heighten public appreciation for Balinese art, nothing has been done to achieve this goal.

The exhibition should be able to inform the public about the significance of Ubud and Batuan paintings in the context of Balinese art and Indonesian art. It should have enabled its viewers to see that there is a difference between Batuan and Ubud painting styles, and even help them to distinguish between the two. Or the show could have evinced that difference. The exhibition could also have offered some answers as to why this difference exists, if it in fact does. Instead the show is actually a gross over-generalization.

The show also could have identified the outstanding works and the reason for this distinction. It could have and should have noted the artistic accomplishments of I Wayan Rajin of Batuan, for example, and evaluated his works in the context of Balinese art.

The show could also have been a great opportunity to introduce lesser known painters such as I Made Sadru of Tebesaya. Although a few works of this artist is shown, a panel of words would help direct a stray visitor who has become lost in the ocean of paintings.

An analysis about how female artists such as Ni Wayan Warti, Ni Nyoman Remin and Ni Wayan Ratiani fare in the world of art in Ubud and Batuan, could have been an interesting section in the exhibit. Last but not least, what could be expected from young painters such as I Wayan Supartha and I Nyoman Murdana could also have been included in the exhibition.

Visitors to the exhibition should be offered the insight of the curator in observing the works of art. The exhibition should mention how the curator perceives I Wayan Pendet's depiction of a form of an elephant composed of intertwined figures forming the various parts of the creature. After viewing the show, viewers should be able to say, "Oh yes, I see! " and "Isn't that wonderful".

In conclusion, the exhibition of Traditional Balinese Paintings in the Ubud and Batuan style offers not much more than what is presented in any art shop in Bali. The organizers missed a great opportunity to stage what could have become a quite interesting and even significant show.

Frankly, unless really outstanding works of paintings comprise a show, it is impossible to expect viewers to truly connect to the paintings. Kompas and Bentara Budaya are capable of presenting the best of exhibitions, so there is no reason for them to present mediocre shows.

We can and should start to dismiss exhibitions which do not have much to say as boring and worthless. An exhibition should first give its viewers the means of observing and appreciating the works of art that are displayed. After an appreciation of the artistic works has been fostered, the commercial value of the works would emerge as an inevitable by-product. If a buyer is expected to pay Rp 20 million for a painting, he or she should know why it is worth that much.