Wahyoe Wijaya's Third Dimension: Physical and Spiritual

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): The inclusion of artifacts from Javanese folk art, such as the kuda lumping and the wayang kulit, in Wahyoe Wijaya's canvases may not be any great innovation. Marcel Duchamp has included safety pins, nuts and bolts in his work. In his "combine paintings", Robert Rauschenberg also merged objects into his canvas. In addition, Indonesian artists, such as Suatmadji and Nyoman Erawan working in the late 1980s, have also used three-dimensional objects combined with the flat canvas as their medium of expression.

Whether one likes or dislikes Wahyoe's formal artistic style is a matter of personal taste. Nonetheless, Wahyoe, who has incorporated three dimensionality in his paintings since the 1970s, intends to present a sincere message of concern over the inevitable social, cultural and environmental changes that are currently occurring in Indonesia through this "Third Dimension".

Social commentary

The "third dimension" in Wahyoe Wijaya's work manifests itself not only in the three-dimensional objects that are included in the artwork, but also in the artist's philosophical triad consisting of concentration, contemplation, and meditation. As a result, his concerns over issues of social change are often expressed in his paintings.

Objects associated with what the artist considers to be folk imagery are predominant in his work. Both Sang Hyang Jaran (The Great Holy Horse) and Jarane Jaran, (Horse among Horses) each incorporate a kuda lumping -- a flat representation of a horse made out of woven strips of bamboo fastened onto a bamboo frame -- which he bought in Muntilan, Central Java. Today, the opportunities for the expression of folk arts such as the kuda lumping are diminishing.

Wahyoe also expressed his concern over holy dances, once spiritual in nature, which have been adapted to be presented for the tourist audience, stripping it from its sacred values. The use of the folk imagery in his works is meant to serve as a reminder of the present state of Indonesian folk art which is threatened by modernization.

The actual component parts of a becak, the dual-passenger tricycle-rickshaw which at one point was widely used as a public taxi in the residential areas of Jakarta, constitute the composition of Yang Tersingkir (The Disenfranchised). The artist satirically depicts the banning of becak from Jakarta since the mid-1980s, using wayang characters to distinguish "the good" from "the bad".

An unrefined raksasa (giant) figure is given the role of a Tibum (Ketertiban Umum -- Public Order) official trying to restore order in the midst of the chaotic environment of the becak. Using this collage painting as a medium, the artist tries to express his concern over the continual and systematic defeat of the weak common folk, in this case becak drivers, as a result of an alteration of a system.

Environmental commentary

In addition to addressing issues of social change, Wahyoe also tries to remind us about the environment through his art. The material that Wahyoe uses, whether they be wayang kulit leather puppets, wooden masks, colored fabric, bedek -- a screen used to enclose or subdivide spaces made of woven strips of bamboo -- or the becak, all take root in nature. Sometimes he goes so far as to include cross sections of a teak wood tree to provide this reference to natural resources.

A painting that includes the wayang puppet of a densely forested Gunungan (Mythological Mountain), which in Wahyoe's perception symbolizes the realm of both the gods and the devils, epitomizes the artist's references to the environment. The Gunungan, placed in the center before a wayang performance commences and removed once an episode begins, becomes a metaphor of nature that is continually and inevitably manipulated for the purposes of human life and existence.

Incorporating natural materials, Wahyoe's works are by no means meant to be judgmental. They are, however, expressions of his concern over the environment. "Man's promises to nature will never be fulfilled," he exclaims.

Third dimension

Although a majority of his work expresses issues of public concern, Wahyoe's concentration, contemplation, and meditation are often very personal in nature. In Kenangan (Memories) he placed pairs of shoes that he found swept ashore Legian Beach. While the painting may address an environmental issue, it is also expresses the artist's personal concern. He contemplates, "might the owner have drowned?"

In turn, the responses from the viewers of this painting are also personal. Upon seeing the children's shoes on the canvas, many mothers who have seen the work reminisce about their own experiences, taking their children for a walk on the beach.

Wahyoe Wijaya's "third dimension", according to the artist, is "a spiritual dimension...in which they all fuse in my happiness, in my sorrow, in my meditation, and explodes along with my spirit onto the canvas."

Our appreciation of his work will depend on how the explosion of his "third dimension" relates to our own personal dimension. An exhibit of his works, Dimensi Ketiga, opens next Monday, at the Balai Budaya.