Warso paints human issues with a brush of beauty
Warso paints human issues with a brush of beauty
By Yogita Tahil Ramani
JAKARTA (JP): Splashes on the canvas of turquoise blue and
linings in sunflower yellow formed the eye-catching, iridescent
abstraction.
The contoured form seemed to pulsate in a reverently
melancholic mood, as serene as if lulled by an engaging dream
while asleep. Cloaked in ethereal colors, the nude woman lying on
the sofa (Wanita Di Atas sofa) seemingly hid her expression
behind the hair falling in front of her face.
Painter Sri Warso Wahono, 49, is exhibiting bold splatterings
of simmered frustrations at Taman Ismail Marzuki's Cipta III
Gallery, Central Jakarta, until Aug. 24. Thoughtful works include
frozen human and social concerns that derive not so much sympathy
as mystical, even mythical awe.
Abstractions are undauntedly pronounced, as dominating colors
of fiery red, indigo blue, sea-green, and viscous white call for
thoughtful viewing rather than simple browsing glances.
Warso has done more with depicting hidden controversial themes
in bright narcissistic light than concern-provoking starkly-
painted expressions ever could -- counteracting the morbid truth
with the beauty of art, not its ferocity. (The definitive plus-
point for art-commercialization).
The most intriguing track-stopping, vision-shocking work lies
between canvases of bright blooming flowers that act as
neutralizers. Dasamuka, a larger-than-life bold atrocity portrays
Hindu epic antagonist Rahwana in ghastly indigo blue, complete
with beastly paws and a lionesque form.
"This is his beastly side expressed in paint," said Warso. "I
used indigo blue to portray the dark truth". The painter had some
imagination. The colors accentuated, vivifying the devilish
streaks of a disoriented king.
In Rampongan, fire flares in frozen inflammations, as warring
forces torch a city, marvelously portrayed in gold and red. Warso
explained about aged-old war mechanisms and troops
surreptitiously taking over a city, as the inspiring thoughts.
While one stunning painting, Kamar Indah Berbunga (Room Filled
With Flowers), depicts a beautiful Javanese woman bedecked in
traditional costume resting on her doorstep, another must-see
would be the abstraction/religious-venting piece Lagu Pujian Bagi
Allah, or song of praise for Allah. The colors were so
distractingly profound, Warso had to point out the man with
outstretched arms, calling out to his savior Allah for salvation.
A controversy-inciting piece called Monumen Tanah Muria
(Monument of the Muria Land) portrays skeletons and charred
people, as aftereffects of a hypothetical nuclear fallout at the
nuclear power plant, situated on Mount Muria, Central Java.
Commendable concern, but nothing short of surrealism for now.
Excepting those of sentimental value to the artist, the
paintings are for sale, priced between Rp 1,500,000 (US$530) and
Rp 20,000,000.
At best, even at their most ferocious, the paintings still
manage to be pleasantly breathtaking.
Born in Solo (Surakarta), Central Java, in 1948, Warso started
painting in 1962. He has eight painting exhibitions to his name.
A 1975 Fine Arts graduate at the city's teachers training
institute, he ran his own art culture workshop in Central Java
till 1976. He has traveled to Europe, the United States and the
Philippines for work and was a member of the Jakarta Art Council.