Yogyakarta artists take top honors at Indonesia/ASEAN Arts Awards
Yogyakarta artists take top honors at Indonesia/ASEAN Arts Awards
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Yogyakarta proved that it was still the center of Indonesian art
as five artists from the city stole the limelight from 1,199
other artists from across Indonesia at the Indonesia/ASEAN Arts
Awards 2003 on Monday.
Winners of the biannual event included, Ayu Arista Murti with
her work No. 1, The Greatest Story, Feri Eka Candra with Seribu
Kepala Untukku (English title: Mindscape), Galam Zulkifly for
Teater Pembebasan (English title: Theater of Liberation), Paul
Hendro Nugroho for Semua Hanya AnugerahNya (English title: The
Order of Things), and Yusra Martunus for Kerasan Mencair (English
title: Melting Down).
Those five will represent Indonesia at the prestigious ASEAN
Arts Awards 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand.
"Several artists have begun exploring alternative material and
techniques, mostly in the area of digital photo printing and neon
box screens, or the use of various objects," Mamannoor, chairman
of the panel of judges, said.
The variety of techniques exhibited this year were reflected
in Ayu Arista Murti's No. 1, The Greatest Story, a mixed media
creation presented with a neon box, where the painting or sketch
is backlit by neon lighting.
Ayu, the only female winner, created her work from a digital
print of her rendering of an aerial view of a decrepit industrial
city, adding several drawings of nymph-like beings and roses
floating above the city, all mounted on the neon box. The chaotic
metal "rays" on top of the piece add to the sense of urban decay.
The artist wants to contrast the busy, noisy city background
against the subtle figures of angels and roses. The shifting
media suddenly becomes important in relation to the effect the
artist wants to convey as the power of form, according to the
judges comments in the catalog.
Last year's ASEAN Arts Awards 2002 winner -- Singapore's
Francis Ng Teck Yong with Constructing Construction #1 -- was a
color photographic print, and now Indonesian artists have also
begun to submit similar photographic work for the next
competition.
"It's true we've had a lot more photographic artwork submitted
in this year's competition, this is one of the new trends we see
developing," Mamannoor said.
Indonesia/ASEAN Art Awards and the ASEAN Art Awards are held
every other year and sponsored by Philip Morris, and in Indonesia
it is organize by the Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation (YSRI) and
PT Philip Morris Indonesia.