Yuri Gorbachev transforms fantasies in 'Bali Series'
Yuri Gorbachev transforms fantasies in 'Bali Series'
By Amir Sidharta
JAKARTA (JP): After exhibiting his vibrant icon art works here a year ago, Russian-turned-New York artist Yuri Gorbachev has returned to Indonesia with paintings that are even more energetic. His exhibition will be held at the Regent Jakarta until Feb. 3, 1996, and will feature paintings inspired by his visit to Bali.
The centerpiece of the exhibit is an image of a girl dressed in a wild version of a Balinese Legong costume. She is posed in a manner reminiscent of the Monalisa, except in reverse. Her body is slightly shifted to the right of the painting, while her eyes face the opposite way. The girl holds a flower in her left hand, and her right hand forms a gesture apparently derived from Balinese dance. She is framed by an ornamental piece taken from a gamelan orchestra, which adds an elegant touch to the composition.
The image is undoubtedly derived from Thilly Weissenborn's famous photograph of Legong, which, as Adrian Vickers pointed out in his book Bali, A Paradise Created, has been frequently chosen by the tourist authority for their tourist pamphlets. After Weissenborn's book, other less beautiful photographs of dancing girls proliferated, making the dancing girl a recurrent image of Bali.
Ironically, the image was very likely created in Weissenborn's photo studio in Garut, West Java in the 1920s. An old tourism magazine published a series of photographs of dancers taken in her Garut studio. In the background, the props of the studio can be seen, including the elegant piece from the gamelan used in the famous photograph. It is therefore highly likely that her famous posed (and seated) Balinese Dancing Girl was actually created in West Java.
In his Balinese Woman, Gorbachev has included additional elements, like the towering banten offering arrangement placed on a table to the left of the central figure.
"I wanted an image that people could recognize as Balinese," the artist explained.
Own interpretation
Although Gorbachev presents this Balinese identity by borrowing Weissenborn's quintessential composition, the painting is his own interpretation of the original image.
Many of the ornaments in the photograph have been transformed into other elements and motifs. The ornamental flowers crowning the figure's headdress are changed into naturalistic flowers. A large leaf is placed above the figures right ear. Other large leaves decorate the dancer's cuffs. The frangipane she holds has been transformed into a hibiscus. The mat she sits on seems to be Mexican rather than Balinese. To the right of the composition, is an orange curtain which is by no means typical of Bali.
Yuri Gorbachev knew about Indonesia since he was very young. "Unlike in America where people have little idea about Indonesia, in Russia, people know about Indonesia," he claimed.
Before his first trip to Indonesia, he realized that his knowledge about this country was limited to what he had learned about in school and from images of Indonesia from the 1960s.
"I had to use my imagination and fantasy to picture what the country was like," he added.
To provide him with a better idea about the country in which he was going to exhibit, his associates sent him postcards which presented views of contemporary Indonesia.
Then, at his exhibition in Jakarta last year, Indonesian collectors Robby Djohan and Ciputra challenged him to paint Bali. They suggested that the only way he would be able to paint Bali was to visit the island.
Not only did he visit, but he also fell in love with the island. As he stated in the exhibition catalog, "I felt like I was witness to one of the wonders of the world. Time stopped for me. Color, sound, day, night, all blended inside of me as if I were in a special kind of heaven. When I returned to New York, Bali was inside of me. I was inspired and I began to recreate the reflections of Bali in my paintings."
Gorbachev also filled his New York apartment with Balinese and Javanese wayang golek puppets, statues of horses, masks and other objects. During his most recent trip to Bali, he collected 125 more objects. These objects helped him recreate his reflections of Bali.
Despite becoming well acquainted with Bali, Gorbachev's images have not become more realistic. They are still filled with his vivacious fantasies about Bali.
Fortunately the rich Balinese ornamentation is close to his decorative style. His art is derived from his interest in Russian Orthodox icons, the exquisite craftsmanship of Faberge jewelry, and his favorite artist, the Romanticist painter Rousseau. Bali was an excellent subject for his canvases.
Of the 36 paintings exhibited at the Regent, 18 are Balinese in theme.
The Lovers is another composition derived from a well-known image of Bali. This time, the artist borrowed a rendering from the tales of Tantri in a 19th century illustrated Balinese manuscript, reproduced in the Periplus Guide to Bali.
While little attention has been given to the Balinese details of the composition, like the architecture of the Balinese bale sakepat pavilion and the textile motifs used by the characters in the picture, Gorbachev managed to create another image easily identified with Bali but remaining typical of his work.
The artist cleverly uses historical images with established visual association to Bali to create his "contemporary naive paintings", as he categorizes them.
Less successful
Gorbachev's other attempts are less successful. His depiction of Morning in Bali presents two women carrying baskets of fruit and fish to sell at the market. With long scarves covering their heads and long layered skirts, the women appear more Middle Eastern than Balinese.
The painting is embellished with vegetation that bears no resemblance to the natural environment of Bali. While real Balinese penjor banners elegantly curve at their summit, Gorbachev's remain straight and stiff.
The architecture seems to be taken from the chaotic contemporary Balinese architectural style which can be seen mushrooming in Kuta and Legian. He stayed in a small hotel in Legian which may have been surrounded with such structures, but the arrangement of the structures and their rooflines is reminiscent of Moscow's Kremlin.
Sunset in Bali, Landscape with Balinese Lake and Lake with Swans, show the artist's lack of sensitivity to the depth and dimension of the island's landscape. This is inevitable because he stayed in the beach town of Kuta instead of the artists' community of Ubud. Although Gorbachev did spend much time traveling, he did so on motorcycles and spent almost no time walking through Bali's lush natural environment.
Gorbachev's landscapes are far less interesting than his paintings of popular Bali. He could learn by walking around and taking time to observe rice paddies, dense gardens and deep ravines of Bali, like Walter Spies did in the past.
The artist could look at contemporary Bali cliches, like postcards of the Tanah Lot temple at sunset, photographs of Uluwatu from the air, posed birds eye views of the Kecak dance, and images of nightlife on Kuta Beach.
"Saya suka Indonesia (I like Indonesia), and even saya cinta Indonesia (I love Indonesia)," he exclaimed, and so we can be sure he will return. Most importantly, however, Gorbachev wants to make Indonesia even more visible on the world map.
He wants more Americans to know about Indonesia. He will therefore include his depictions of Bali in a 300 page book of his works. The artist was recently asked by the United Nations to create a series of endangered species paintings. An eminent image in this series will be a depiction of an Indonesian parrot. These images may even be made into stamps. When the time comes, the Indonesian bird will definitely gain exposure around the world, and Gorbachev's paintings may help turn world interest toward Indonesia.