Artist : Freddy Sitorus
Genre :Painting
Period : July 17 till August 15, Everyday, 9.00AM to 6.00PM
Location : Danes Art Veranda, Jl. Hayam Wuruk 159, Denpasar.
Freddy Sitorus was born in 1965. He comes from Kendari, in South-East Sulawesi, and as other artists following their dreams he moved to Bali to study Art and Design at the Udayana University in Denpasar. Freddy also studied Art at the Northern Territory University in Darwin, Australia. It is probable that while studying in Australia Freddy encountered the theory of Semiotic Deconstruction. To title his exhibition “My Myths” indicates an awareness of this most complex 20th Century Post-Modern art movement.
Semiotics is the study of signs. It is the analysis, or deconstruction, of language to its basic components (signs) to further understand how meaning is conveyed. Within a Semiotic context language can take various forms: such as Art, Music, Literature, Theatre, Dance, Film etc. Possibly Semiotics finds its roots in the Jungian theory of the “Collective Unconscious”, as-so-much-as Semiotics maintains that there are universal signs common to all cultures that subliminally convey similar messages. Some messages, such as “Love”, “Hate”, “Envy”, “Greed” or “Rage”, are indeed cross-culturally similarly signified and these are considered basic signs. These signs are the elemental building blocks of language and are referred to as Icons or Myths.
Deriving from the Semiotic Myths found in Australian Aborigine Art, and most prominently from the Art of the Mayans and Aztecs, Freddy Sitorus has devised within his paintings a series of signs that are his personal Myths. Beneath his innocuous child-like paintings Freddy’s Myths signify aspects of human behavior that are probably better not said. Recognizing his signs we are taken on a trip through the darker side of Freddy’s psyche, where only his candor and humor conditions the messages from the truly horrific.
Freddy re-enforces the Semiotic content of his paintings by deliberately stressing the child-like aspects of his images. Children paint unconditionally from the sub-conscious. They also paint similarly indicating that there are universal, or Semiotic, forms that children employ to express themselves. Freddy uses these childish gestures to create works that appear spontaneous but are in-fact conditioned by the discipline of the trained artist. Areas of the works are treated as flat surfaces while others are deeply textured appearing almost as a ceramic glaze. Everything in the paintings is highly thought-out. Deliberate. Considered. We must accept that the signified messages of the paintings are deliberate and considered as well, and not created by chance.
Much of these canvases are also extremely decorative. Paintings such as “Jealousy” and “Let There Be Light” contain ornamentation, pattern and bright, carefree colors that mask, beneath their superficial gloss, the darker aspects of the works. Aspects visible only to the trained eye, or anyone conversant with terms such as the Sign, the Signifier and the Signified. These are works displaying a very high degree of intelligence and, as a result, Freddy Sitorus’ exhibition, at Danes Art Veranda in down-town Denpasar, is another one of those shows where pesky little red dots keep popping up all over the place – and don’t we all know what that signifies!
