Artists : Agus Sumiantara, Dodit Artawan, Gede Mahendra Yasa, Gede Puja, Ketut Moniarta, Made Muliana, Ngakan Ardana, Wayan Suja, C. Gunawan, Dadan Setiawan, Guntur Timur, Iman Sapari, Willy Himawan, Z. Ramli.
Genre : Paintings
Period : October 10 till November 19
Everyday, 10.00AM till 9.00PM
Location : Biasa Art Space
Jl. Raya Seminyak No. 34, Kuta.
Tel: 7442902
The Biasa Art Space is currently holding an exhibition, entitled ‘Transit’, by fourteen young artists from two very different cities. Members of the Klinik Seni Taxu community hail from Denpasar, while the Abstrax Bandung group comes from, obviously, Bandung. Both camps are in-rebellion against their formal academic training. The Denpasar Taxu artists feel constrained by the domination of the “one and only” accepted style of Balinese Abstract Expressionism, and wish “to promote the development of a Balinese art outside the traditional parameters of Balinese religion and culture”. While, the Abstrax Bandung group is resisting a formalist art-style, dubbed “The Western Laboratory”, which has been nurtured by the Fine Arts Department of the Bandung Institute of Technology. Abstrax presents “a form of art outside the lines of Bandung Formalism. An art that takes sides with social issues”. Both groups have independently come to the conclusion that to fully express their concerns they should adopt “a representational language of realistic forms on which to base their explorations”. Simply put: Realism.
French artist Gustave Courbet (1819-77) is considered to be the father of Realism. His demand for truth, modernity, and the artist’s response to the social situations and problems of their time, as a moral imperative of art, has led to the development of Realism as we know it today. Realism is less a style than a method of approaching reality with aesthetic means that requires a critical, skeptical, ironic, questioning and committed relationship to what exists. With their cool, detached observations of contemporary Indonesian society and culture, both the Taxu and Abstrax artists readily fulfill the criteria to be considered Realists. Similarities in their works can be found with their use of color, composition and subject matter, but, what both groups display in an abundance, is a form of Realism that could be better described as a ‘removed’ Hyper-Realism, with touches of Ironic Pop-Art.
From Klinik Seni Taxu:
Agus Sumiantara creates repetitious and decorative paintings using the images of temple offerings, found throughout Bali, as their dominant motif.
Dodit Artawan’s works are made from colored rice. The use of a traditional craft to create contemporary images of LPG gas cylinders shows a lot of wit.
Gede Mahendra Yasa’s painting Brush Strokes plays with textures and the illusion of depth, yet the work remains completely flat and distanced.
Gede Puja’s highly-rendered images derive from photos of playful children, that are placed in colorful balanced compositions, with words like Atavism, Autocracy and Habitus scattered over them to create an interesting sub-plot.
Ketut Moniarta makes triangular, square and oblong canvases of primary colors. Attached to each is a carved and painted image of a crushed Pocari Sweat soft drink can, creating a tension between the real and the abstract.
Made Muliana’s image of an Iguana running up a tree is well captured, but the major concern here is the questions of color, placement and composition.
Ngakan Ardana’s ‘Hyper-Realist’ painting of a clove of garlic, perfectly placed on a flat background, illustrates that the mundane can be exquisite.
Wayan Suja’s work deals with consumerism. The ‘Photo-Realist’ canvas, From the West, depicts a shopper toting a plastic bag, inside which we can glimpse Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi Cola cans and other such goodies.
From Abstrax Bandung:
C. Gunawan is another ‘Photo-Realist’, who’s works are created in tones of grey. The canvases depict attractive young people with automatic handguns. The pistols seem fashionable accessories rather than weapons of evil intent.
Dadan Setiawan creates large paintings of seas of grass. That’s all it is. The emphasis is on the swirling brushstroke patterns, and hues of vibrant greens.
Guntur Timur’s paintings show curious observers studying famous works of art. This is art-reference or semiotic work, which is very fashionable now.
Iman Sapari’s dramatic magenta paintings depict deserted railways stations. The canvases contain an eeriness that is one of the traits of ‘Hyper-Realism’.
Willy Himawan paints images of photographed people that have been distorted by a computer. The computer effects are precisely reproduced.
Z. Ramli places over a Western Pop-Art pattern of flowers another pattern of an Islamic word. Symbols of two cultures compete for primary attention.
The members of the Taxu and Abstrax groups on show in this exhibition all display a very high degree of artistic capabilities and techniques. They have all been very well trained, whether they liked the training or not! Also, they all show a thorough understanding of Contemporary Western trends. When they combine those skills with their observations on current Indonesian society and culture they are, in-effect, contributing to the rapidly developing style of East-West Fusion Art, which I have spoken much about before. What is refreshing regarding these artists is that their vitality and pictorial style allows them to speak to their contemporary audience in a clear and forthright manner. This is an enjoyable show, and is highly recommended.
