Artist : Bambang Wiwoho, Kerry Pendergrast, Munadi and Roesli Hakim
Genre : Landscapes
Period : July 4 till July 29
Everyday, 9.00AM till 5.00PM
Location : Pranoto’s Art Gallery
Main Road, Ubud
Tel: 970827
At the close of the 20th Century art forms such as Conceptual, Installation and Performance Art had propelled Western Art into new areas of creativity, but this was at the cost of more traditional forms of art, such as painting and drawing, that were mostly involve with composition, expression and content. Certain aspects of Post-Modernism almost rang the death knell of Western Modern Art, which had been thriving since the beginning of the century. It is reassuring to note that at the commencement of the 21st Century there has been a resurgence of interest in conventional painting and drawing, which requires substantial talents and skills. Currently, at Pranoto’s Gallery, four artists, Bambang Wiwoho, Kerry Pendergrast, Munadi and Roesli Hakim, are showing their substantial talents and skills in a group exhibition entitled, ‘Views from the Real World’. This is a well conceived show, for each artist has much in common, and apart from their obvious connections, such as Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic influences, each artist displays their understanding of the symbolic quality of Landscape Painting, in which the customary, and prominent, theme is to reveal the delicate balance and spiritual harmony which exists between man, nature and his environment.
Bambang Wiwoho was born in Semarang, Central Java in 1959. He was a student of Dullah, a famous Indonesian naturalist painter. Bambang is based in Denpasar, where he works in oils and acrylics, painting on the spot. He is inspired by the hidden beauty of Denpasar. His painting ‘Shrine’ displays a rich color scheme with strong confident brushstrokes, which recalls the early canvases of Monet. This charming painting creates a rustic impression, in which the temple and vegetation, treated in the same autumnal tonal ranges, intertwine in symbiotic harmony, and suggests a soft, subtle, serenity that is hidden, and far removed, from the hustle and bustle of downtown Denpasar.
Kerry Pendergrast was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1963. She has lived in Ubud since 1993 and started creating landscapes in 2000. Through her observations, her pastel drawings become a mirror to the nature of Ubud and its surroundings. Kerry’s images explode with the energy that is found in the work of Van Gogh. Her pastel drawing ‘Temple Ceremony’ conveys a clear message of regeneration. In the foreground a rice paddy, scattered with flowers, burst into life, while, in the background, partially hidden by jungle, a Balinese temple also bursts into life. The implied spiritual rapport between man and nature is beautifully conveyed by balance, color and composition.
Munadi was also born in Semarang, Central Java in 1952, and he also was a student of Dullah. Munadi’s oil paintings are inspired by his life in Gianyar, Bali, and his realistic canvases show a romantic feeling in which the human presence is dwarfed and humbled by the might and majesty of the landscape. Munadi’s use of light and shade is reminiscent of some of Manet’s work, and this is most evident in his study of ‘Kuta Beach’, in which the dappled shadows, cast by the trees, divide the canvas, and the beach, neatly in two. The effect has a strong ying/yang connotation, and much can be read into the implications of Light and Shadow, Black and White and Perpetual Harmony.
Roesli Hakim was born in 1936 in Binjai, North Sumatra. He has lived in Bali for many years. Now residing in Denpasar, he uses sketches from field trips to create his lyrical scenes of daily activities and ceremonies in the villages of Bali. Roesli has obviously been inspired by Pointillism and Georges Seurat, for he builds up his paintings in a mad frenzy of dots and small, swirling, brushstrokes. The painting ‘Village Temple’ is typical of his style, and demonstrates how his technique can blur the boundaries between man-made edifices and nature, so that they appear part and parcel of one another, and indicate a balanced co-existence of perfect peace and unity.
There is much to be admired in the work of this quartet of artists, for each display a beautifully refined and cultivated artistic technique, and their images are also enhanced by their accurate observations of man and his relationship with nature. The gentle, restrained, spirituality of the work also reassures us that all good art must have meaning beyond its surface value.
