Artist : Dewa Wirya,
Uuk Paramahita,
Agus Suwastika, Anak Agung Astika
Genre : Paintings
Period : May 20 till June 20
Everyday, 9.00AM till 7.00PM
Location : Danes Art Veranda
Jl. Hayam Wuruk 159, Denpasar
Tel: 250037
The current exhibition at Danes Art Veranda, ‘Aku Kedua’,
showcases the work of four young and talented Balinese artists.
Each artist studied at the STSI (ISI) art school in Denpasar,
and they can be regarded as members of the new emerging generation
of Balinese artists who have thrown-off the shackles of the
omnipresent Balinese Abstract Expressionist painting style.
Each artist shares a common educational background, and each
artist is also concerned with issues involving ‘man’
and his relationship to his spiritual, cultural and natural
environment. As a group exhibition their paintings hang together
very well.
Dewa Wirya was born in Ubud, in 1976. Dewa creates large ‘color-field’
canvases using a ‘pointillist’ technique. Close-up
the works comprise of thousands of dots of many colors, but,
as you step back from the predominantly black paintings, grey
and white images emerge that subtly depict the human form.
These ‘figures’ can be in a seated position, contorted,
or even standing on their head. There is no attempt at linear
delineation, rather, the ‘figures’ are treated
as undefined forms which emerge or melt into the speckled
canvases. The constant theme is ‘meditation’,
and in a work such as ‘Voice of Silence’, the
‘figure’ is shown partaking in a yoga exercise
that implies ‘meditation’ as an empowering force.
The stylized painting technique acknowledges ‘man’
united with his ‘spiritual’ environment.
Born in Denpasar in 1978, Uuk Paramahita utilizes flat un-modulated
areas of color to indicate infinite space. Into this space
are placed organic forms that find their inspiration in nature.
Human figures resemble the form of leaves, while houses and
buildings take on the shape of fungi. These tiny figures and
forms are intensely worked in thick paint which is applied
with aggressive brushstrokes. Delicately placed on the canvases,
they indicate the irrelevance of ‘man’ compared
with the majestic scale of nature, yet, because of their organic
form, they also indicate that ‘man’ and his edifices
are also part of nature. The painting ‘Cloudy’
consists of a large flat blue space into which a tiny man
and his dog hesitantly venture, only a turbulent band across
the top of the painting perhaps indicates a skyline. The man
and his dog may be starting a stroll along the beach, or,
more significantly, commencing a journey into the spiritual
unknown, where there are no paths or guidelines to lead the
way. Life, and spiritual enlightenment, Uuk Paramahita seems
to be suggesting, is a lonely venture often fraught with many
unforeseen dangers.
Agus Suwastika was also born in Denpasar, in 1977. Agus sees
life from a ‘social-realist’ point-of-view. His
amusing canvases depict ‘pop’ icons, such as the
terminally broken Planet Hollywood neon sign at the Bali Galleria,
to government officials speeding along Denpasar streets in
black limousines as the common populace scurry to get out
of the way. These works are created in a naïve style
that owes more to illustration rather than ‘fine’
art, however, this emphasis on flatness and frontal presentation
succeeds in highlighting the humor inherent in Agus’
observations on contemporary Balinese life. A fascinating
work from Agus is the eerie ‘White Smoke’. In
this painting, two silhouetted boys observe a city skyline
from an elevated position, however, the city is shrouded in
a dense white smoke, and it appears almost like a bizarre
cemetery filled with strange rock carvings and totems.
Finally, Anak Agung Astika is another artist from Denpasar,
born in 1977. Anak uses geometric abstraction to indicate
his message of ‘man’ and his spiritual quest in
an apathetic environment. Against textured backgrounds, Anak
places primary colored ‘archetypes’ of circles,
squares and triangles to indicate physical and spiritual icons.
The brushwork in the backgrounds is thick and gestural, while
the geometric shapes, endeavoring to penetrate or emerge from
these dense layers of paint, are created with flat and unmixed
color bounded by hard-edges. The impressive canvas ‘Blue
Society’ depicts a vibrant blue triangle, which we can
interpret as ‘spiritual enlightenment’, trying
to pierce an impenetrable grid, which we can read as ‘cultural
indifference’.
Although this exhibition is notable in its attempt to show
the new forms of art emerging in Bali as an alternative to
Abstract Expressionism, even so, the works on display appear
a bit ‘safe’. All the paintings display that exquisite
sense of balance and placement that we have come to expect
from the Balinese, yet, the canvases lack the vibrancy and
cutting-edge that we have come to associate with the emerging
artists from Bandung, Jakarta or Yogyakarta. Anyway, as they
say here, “hati-hati” or “pelan-pelan”.
It takes time for diversity in painting styles to emerge,
and this exhibition is a good start.
