Artist : Febri Antoni, Gusmen Heriadi, Saftari, Yon Indra,
Zulfa Hendra, Zulkarnaini
Genre : Paintings
Period : June 10 till July 10 Everyday,
10.00AM till 9.00PM
Location : Biasa Art Space, Jl. Raya Seminyak 34, Seminyak
Tel: 7442902
Genta Visual Art community, which is currently holding an
exhibition entitled ‘Genta +’ at the Biasa Art
Space in Seminyak, represents six young and talented artists
from Yogyakarta. In 1999, Febri Antoni, Gusmen Heriadi, Saftari,
Yon Indra, Zulfa Hendra and Ardison, all students from the
Fine Arts Department of the Art Institute of Indonesia in
Yogyakarta, developed a feeling of creative unity and they
joined together under one organization that they called ‘Genta’.
Meanwhile, Ardison left the group and Febri Antoni passed
away at the end of March, 2005. Consequently, Zulkarnaini
has been invited to join and produce work for their current
exhibition at Biasa, so, ‘Genta’ has metamorphosed
into ‘Genta +’.
The original members of the group all came from the same ethnic
background, the ‘Ranah Minangkabau’ in West-Sumatra,
and, initially, their sense of cohesion was based on a desire
to forge a sense of togetherness in the intimidating and,
for them, lonely environment of Yogyakarta. However, as an
inter-personal sense of creative energy began to flow between
the group, they found their work united by a series of shared
ideas and strategies and a subtle form of ironic humor. The
diversity of their approaches make it impossible to identify
a single collective identity based on style, rather, there
is a shared interest in ‘nature’, ‘stillness’,
and an emphasis on the picture-plane and surface, and, most
importantly, a willingness to experiment as they each seek
their own personal style.
The theme of longing for nature is strongly felt in the works
of Febri Antoni. In paintings such as ‘Siang Malam’
or ‘Kepompong’ his observations on the organic
forms of nature are well-observed. In the canvas ‘Kantong-kantong
Lebah’ (‘Bee-Hives’) Antoni also makes much
use of an almost retrograde 1930’s style art-deco fabric
patterning that depicts elves and fairies emerging from their
nests. There is a surface tension in his pairing of soft biomorphic
forms suspended and drifting over a neutral background.
Gusmen Heriadi, in reminiscence of M.C. Escher’s visual
paradoxes, explores the concept of representing the infinite
on a two-dimensional plane. He creates intriguing city ‘mindscapes’,
and barren stony landscapes, by combining a number of separate
perspectives into a unified coherent whole. The painting ‘K.027…?’
depicts a silent, empty city comprised of thousands of rectangular
buildings of similar size receding into a never-ending horizon.
A tiny river, in the shape of a question mark, mysteriously
emerges, winds and then disappears through the centre of the
city. This is a compelling image from an artist who senses
the city as a dehumanized entity.
Obviously based on the organic forms of Salvador Dali, the
concept of form simplification in the frame of abstraction
is most apparent in the work of Zulfa Hendra. In a work such
as ‘Alam Bayangan’, the essences of objects visible
in nature are re-translated into strange amorphous shapes,
which inhabit a flat, still landscape painted in a limited
palette of peach and beige.
Saftari uses blocks of color, horizontal and vertical lines,
to define space and movement within the picture-plane, which
are combined with ‘real’ objects taken from nature,
such as stones, leaves or twigs, to provide a narrative on
the balance-in-nature. In the painting ‘Harmoni dalam
Grafitasi’, the artist appears to be offering the insight
that “the openness of nature can be a teacher of life’s
lessons”. Saftari’s canvases display an enormous
amount of realistic painterly representation combined with
‘optical illusion’ patterning.
Yon Indra creates ‘expanded-canvases’ that elicit
an esthetic response from the optic workings of the human
eye. His work ‘Dimensi Ruang 111’, is created
in mica, and, in single color, to establish a tension between
the flat white surface and a white transparent square which
carries the eye past the picture-plane. Inside the square
are interpenetrating geometric shapes which create a hypnotic
sensation. The ‘paintings’ pay tribute to the
work of Frank Stella and Bridget Riley, and are intriguing
exercises in 3D space creation.
Finally, Zulkarnaini presents ‘sublime’ simplification
of objects taken from nature. In the painting, ‘Landscape
Seri #15’, he boldly presents a single, one centimeter
thick cut-out white shape, suggestive of a lake, applied to
the surface of a white canvas. The white on white object floats
in an infinite space where there is no sense of ‘up’
or ‘down’, ‘left’ or ‘right’.
Zulkarnaini implies that his audience must “pay close
attention to that simple object”.
One of the exhibition’s strengths resides not in its
codification of a collective identity or style, but, in a
series of shared intellectual ideas that are explored by each
‘Genta’ member. It is the group’s conceptual
dimensions, more than in any single visual aspect, in-which
the exhibition has its most vigorous impact. This is an art
of a well thought-out almost academic nature that is followed
through with superb execution. It is a fine example of ‘cool’,
calculated, intellectualized art which allows the viewer much
room for contemplation and reflection. The ‘Genta’
group appears to be well on their way to creating a challenging,
vital and stimulating Indonesian visual art, which finds it
roots in contemporary Western styles. A must see exhibition!
