Hanna Art Space,
Jl. Pengosekan, Ubud. Tel: 08179730898.
The Hanna Art Space, the latest art venue to emerge on the Ubud scene, is not hard to miss. It has an elaborate bamboo facade, and it is located on the corner of Jl. Pengosekan, in the heart of Ubud. The gallery has successfully launched itself with an exhibition of paintings by Diyano Prasetyo, entitled ‘Human Condition’, and the show has been curated by Arif Bagus Prasetyo.
Diyano Purwadi was born in Lamongan, East Java, in 1971. He now resides in Ubud. From an early age he was trained both formally and informally. He attended an art school in East Java, but outside school hours he learnt much more about traditional painting from senior artists in his village. Depicting human beings as living and social creatures is the main subject of his paintings. Through the human figure, he conveys his own understanding of the world, his environment, and his experiences as an artist. His work tries to capture simple human acts such as ‘happiness’, ‘dreams’ and ‘craziness’.
Initially, in works such as ‘Segitiga Jiwa’ and Ki Joko Bodo’, the sheer scale and style of the paintings brings to mind the work of Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957). Like Rivera, Diyano Purwadi uses expressive exaggerations of the human figure to make comments about contemporary political, cultural and psychological Indonesian situations. These comments find reflection in the way Purwadi delineates the human figure with strong, luxuriant lines, and with complicated and intense angular forms and shapes.
The human face is another source of creative exploration within Purwadi’s work. Canvases like ‘Dialogue of 3 Leaders’ and ‘Cry of Yahokimo’ present faces which combine naive impulses with the immediacy of primitive forms. These visages imply a current Indonesian people who have been living under the pressures of the modern world, and have since reverted back to a form of wild and uncivilized behavior.
It is Diyano Purwadi’s ability to focus on irrational behavior as a metaphor for the many problems within current Indonesian politics, economy and culture, which gives his work its great strength. Diyano Purwadi presents a clever, subversive, but honest, interpretation of the present Indonesian Human Condition.
Mutation and Invasion
Gaya Art Space,
Jl. Raya Sayan, Ubud. Tel: 979252.
In the notes which accompany the exhibition ‘Mutation and Invasion’, Balinese art critic and writer Wayan Kun Adnyana proposes that the exhibition is the result of four artists interpreting the five fundamental elements of the universe. Essentially, Kun suggests, that when we fix our gaze on the living cosmos and immerse ourselves in it, we will find that Man lives inside and through the cycle of the cosmos’ five basic elements. Balinese Hindu philosophy calls these elements Panca Maha Bhuta; apah (water), teja (fire), bayu (air), pertiwi (earth) and akasa (sky). The vortex of Panca Maha Bhuta creates life and annihilates it, all at the same time. Four contemporary Indonesian artists explore the spiritual depths of this Panca Maha Bhuta concept. Their studies into the fundamental building blocks of the universe give birth to both visual and poetic spiritual artistic expressions. In short, the works presented by these four gifted artists stimulate us to embark upon our own reflective journey to comprehend the essential elements of our universe, and its overall grand design.
Tisna Sanjaya (born 1958 in Bandung), is a lecturer at the Fine Arts and Design Faculty of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). He has explored modern men’s social behaviors and Nature’s dynamics for more than 15 years. Recently, Tisna has been experimenting with ashes, dirts and asphalts. In his canvas ‘Wajah Kita’ he purposefully uses ashes from burnt paper and wood to represent the cruelty of power, be it either political or economic, that could turn humanity into nothing but a pile of dirt and ashes.
Ipong Purnama Sidhi (born 1955 in Yogyakarta), is the curator of Bentara Budaya Jakarta. He is an artist that utilizes, as he sees it, every ounce of his creative energy to fully liberate the seeds of fire, or “heat energy”, locked within his body. In his work ‘Light My Fire’ Sidhi uses the billowing smoke from a cigarette to suggest his own inner turmoil. The painting is created with daring brushstrokes and primary colors. It abounds with much vitality.
Being Balinese, Made Sumadiyasa (born 1971 in Tabanan), is no stranger to the Panca Maha Bhuta concept. Throughout his career, Made has regularly visited the themes of the Universe and nature, in particular the exploitation and environmental destruction of nature. In his unflustered canvas ‘Morning Contemplation’ Made offers a poetic, personnel meditation on morning rain.
Made Mahendra Mangku (born 1972 in Sukawati), focuses on his personal perceptions of the dynamics of the universe’s five fundamental elements by exploring empty spaces, dimensions of nothingness, and, perhaps, the lyrical effects of a light breeze. In his work ‘Melintas Batas’ his language of visual abstraction suggests a tranquil harmonious landscape which arouses the emotions, as well as stimulates the irrational thought processes of the mind.
With their investigations into the Balinese concept of Panca Maha Bhuta, all four artists are exploring subjects that hover between the sacred and the profane. Water, fire, air, earth and sky are revealed as themes of intense importance to the Balinese, and it is to their credit that the artists handle their subject matter with much sensitivity, creating a very memorable exhibition.
