A solo exhibition of paintings
by Kokok P. Sancoko, at Biasa Art Space,
Jl. Raya Seminyak 34, Seminyak
Tel. 8475766
Although elements of Pop Art, Super Realism and Surrealism can all be discerned in the works of Javanese artist Kokok P. Sancoko, his exhibition ‘(in) complete’, currently on show at the Biasa Art Space, is really all about the act of painting within, and for, itself. Kokok is only 33 years old, and he comes from Yogyakarta. Initially he studied ‘design’, but he switched his artistic interests to painting. Kokok’s art displays a high expertise in realism painting, yet he is continually practicing and improving his painting skills. He believes that as an artist one must master the basic principles of painting techniques. This is not only to perfect his painting skills, but, Kokok also wishes to ensure that the ideas and concepts hanging in his mind can be realized with appropriate and sufficient techniques. “A great idea with terrible and inappropriate execution techniques”, he says, “will only produce failure”. This belief is more than evident in his current canvases, for the paintings on exhibit not only reveal an amazing skill in creating captivating Super Realism works, but they also show his ability to achieve a unity between his aesthetic ideas and the appropriate painting technique.
Working in the genre of ‘Still Life’ painting, Kokok presents a series of works depicting fruit and vegetables. These canvases, such as ‘Sayur #7’, are instantly recognizable for what they are. Beautifully painted images of carrots, cabbages and apples. In fact, these canvases are created with almost botanical accuracy, and the similarity between the ‘painted’ and the ‘real sayur’ is virtually indistinguishable. The effect is that of allusion, ‘trompe l’oeil’, something that appears real but is not. However, as we look further into the paintings we discover that certain parts of the sayur are missing. The fruit and vegetables realized on the canvases have never been completed. Some parts are ‘missing’ from the paintings. The images are ‘in complete’. The omitted parts of the images are left as white untreated textured canvas.
Immediately the viewer must wonder why Kokok has left the works unfinished. Is Kokok playing some form of visual ‘mind game’, in which we implant subliminally the ‘missing’ pieces from our own memory, or, is Kokok playing a more deceptive ‘game’ within these works? By selecting a number of objects, such as fruits and vegetable, which have familiarity, and are recognized as a traditional and valid aspect of the ‘Still Life’ genre, Kokok questions our perceptions of reality. He highlights the ambiguity between mimetic traditional ‘Still Life’ painting techniques, and his own individually developed abstraction. His paintings are intended to incite questions dealing with the nature of reality, and the reality of the painted image. Kokok creates images of carrots, cabbages and apples as ‘in complete’, so that the represented objects are forced into a corner of ambiguous meaning. His art directly imposes attention onto the very subtle differences between reflecting reality, or abstraction, and merely recreating surface appearances. He repeatedly reminds us that all we will find in his work is just a simple presentation of another ‘reality’ of painting. This is a very ‘removed’ and ‘cool’ intellectualized conceptual approach to painting.
Having firmly captured our attention, Kokok continues to ‘toy’ with our perceptions of reality by depicting his objects from a set ‘point of view’. In works such as ‘Sayur #10’ he imparts a microscopic ‘point of view’ upon his objects. Like using a macro camera lens, he focuses his sight only on one particular part of the object. The rest becomes blurred, indistinct, and barely visible. With this method he can depict distinctive sides of the objects, presenting details possibly invisible to the normal eye. This visual ‘trick’ emphasizes the ‘missing’ parts of the images. It forces us to question the rendering of reality, and how we perceive it, and it allows us to accept that the image we perceive is nothing more than the act of pure painting.
Further, in the canvases ‘Buah #2’ and ‘Buah #4’, Kokok explores impressions of ‘reality’ by placing the ‘missing’ pieces of the images else where on the canvases, or, sometimes, on separate canvases which are hung together. The results are like an Escher or Magritte visual ‘joke’, but, though Kokok’s images contain a certain amount of surrealistic humor, his purposes are much more aesthetic. By removing the ‘missing’ parts of his objects, and placing them elsewhere, Kokok is commenting on the indigenous abstraction any image can achieve when it is removed from its perceived reality. Within these works Kokok is also, obviously, playing with the concepts of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ shapes, but, there is an extraordinary tension between these opposite pairs. As if each part of the image is searching for its ‘missing’ mate. To become ‘realistically’ complete again. To end ‘in completeness’.
That Kokok P. Sancoko is able to ‘pull off’ this intellectual artistic stance is ample evidence of his talents. In addition, his painting skills are so refined that it is superfluous to say that he creates beautiful art. In a flippant way, his gorgeous carrots, cabbages and apples remind us that ‘you are what you eat’.
