Paintings by Roesli Hakim and Teguh Ritma Iman
at Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Resort
Jimbaran Bay.
Tel: 701010.
In their exhibition entitled ‘Two Generations’, the Ganesha Gallery offers a rare opportunity to compare the work of two talented painters, Roesli Hakim and Teguh Ritma Iman, who also happen to be respectively father and son. In the West it is not uncommon for firms or businesses to be ‘Father & Son’ or even ‘Father & Daughter’ family concerns. However, in the various fields of the Arts, a son or daughter, in the West, usually follows another career preferring to leave the limelight to their more illustrious forbearer. In Indonesia, and most of Asia, the Arts and Crafts are often regarded as the family business, and it is not uncommon to find many families creating an artistic dynasty, so to speak, which can be passed down through generations.
Roesli Hakim was born in 1936 in Binjai, North Sumatra. He belongs to the generation of artists who came of age in the tumultuous years that followed Independence and the birth of the Republic of Indonesia. As a young man he was introduced to art at school, and after working with a local group of aspiring artists he moved to Jogjakarta in 1956, to continue his training. During the years that followed the fall of Sukarno, Roesli moved to Bali where he worked as a teacher in the arts program of Udayana University, and then later at the Denpasar branch of the National Academy of the Arts.
Still residing in Denpasar, Roesli uses sketches from field trips to create his scenes of daily activities and ceremonies in the villages of Bali. Roesli has obviously been inspired by Impressionism, and in particular Pointillism and Georges Seurat, for he builds up his textured paintings with quick, visible dots and small, swirling brushstrokes, laying on pure colors next to each other, which produce a shimmering effect that exudes light and atmosphere. Humans and architecture are often featured in his paintings, but they are usually dwarfed by the surrounding natural splendor. ‘Balinese Village’ is typical of his painting 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 peace and unity. Not all of Roesli’s paintings are landscapes. Like many artists of his generation, the works ‘In the Market’ and ‘At the Market’ demonstrate a way of stressing the ordinary, everyday quality of situations or events, while at the same time honors the hard labor and daily routines of the ordinary Indonesian. ‘Melasti’, a large elegant canvas, also presents Roesli’s interest in Balinese rituals and processions, which he depicts with lyrical patterning and a mysterious light. These are all images of daily human communal existence and expand our awareness of ourselves and of the world around us.
Growing up in such a creative family environment, it is no accident that the artistic abilities of Teguh Ritma Iman, Roesli’s youngest son, were nurtured and encouraged. Although born and breed in Bali, at the age of 20, in 1990, Iman followed his father’s footsteps and went to Jogjakarta to study art. As Iman explains: “My motivation was to develop my own individual style, and thereby ‘free’ myself from my strongest earliest artistic influence, my own father”! Graduating with honors in 1996 from ISI, Indonesia’s prestigious Academy of the Arts, Iman returned to Bali to begin his professional career.
As a painter, Iman relies on large flat fields of bright colors which he then fractures and softens with colored patterns, like the tumbling leaf shape which can be seen in many of his backgrounds. Unlike his father, Iman gives no pretence of dimensionality or naturalism. Pictorial space, for instance, is suggested not by a consistent perspective but by a series of overlapping textured forms that direct one’s attention into the painting, and establishes a tension between the canvas surface and depth. Further, Iman’s works contain exaggerated stylized figures and a delightful sense of tranquility, intimacy and reflection. He seeks to capture an ideal moment, feeling or emotion, and in his work he presents a visual and psychological exploration into the intimate rituals of women as providers and mothers. ‘Selling Fish’ continues Iman’s family interest in the marketplace, yet here it suggests the daily routine necessary to provide sustenance. The painting ‘Time Out’ delves into the role of women as the source of love and protection, regardless whether they be mother, sister or aunt. However, the more intimate canvas ‘To Bed’ shows a much more ritualized image of motherhood, in which it is possible to detect suggestions of the Christian religious concept of the Virgin Mother and Child. Secret women’s rituals, to which men are excluded, are also suggested in the dramatic red painting ‘Whispers’, in which three women are depicted ‘relaxing’, and presumably sharing important secrets.
Roesli Hakim and Teguh Ritma Iman remain close as father and son, and as artists. A comparison of their works shows a remarkable continuity, and contrast, in their themes which mirrors a common heritage as well as expresses their individual experiences and characters. They also confirm that it is possible to pass down artistic talent from one generation to the next without compromising the integrity of either. The Ganesha Gallery presents a very dynamic exhibition, which can inspire and enrich all generations.
