Paintings by Peter Dittmar
At Gaya Art Space, Jl. Raya Sayan, Ubud. Tel: 979252
In the catalogue notes to this exhibition, art critic, Jean Couteau, suggests that when speaking of abstraction in art, what most often comes to mind is the idea of a visual language reduced to a core of aesthetic elements, or, of a focus on ‘form’ for its own sake, without the encumbrance of a narrative located beyond the canvas. However, the lack of a narrative does not necessarily mean the absence of a message. Numerous pioneers of Western abstract art in the early 20th century, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Kasimir Malevich, were concerned about the relationship between color and form, and the understanding of their spiritual and psychological effects. Abstract art was to them the visual formulation of a spiritual and mystical quest.
Born in Munich in 1945, Peter Dittmar came in contact with Hindu-Buddhist beliefs in the 1970s, when he went to India to explore the then current Eastern ideas that were entering the minds of Western youth in spiritual revolt. For the Hindu-Buddhist, the world is in perpetual motion, and man, as a component of this world, can only achieve release by adapting his ethics and deeds to its cosmic rhythm. Peter Dittmar’s spiritual leanings took him to practice Japanese Zen Buddhism, and his art is an expression of his Zen inspired quest for an ideal ‘stillness-cum-void’ which finds its translation in a minimalist manner. However, it would be wrong to suggest that Dittmar is a minimalist, because his paintings are more inward looking, contemplative, and emotionally driven, than to strict adherence to the minimalist aesthetic.
In his current exhibition, ‘Colour Windows’, Peter Dittmar aims to evoke a sense of concentration and stillness through very carefully graduated tonal colours, which are enclosed in regular geometric squares. These abstract geometric paintings are intended to symbolize the encounter the beholder may have with the absolute stillness of the ‘Void’, and, the works aim to consciously evoke Hindu-Buddhist symbolism. Whether hung individually, such in the canvases ‘Colour Windows Number OO and NN’, or in groups of two, four or six (‘Colour Windows four and six Combinations’) the paintings conjure up the notion of meditative Mandalas. In all these works the viewer is led to a central focal point through an extremely cultured application of geometric proportions. (Peter Dittmar says that he is following the ‘Golden Section’, also known as the ‘Divine Proportions’). The works combine sophisticated plays of tonal coloration and patterning, along with intriguing optical illusions created through protruding and receding space distortions. The paintings take us ever deeper into an ultimate ‘stillness-cum-void’, and all the works can be best understood as vehicles for meditation.
These paintings are not ‘coloured windows’ of the visible world but are ‘coloured windows’ for the mind. As American art critic Clement Greenberg put it, ‘where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine oneself walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into which one can look, and can travel through, only with the eye’.
Kendra @ SilQ
Group Exhibition of Paintings
At Kendra Gallery @ SilQ, Jl. Petitengent, Kerobokan.
Tel: 736628
Following the success of their Basangkasa gallery, the Kendra Gallery has opened a new subsidiary gallery within the environs of the ‘SilQ’ complex of private residences and villas, situated in Kerobokan. The exhibition mounted to launch this new venue takes the form of a collection of works from their ‘stable’ of artists. It is a small, but, rather impressive show, and it could best be regarded as a brief survey of current Indonesian art trends.
Primarily concerned with making us aware of the beauty within mundane things, the Javanese artist Pras employs semiotic techniques to observe the ‘cause and effect’ of simple everyday objects. In the black and white painting ‘The Giver of Sound’, a silhouette of a bird suggests its call, but, though this sound might be harmonious to human beings, for the bird it is a necessary system of warning and alarm. A form of survival of the fittest.
In the large pink and white painting ‘Ingin Jalan-Jalan’, neo-expressionist painter S. Teddy D. employs broad, bold, brushstrokes to capture a pedestrian casually walking by, however, the gusto within which the canvas is executed brings to rise suggestions of street graffiti and street ‘credibility’.
Hints of street graffiti is also present in the work of Ismanto Wahyudi, in his canvas ‘Diplomacy through Art’. Yet, Ismanto’s art also seems influenced by Japanese Manga comic books. These images of people, machinery and animals molded together will have appeal to a young and ‘hip’ generation.
Current modes of ‘Realism’ are displayed in the show as well. Nico Vrielink presents several portraits, the most interesting being ‘Kim 1’, which contains an exquisite model placed within a beautifully proportioned composition. Hyperrealist Nyoman Wijaya contributes one of his superb allegoric pieces, ‘Percakapan Terakhir’, which subtly contemplates the fate of cows, while Italian artist, and Bali resident, Filippo Sciascia, presents an outstanding painting, ‘Lux 24’, in which the face of his lovely model struggles to emerge from the heavy black and white impasto paint lavishly applied to the canvas.
Regular visitors to the Kendra Gallery will be familiar with these artists and their works, however, it is always refreshing to see these artists and their paintings anew, in a different location, and under different circumstances.
