Paintings by Pras
At Kendra Gallery, Jl. Drupadi 88B, Basangkasa,
Seminyak. Tel: 736628
Bali based Javanese artist Irawan Prasetyo, better known as Pras, was born in Jogyakarta in 1974, and he studied there at the Indonesian Academy of Communications. In his exhibition, ‘Giving’, Pras presents objects and animals from nature and everyday life, painted in a muted palette of black, grey, white, beige and brown. Pras has previously stated: “Ordinary objects which I see around me, the common things I notice of everyday life, have become the starting points of my work. I then develop, restructure and compose them based on my own understanding”. A tree, a cow, or a chicken, Pras believes, must be painted with total awareness in order to eternalize them as universal symbols of everyday life. To express the world of mundane objects in a meaningful way requires considerable creative thinking, artistic processes, and a very great conceptual consciousness.
Pras’ paintings are rendered in an impressionistic style. Seeing the paintings is like watching a photograph come up in a developing tray. They are half-developed, blurred ‘shadows’ of the real thing. The imagery is cropped, simplified, and ‘washed-out’. Pras has a desire to intensify our awareness of the image. This technique of painting the subjects in a ‘washed-out’ manner creates the desire to mentally comprehend images which the eye alone cannot capture. There is an important active role for the viewer, which is to decipher the ‘shadowy’ images that give rise to perceptions of curiosity and symbolism. The essences of Pras’ images are shrouded in layers of mystery.
In the catalogue essay which accompanies the exhibition, the Indonesian art critic Hardiman sweeps away the‘mystery’ surrounding Pras’ paintings by analyzing his work in two semiotic concepts. Firstly, Hardiman suggests that the paintings draw our attention to the relationship between a ‘Sign’ and what it is ‘Signifying’. That this relationship is concrete and actual. There is a ‘Narrative’, so to speak, between the ‘Sign’ and the ‘Signified’. Hardiman refers to this ‘Narrative’ as an ‘Index’. The most familiar example of an ‘Index’ being a footprint, which implies a person has passed through somewhere. The sound of a knock at the door can also be an ‘Index’ of the presence of a person. An ‘event’ has been instigated and a ‘reaction’ will occur. The door will be opened. Between the ‘event’ and the ‘reaction’ lies the ‘Narrative’. The subtle intellectual understanding of want will transpire.
Secondly, Hardiman suggests that Pras’ paintings explore the semiotic relationship between Nature and Culture. Through a process of social understanding, Nature can be adapted by Culture to fulfill the needs of daily human functions. Some of Pras’ subject-matter, such as trees, cows and chickens, can be regarded as ‘natural realities’ that provide us with shade, milk and food. No human is involved in the process of shaping this reality. But, once humans become involved, a Cultural process begins that goes hand in hand with subverting the course of Nature. Turning ‘natural realities’, such as trees, cows and chickens, into ‘Givers’ or ‘Providers’, fulfilling human expectations and conditionings. As Hardiman states: “Nature cannot stand on its own as a Giver. The cultural process is essential to turn nature into the Giver”. This cultural process is brought about by the range of human life necessities. Via this cultural process nature is deconstructed to provide something of benefit to human and other life forms. This cultural process continually perfects itself with no conclusion, and, it is this cultural process that Pras attempts to record in his paintings.
In the painting ‘Giving Milk’, for example, our perception is awakened to the association of meaning, or the ‘Index’ or ‘Narrative’, which exists between the cow and its ability to ‘Give’ milk for the benefit of humans. Similarly, the ‘Narrative’ between the egg and the chicken is emphasized in the work ‘Telur, Ayam’. Scrutiny of the painting ‘Giving Protection’ reveals considerable cultural processes at play. Here, Pras creates an impression of protection by depicting the ruffling of a hen’s feathers. The chicken is only represented by a pair of feet. Protection is a means of ensuring the chicken’s growth, yet, in terms of cultural processes, the preservation of the chicken is essential in its role as an object of human consumption, and as a viable commodity. Further ‘Indexes’, or ‘Narratives’, are revealed in the works ‘Enlightened’ and ‘Penyambung’. Candles and needles are highlighted as functional objects. They are objects which make something happen. Candles provide light and make rooms bright, while a needle turns two separate pieces of cloth into a single unit. Finally, in the work ‘Transparansi’ Pras presents an ‘Index’ exploring the life and death cycles to be found in nature. These falling leaves can imply a ‘Narrative’ concerning nature being eroded, or ground down, by human exploitation.
To quote Pras’ concept for his exhibition: “Maybe the various objects in the environment around us are reflections of the relationship between humans and nature, or of what we have done up until now. As we are realizing, the capacity of humans, which is abundantly blessed and useful for creating, is progressively evolving. The opposite is also true, our capacity to destroy is also expanding”. Throughout his exhibition Pras is successfully utilizing a variety of ‘Signs’, in which the breadth of his chosen ‘Indexes’ direct our thoughts, in a subtle way, towards the connotations he wishes us to consider.
