Masterpieces: Homages for Famous Painters from the 20th Century
Paintings by Ketut Suta and Lucky.
At Adi’s Art Studio & Gallery, Jl. Bisma 102, Ubud.
Tel: 977104.
In his exhibition, ‘Masterpieces: Homages for Famous Painters from the 20th Century’, Adi Bachmann has realized a project which is very close to his heart. Using the skills of two local painters, Ketut Suta and Lucky, Adi presents 60 copies of famous paintings of the 20th Century. The show is a whirlwind trip through the History of 20th Century Art, and it presents copies of works of artists as diverse as Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Wassily Kandinsky, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Willem de Kooning.
Adi cites an exhibition by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in 2004, when over two hundred paintings from the 19th and 20th Century came from the New York gallery to Berlin, as having a great impact on his artistic life, and acting as the catalyst for his ‘Masterpieces’ exhibition. “It was like meeting old friends”, Adi says of the MOMA exhibition, “exchanging all the latest information and deepening friendships. The show was a never ending festival of visual sensations, clever thoughts and strong feelings”. Adi also says: “Long before the MOMA show in Berlin I collected big-sized prints and reproductions of original paintings. I bought masses of Art books and subscribed to Art Periodicals. The wish to collect Art, to be surrounded by Art, reached much further back than the MOMA exhibition, but, this show did give me an idea how it could be possible to set up my own collection”.
After coming to Ubud, and meeting local artists who were doing good copies, Adi’s project of setting up a collection of Masterpieces of the 20th Century was initiated. He wrote a list of 60 paintings and met with artist Ketut Suta, who lives in Penestanan. Ketut showed Adi copies from Gauguin, Rousseau, Picasso, Matisse, Miro, Delauney and Klee. Adi bought the seven paintings, and his ‘copies’ collection was off and running. An artist called Lucky, from Sulawesi, was to join Adi’s ‘Masterpieces’ team. These painters make reasonable copies which imitate the style of the original works. The paintings have a ‘removed’ quality which could be interpreted as contemporary ‘hyperrealism’, or current artistic ‘alienation’ and ‘emptiness’.
From the concept of the project Adi has wanted to share his ‘Masterpieces’ with as many people as possible. Adi sees the exhibition’s audience as: “Friends of visual art, artists, young art students, and high school students from all over Bali, who should all have the chance to learn and to enjoy”. Whendiscussing contemporary art, Adi feels it is important to look at the roots and backgrounds from where contemporary art evolves. Also, as all important paintings from the 20th Century are now in museums, or private collections, and are not available for spontaneous viewing, good copies can be a forceful visual aid when instructing in art history. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for art schools to encourage copying of historical paintings as an exercise for art students, to better understand the techniques of the ‘masters’.
A visit to Adi’s ‘Masterpieces’ show can be an educational experience for all, and, it will be especially helpful for local art students keen to learn more about the History of Modern Western Art. But, let’s face it, no matter how good these copies on display might be, nothing is as good as the ‘real’ thing!
Light Dance.
Paintings by Victoria Renaux.
At Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Resort, Jimbaran Bay. Tel: 701010.
The path of painter Victoria Renaux has been long and winding, and without a short recapitulation it is almost impossible to understand her convoluted lyrical paintings on silk. Victoria is a child of a Russian-Polish couple. She grew up in the Eastern Block during the period of the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev Era. As a young woman she fled to family in Paris, and began a new life working with children with learning disabilities. The big change in her life came a decade ago when she traveled to the Himalayas. There at the top of a mountain, in the small village of Ramgargh, in an ashram set up by the Indian mystic Aurobindo, she learned to meditate and began painting.
Within a few weeks of her arrival in Bali she was helping in an orphanage on the south of the island. The pace of life was too hectic, so she traveled to Singaraja and the far less developed north, where she introduced the young children of the Widhya Asih III orphanage to art. She did not teach them to paint in any particular style, but, urged them to explore their imaginations. The results were remarkable, and although the budding young artists were indirectly influenced by her art, their work was also very highly individual.
Victoria claims that her paintings are a direct extension of her meditation practices. As a result she refuses to sign them, feeling they belong to a far greater collective consciousness. Her surrealistic images are dominated by the human face and body swirling in vivid colors. Many of the paintings have a hallucinatory effect, and on some she has placed rune-like imaginary inscriptions. The works are spontaneous inner-visions from her altered state of consciousness. They also express a selfless compassion, mirrored in the mutual love that binds her to her seventeen young artists at Widhya Asih III.
