Paintings by Chusin Setiadikara
At Kendra Gallery, Jl. Drupadi 88B, Basangkasa,
Seminyak. Tel: 736628
Chusin Setiadikara was born in Bandung in 1949, and, in his exhibition, ‘Realisme Chusin: Realitas Artifisial’, the paintings on display depict a vision of the world which is perhaps related to, but, very different from, everyday human reality. The canvases highlight the ease with which ‘realistic’ photographic imagery can be constructed, modified, or even cut out and reassembled with the use of computer software programs.
The Indonesian art critic, Asmudjo Irianto, states in the accompanying catalogue that it’s “undeniable that Chusin develops his works from photographs. Yet, to call them photorealist paintings is probably incorrect”. Rather, Chusin understands the potential of computer software programs to modify images. He chooses to change and reconstruct his images from computer manipulated digital photographs during the process of conceptualizing and creating his canvases in order to achieve a vision that is optically and conceptually ‘new’. Chusin does not wish for the process of painting to be achieved simply through the artist’s vision, or an older form of representation or even the skills of the hand. He is open to all new forms of technical influences. Whatever the subjects Chusin investigates in his paintings, be it matters of technique, concept, or social-political issues, he aims to create a form of ‘computer manipulated reality’, which has, as its basis, photographic realism.
Chusin’s painting of children, ‘Three Boys’, has an air of mystery. The world of childhood for adults is always a world that is hard to comprehend. Rational grownups have trouble capturing the reality of a child’s world. With his display of children, Chusin is reminding us of the existence of the world of children, a world that may well not be ‘real’ in adult perceptual terms. The doll-like faces of the children stare at us from large, innocent eyes, framed by pink, blue and grey skin. These are portraits of children from a ‘digital reality’. Similarly, in the work ‘A Fish, a Girl and her Young Brother’, the siblings are presented in front of an emaciated fish. However, the implications of this painting suggest the ‘reality’ of the children in which fish may be their only form of nourishment or livelihood.
Social criticism, in the form of a commentary on the economic crisis that is currently affecting Indonesia, and the world at large, can also be found in the canvas ‘Street Boy’. Here, a dejected youth is depicted surrounded by images of motorbikes. An object of desire, which, in all likelihood, the boy will never obtain. In this painting Chusin’s social realism takes the form of symbolism and metaphor.
Included in the exhibition are also two nudes entitled ‘Misty’ and ‘Red Shirt’. Even though the paintings are based on photographs, they don’t aim to be portraits of the models. Chusin stylizes and modifies the images of the women, who confront and frontally face the audience, and have blue skin and look enigmatic. They appear to be veiled by a concealing mist. However, it’s possible that these images could represent Chusin’s dejection about the Indonesian Anti-Pornography Laws. Perhaps Chusin’s female nude paintings in the future will become increasingly more vague and indistinct.
Through his technique of manipulating digital imagery, and then transferring the results to the canvas, Chusin has achieved rather well in creating a new domain of reality. A domain into which he can pour his anxieties, protests, hopes and dreams!
This Oriented 2nd Stage
Digital Art by Matteo Basile
At Biasa Art Space, Jl. Raya Seminyak 34, Seminyak.
Tel: 8475766
Matteo Basile is another artist who is involved with digital photography. Born in Rome in 1974, Basilé has been working towards a new system of productive meaning. Basilé combines photography with avant-garde technology as a means to research the processes of self and social discovery. The artist spent the last two years in South Eastern Asia, specifically on the Island of Bali.
‘This Oriented 2nd Stage’, currently exhibited at Biasa Art Space, is the second chapter of a project that Basilé presented at the 53rd Venice Biennial (2009) in the Italian Pavilion. ‘This Oriented 2nd Stage’ can be regarded as the actual pivotal moment in which the artist signals the Asian geographical area as the epicenter of a cultural revolution, which is threatening the established social pyramid. Within Basilé’s work can be found a strong desire to reconcile the opposite senses of integration and alienation. This characterizes the side of those who experience life outside their original environment, and, also, epitomizes a more general pursuit for identity and meaning within the contradictory dynamics of globalization today.
Consequently, in works such as ‘Lost’ and ‘This Oriented People 4, 5 and 8’, we are confronted by dark and moody images. Sometimes theatrical, sometimes sentimental, and sometimes somber and daunting, the visual language is a combination of Asian symbolism integrated with more traditional European cultural icons. Basilé creates a narrative which drives us on different planes of comprehension, both sensorial and intellectual, where we find ourselves suddenly aware of new aspects of reality that are usually concealed within our inner-selves.
Matteo Basilé’s work enables him to assimilate the essence of his environments, which specifically permeate the existence of the Balinese, and Europeans and Asians in general. The artist succeeds very well in integrating the visible with the invisible under a common cultural umbrella that galvanizes both East and West.
