Paintings and Sculpture by Gede Arya Sucitra and Nyoman Agus Wijaya
At Komaneka Art Gallery, Jl. Monkey Forest, Ubud
Tel: 976090
Currently, the Komaneka Art Gallery is having a lot of fun with a rather humorous exhibition, entitled ‘Friend or Foe’. The unlikely alliance of images of cows and dogs on display seems comfortable at first, but somewhat off-kilter. Omnipresent in the attitudes and treatments of the two domesticated creatures, is the invisible hand of man. A puzzling triangle emerges when attempting to define the relationship between cow, dog and man. The facade of ambivalent co-existence is questioned. Is this a mutually beneficial arrangement, or is there an undercurrent of antagonism and exploitation? Are Men, Cows and Dogs Friends or Foes?
Painter Gede Arya Sucitra was born in Denpasar, and he is a graduate of Yogyakarta’s Indonesian Arts Institute. For Sucitra the image of the cow elicits many ideas about freshness, rolling green pastures, of prosperity, motherhood, living the good life, and even laziness. Sucitra’s cows talk to us through their expressions and gestures. Despite dairy farming being negligible in comparison to beef farming in Bali, TV ads have successfully hammered in that cows are synonymous with fresh milk. Sucitra finds it important to reconnect the act of drinking milk with the cow that produced it. “When pouring a glass of milk, we need to remember the cow”, says Sucitra, “that is why in the painting ‘Milky Blueberry’ I’ve inserted a cow into this glass of fresh blueberries and milk!”
Sucitra tried to be vegetarian and failed. While he gives thanks to the blessings of the cow, as a Hindu to abstain from eating beef bothers him. This has led Sucitra to re-examine why cows are considered holy, and to re-evaluate his personal attitudes towards the cow. It has led him to contemplate energy-intensive cattle farming. “I read in a newspaper that cow farming is one of the major culprits of global warming”, Sucitra says, “and it struck me that the farting of a million cows is probably equivalent to millions of smokers. Men are just as dangerous to nature”. In Sucitra’s painting ‘Cold War’ three pugnacious cows look over and through blocks of ice. This frigid stare could be seen as a comment on global warming, or as an icy indication about how cows feel about their place in the food chain.
Sculptor Nyoman Agus Wijaya was born in Tabanan, and he is also a graduate of Yogyakarta’s Indonesian Arts Institute. Wijaya chose to explore dogs because in Yogyakarta, as a student, he was not allowed to keep dogs as pets. He missed the dogs that roamed so freely in his village. Wijaya decided to make life-sized statues of them from stainless-steal. Wijaya’s sculptures signal a kind of yearning. A presentation to us of all the things we love about dogs. Dogs at play, dogs running around, dogs lazing about. Wijaya stresses the metal by hitting it with a hammer or by making holes through it with a metal cutter or blowtorch. These dogs play, fight, leap, and keep the world at bay. They are honest creatures and show their origins. In pieces such as ‘New Generation’ and ‘Looking Back’, the dogs’ shapes, poses and attitudes reveal them to be the common breed of mongrels that claim the streets of Bali. However, their metallic, jagged, and ruptured surfaces remind us that these dogs carry many diseases, in particular Rabies, and can offer a definite threat to mankind. Nyoman Wijaya’s canines take up prominent positions in the gallery, jealously guarding the paintings of Gede Sucitra, but, it is unclear whether the dogs are holding the cows on canvas hostage, or guarding their safety.
An Intelligent World
Woodcuts by Made Saryana and Mega Sari
At Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Resort, Jimbaran Bay Tel: 701010
The graphic arts such as etchings, lithographs and woodcuts, have attracted little interest in Indonesia, where collectors have long been obsessed with painting. However, this has been changing in recent years, as proven by the exhibition ‘An Intelligent World’, which features two Balinese artists, Made Saryana and Mega Sari, who purposely choose the technically challenging art of woodcutting.
Both artists cite similar reasons for choosing this medium. “I like this technique because of the unique textures that result from layering”, says Saryana. Works like ‘Baris Dance’ and ‘Barong’ show his complex and vibrant compositions inspired by Balinese daily life and imagery, executed with a sense of an extremely keen wit.
Mega Sari, a female artist from Tabanan, says that “the challenge of making a good woodcut is in the details”. While her colors are subtler and subjects more lyrical, her works, such as ‘Rice Goddess’ and ‘Searching for Prey’, display the same characteristics that attracted the likes of Albrecht Durer and Hokasai to practice the first form of printing multiples. The Japanese connection is seen in the rich textures and stylized reality of the images but also in her bold arrangements.
While both artists share the themes of Balinese daily life, Sari also loves ‘still life’. For those who claim that woodcut is a foreign import, a study of the similarities between the technique of using copper, and sometimes wood blocks, to apply wax to make batik, is a clear precursor that proves there is a local precedent that gives a powerful foundation for the merger of different traditions to the benefit of both.
