Orientation:

Indonesian and Dutch painters show different directions

By Carla Bianpoen

Amidst the celebrations to mark Indonesia's golden jubilee, a group of Indonesian and Dutch artists are presenting their visions of today's realities and needs. Back to basics is the message that comes through to the attentive visitor to the exhibition, which was organized by the Yogya-based Cemeti Contemporary Art Gallery and the Gate Foundation in Amsterdam.
In contrast to their senior colleagues, these artists were born and educated in post-colonial times. They are therefore relatively free of colonial bias and have been able to develop themselves without any strings or burdens of conscience. As is evident in their works, their concerns have taken in different directions, with the Indonesians on their way foreward and the Dutch on their way back in search of childhood nostalgia. It is true that they share the same idea to basics, the Indonesian artists more as a comment or critique to socio-political situations, while the Dutch seem to have had enough of the abundance and sophistication of a welfare state. In reaction, they seem to prefer a return to the earlier stages of art expression (such as working with pencil) and ultimately to childlike spontaneity.
In the spirit of goodwill that marks the Independance celebrations in Indonesia, the organizers have made great strides in keeping an adequate equilibrium in everything related to this exhibition, such as a balance in the number of participants from either side, in the speakers, and in the placing of the national colours. Unfortunately the balance slipped heavily to one side in the team of curators, with only one Indonesian curator out of a total of six. The Indonesian artists include Anusapati, known for his sculptures of wooden objects; Andar Manik, a ceramist and sculptor; Heri Dono, a painter, whose critiques are often leavened by a touch of humor; Nindityo Adipurnomo, a painter/dancer, obsessed with his Javanese roots; and Judhi Soerjoatmodjo, a photographer and ex- journalist who has embarked on creating art with his photographs.

Exploitation
Anusapati's installation entitled Presence versus Exploit is a warning about forest exploitation. "Boxes" of bare wood filled with rare fruits are put on stands. Carved leaves on the open lids of the boxes underline the work's enviromental concern. Over each box is a lightbulb to serve as a warning signal. Andar Manik's installations relate to his views on communications, the transfer of historical facts, the risks of false transmissions, but also the importance of truth, honesty, and the genuine communication between the people of the world. Clay, earth, wood and an old fridge as well as a map of the world are the attributes he uses to bring out his view of how things are and how they should be.
Heri Dono's installations in one way or the other contain a critique of what he finds wrong in the world around him. One of his installations consists of fifteen fibre glass dolls each in a krupuk barrel, a way to comment on trammelled freedom.

Ninditiyo Adipurnomo is more absorbed by culture, Javanese culture that is. In some way, he says, Javanese culture is intriguing because of its introvert nature, its esoteric mystique. The concept of harmony and the denial of any open confrontation can at times be burdensome. Symbolic of all this is the Javanese Condé, a women's hairpiece which "makes" the Javanese attire. The condé, says Ninditiyo, is like Javanese culture. Its round or oval form always looks regular, it has an air of breeding, denoting class and social standing. It fascinates and triggers off one's curiosity of what would be inside the hairpiece, the way Javanese intrigue. But it can also be exacting, particularly when changing lifestyles require a woman to be mobile. Nindityio's installation Siapa Takut pada Orang Jawa (Who is afraid of Javanese people), connects the condé with the bonang, the principal instrument in a gamelan. Yudhi Soerjoatmodjo's photographs deal with the last moments in his grandmother's life. When these shown at earlier exhibitions it was his personal relationship with his granny which stood out, the pictures are now used as a medium of artistic display.

Dutch artists
The Dutch participants in the display are Gijs Frieling, a painter whose art reflects reality with an imaginary touch; Paul Klemann whose medium is drawing; Cock Sjardijn, a painter whose works reflect themes reminiscent of images in the world of children; and Mark Manders, a sculptor whose expressions in the mixed media are among the most interesting being produced by Dutch artists.
Apart from their excellent skill in pencil drawings, the Dutch participants seem to be in a stage of searching for new ways of art expression and, in their experimentation have found their way back to childlike expressions.
Quite different are the works of Erszebet Baerveldt, who shows a high level of ability to combine various media and whose artistic activities may stem from an immense urge to recreate the past. Such is tangible in all of her art, be it in pencil, paint, sculpture, or video.
Her video in this exhibit is considered a masterpiece. Featuring herself trying to put life into a sculpture, but in the end she can do nothing to prevent the sculpture from falling apart. It is an ode to the past, grief for the irrevocableness of life and death.
Her passion for the past is also evident in her works of women whose personal histories have somehow remained in the dark. Take the Mona Lisa of her photo-sculpture, she made a head sculpture which she put over her head, then sat at the window and made the "self-portrait".
Even more intense are her efforts to transform herself into Erszebet Bathory from 16th century Hungary. In her own time Bathory was accused of vampirism, bathing in the blood of young girls to retain her youthful beauty. Reading every single publication about her muse, the artist seems to have been imbued with an intense desire to understand the person behind the name, and eventually become Bathory herself. She does everything to that end. She has taken the same given name, sews herself dresses like Bathory's, she even changed her hair line.
In the end one can not help getting this eerie feeling that she might be affected by a form of hallucination, or maybe she is Bathory incarnate who wants to redress the accusation made in the 16th century ?
Whatever it is, there is no doubt that the past is a source of forceful inspiration for this young artist who, at 26, is already an artist of renown, at least in the Netherlands. "She is known to practically all the galleries", says Mrs. Reuten of the Reuten Galerie in Amsterdam, who represents this artist in this event.

Carla Bianpoen is a free-lance journalist.