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Transformation - October 2005
Gusti Alit Cakra was born in Tabanan, Bali, 1964.
A type of fine art work that often becomes the target of “meaning seekers” or critics who tend to give negative or cynical judgment to any fine art work usually is an abstract. This type of fine art work that often gives no entry point for evaluation is considered by these cynical critics as too technical work and “dumb”. Generally, these critics instantly judge that an abstract work relies too much on technical manipulation and is often “dumb”. Such a kind of art work, according to these critics, is not offering intellectual enjoyment and intuition, and that it has no deep perception. Even, these critics arrogantly, those critics comment that an abstract art work is an instant work. This is a comment commonly raised by critics who do not understand the complexity of the processes in creating fine art works.
The fine art works created by Gusti Alit Cakra , born in Bali in 18 August 1964, a graduate of the Indonesian Institute of Arts, ISI Yogyakarta, who currently lives in Yogyakarta, in my opinion, are easily categorized as the above mentioned type of fine art works. His art works are of regularly rhythmical patterned. Different from what has been viewed by these cynical critics, Alit’s works offer different images of interesting creative processes as they show different levels of tensions. In my observation, Gusti Alit is such a persistent fine artist. As an artist with strong Balinese cultural background, he has totally incriminated in a strong Javanese cultural influence, particularly that of Yogyakarta’s cultural setting. It seems he has also come to a new awareness in different space and time, the significant aspect that contribute positively to his creative processes of transformation.
In his course of understanding the Yogyakarta’s culture, whether he is aware or not, Gusti Alit has transformed ideas, forms, identity and tradition which are of dynamic, back and forth and they sometimes get into conflicts. Eventually, he has come to a point of “sublime” in which he has set himself free from any traps of values, signs of any traditions, that makes him find a new way of expressing his creative measures. It is a sublime that is only achieved by someone who can understand problems, contemplate and then seek the solution. To take distance from his own cultural background like what Gusti Alit has accomplished gives him wider opportunities to either deny or negotiate with the new cultural setting. This is the place where he earns a new way of expressing his fine art creation.
Every step taken in his creative processes, which accommodates cuts of his art orientations is always reflected in both visible and invisible forms of his art works. Gusti Alit has explored problems, events, themes, or ideas whether they are visible or invisible and then put them together. What we can see from his art works is that he expresses “what he can observe” and “what he feels” that establish patterns that tend to look similar.
When he is obsessed by “ikan dan bubu” or fish and bubu, a bamboo-made equipment to trap fish, we can understand that this art work reflects what he has come across with an event, either factual one or imagination. An event of a fish being trapped in a bubu has been used to personify (that can be) himself, who is being trapped in someone else’s “power”. To many people, a fine art practice is often seen as merely a matter of sensing, visualizing, conducting and intuition. As a matter of fact, the truth is such a such a long complicated process. “However, I don’t care with that complicated matters and I am happy as a fish being trapped in a bubu”, Gusti Alit remarks.
With his remark, Alit does not position himself as a tragic victim. Instead, he voluntarily keeps on searching aesthetic traps for anyone else to enjoy, to analyze, to accept, or to deny them. Alit’s fine art works generally show his such efforts, which can be seen through a number of indicators, such as his regular patterns and controlled emotion. These two aspects give strong impression that his art works become sterile from a matter of fooling around or any possible wild expression. This might be his best way of communicating “things” which are either visible or invisible crossing in his mind. They cross each other through denotative meaning such as his work titled “Ikan dan Perangkap” or (Fish and Trap) whereas the connotative meaning can be seen in “Yang Masih Tersisa” (The remains), “Terjebak” (Trapped) , “Terkurung” (Surrounded) or “Tanah Leluhur” (Inherited Land). Both meanings contain common visual characteristic; fish, bubu, a trap, or land. However, they show different progress, emphasis, depth (in feeling). The work “Terkurung” for example, exposes powerlessness, the orange colors at the left and right sides turn out a steel bar that discourages passion. On the other hand, “Terjebak” exposes loose melting colors with black space at the left and right sides that push as if it showed burning rebellious spirits. Of course, this reading is an arbitrary evaluation. Anyway, isn’t it the nature of fine art works that offer spaces to uncover the hidden meaning ?
Gusti Alit’s fine art works, to me, are accumulation of mature in transforming ideas, fine art pattern with sublimes over problems and ideas. Alit has apparently abandoned his main sources of Balinese icons and has gone beyond “talking and offering” wider problems namely how to deal with “power” and “hegemony”. Power and hegemony in any forms often trap an artist’ capability since they cause an absence of smart and balanced communication and negotiation.
Gusti Alit has successfully transformed any forms in such a way in order to give wider meaning. His art works offer symbolic and metaphoric constructs indicating how problems, passion or anything can be transformed very well. From this point, those symbolic and metaphoric constructs are to encourage him and other people to promote and transform their sensitivity. And, I do believe that the sensitivity will save anyone from arrogant and anarchic attitudes in giving judgment, evaluation, and proportional appreciation towards anybody’s fine art works.
Suwarno Wisetrotomo
Fine Art Critic
Lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Art - The Indonesian Institute of Arts, ISI, Yogyakarta.
