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The Epilogue Of A Kampong - October 2007
Marsoyo - The Painter Of Joy
By Calvin Tan
The development of Indonesian painting after Independence has been marked by an explicit engagement with social and political issues. From the 1950s/60s, many of the key figures in Indonesian modern art from the art centres of Bandung and Yogyakarta started to turn towards traditional Indonesian culture as a source of inspiration for art creation. This departure from the western figurative idioms was also part and parcel of the growth of a distinctively Indonesian or national culture. Of the pioneers, artists like Affandi, Hendra Gunawan, and especially Sujana Kerton, have found in the lives of the common people an endless source of creative material. Rather than painting the powerful and the priviledged, the modern masters identified with the farmer, the trader, the fishermen, the itinerant musician etc. Since the last two years, the Indonesian art market has seen the dramatic rise of a new stream of artists like the Jendela group, who have rejected the presentation of social-political concerns in favour of a formalist aesthetic beauty that delights in defying any attempt at interpretation.
In this sense, the work of Marsoyo is a return to the mainstay of Indonesian art, namely its active engagement with the locally distinctive and its empathy for the joys and sorrows of the common people. Marsoyo’s earlier work recalls the humorous observations of social life-children playing with birds, riding a horse, a night at the wayang, among others. Like Sujana Kerton before him, Marsoyo relishes the value of simple pleasures. He sees humans as social creatures, and hence rarely paints solitary figures. In earlier paintings like ‘Wayang Golek’ and ‘Wayang Festival’ from 2005, he paints scenes of social gathering, where commoners from his native Java celebrate local holidays. In this exhibition, works like ‘Panjat Pinang (Maypole)’ continue his interest in scenes of group celebrations.
Technique-wise, his frequent use coloured planes to compose his figures and landscapes rather than smooth graduated colour blends lends a level of abstraction to the works. It seems to connote that he is painting a class of people rather than distinct named individuals. The open mouths of his figures, both male and female, as seen in ‘Mencari satu titk harapan (Finding A Ray of Hope)’ also appears predominantly in many earlier works. These have a satirical quality though he clearly also has great affection for his subjects.
This latest series of works in the exhibition adds a new more subtle dimension to his body of work with the inclusion of paintings like ‘Menunggu tumbuh (Waiting For Spring)’ and ‘Mencari pencerahan (Searching For Enlightenment)’. In the former, a sage-like figures cradles in his hands a new sapling, while around him lie the ruins of a forest laid bare. The colour palette is stripped down and a deliberate attempt has been made to constrain his usual decorative impulse, lending an air of gravity to the work. The solitary figure appears for the first time now in his work. Clearly the world of these new works is not that of the hustle and bustle of social life but rather than introspective inner world of the mind and the heart. This new meditative, inward turn enriches Marsoyo’s work and marks a new stage in his artistic development for which his journey is just beginning.
Calvin Tan
curator and researcher with an interest in the contemporary art of island Southeast Asia
