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Indonesian Art Today: Re-exploring Culture - May 2007
The exhibition is expected to encourage cultural exchange and enrich knowledge so that the understanding and friendship among countries can grow in harmony.
The involvement and attempt of two Italian artist : Lisa Borgiani and Massimo Nidini in organizing the exhibition shall not be forgotten and shall deserve some compliments. They are infinite steps in the journey of culture.
We thank the support from :
Dott. Giancarlo Montagnoli - Assessorato alle Politiche Giovanili Comune di Verona
Dott.ssa Luisa Caregaro – Presidente I° Circoscrizione Centro Storico, Verona
Ordine degli Architetti di Verona
Stage Office, Universita’ di Verona
A.S.C. - Academy School Contemporary
Indonesian Art Today: Re-exploring Culture
by Mikke Susanto
Various ideas and concepts have colored the development of modern art in Indonesia. Those ideas and concepts are traceable from the thematic issues of the works produced. They range from individual through social issues. In esthetic terms, what observable is the adaptation of modern Western styles and schools since the Beautiful-Indies era (19th century Dutch colonial period) up to now. According to M. Agus Burhan, a historian of Indonesian art, such adaptations reflect the metamorphosis and synthesis of ideas and esthetic forms known in Western art which have been adjusted to suit the socio-cultural contexts of Indonesia.
We are faced with quite a length of time when tracing the development of Indonesian modern art that includes the first generation of modern Indonesian painter, Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman of the nineteenth century (when Indonesia was a Dutch colony) through the latest generation you can encounter in this exhibition. They (those artists) consistently contribute new ideas and notions to the extent that the development of modern art in Indonesia is distinguishable from developments of similar field in other countries. In the exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum at the end of 2006, one of Indonesia’s art movements (namely Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru, launched in 1973 and last in 1979) was even regarded as part of significant developments in the Southeast Asia’s art. Many other achievements from the current Indonesian art are noteworthy including those by the Artists exhibiting here.
A Brief Review of Indonesian Art History
To see the progress of the Indonesian art of today, it would be advantageous for us to briefly review its previous developments.
Many observers mark the beginning of Indonesian modern painting with its first painter, Raden Saleh, who lived during the time when Indonesia was a Dutch colony. A son of a native aristocrat in Semarang, Central Java Province, Raden Saleh signified, in a particular way, the development of Indonesian art with Romanticism that was developing in Europe at the time. He received his art education and training by studying in Europe (the Netherlands, France and Germany) on a scholarship from the Dutch Government.
After Raden Saleh, Indonesian art evolved to Mooi-Indië (“beautiful Indies”) paintings. Those paintings promoted the theme of the beauty from Indonesia’s nature in the naturalistic rendering. The predominant painters of this period were well known Dutch and Indonesian painters such as Ernest Dezentje, Leo Eland, Basuki Abdullah, Sudjono Abdullah, Wakidi, and Maspirngadie.
These Artists found resistance from another circle of other Indonesian painters that believed Mooi Indie was inappropriate subject for Indonesian setting then. The revolutionary painters were Soedjojono, Agus Djaya, Affandi and some others who in 1938 founded a big organization called Persagi (Persatuan Akhli-akhli Gambar Indonesia – Indonesian Painters Association). They often voiced issues of nationalism and people’s struggle which then lead Indonesian paintings to the themes that later gain prominence in marking the school of Realism with subjects around the bitter reality of people’s life at the time. Later on, due to his verve to promote his conception that motivates nationalism, Soedjojono came to be regarded as “the founding father of Indonesian modern painting”.
Just before the Indonesian independence (1945), in the Japanese occupation era to be specific, there is an artistic development that form continuation of the patriotic spirit from the previous period. It is only after the Iindependence that art studios emerged in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya. Two outstanding studios at the time are SIM (Seniman Indonesia Muda) and Pelukis Rakyat Yogya, which openly carried the slogan of “art for the people”. Indirectly, this contributed to the emergence of populist themes in works to come.
In the 1960s populist oriented works, initiated by Lekra, an art organization that was related to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), appeared in the Indonesian art scene. However, the G30S movement in 1965 led to the ban of PKI and as a result, the populist oriented art was losing ground.
In the early ‘New Order’ era that followed, development in Indonesian art is oriented to individual forms with emphasis on feelings and emotions while employing elaborate techniques. Inclinations towards the abstract, decorative and expressionist painting – and also calligraphy – were striking. Most painters came from institutions of higher education in art, namely ASRI Art Academy in Yogyakarta (now ISI Yogyakarta) and ITB (Bandung Institute for Technology) in Bandung. Diversity and universal humanism branched out and cultivated.
Amid the thriving notion of universal humanism, year of 1974 made an alternative offer. A group of artists who called themselves Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia (Indonesian New Art Movement) challenged established painters. This movement incorporated varying forms and techniques, abandoned conventional works and took up projects of socio-political issues. Some observers remarked the group as an Indonesian manifestation of the Dada movement. The existence of this group contributed much to the vivacity of the Indonesian art scene in later periods.
The period from the 1980s through early 1990s: Indonesian art scene saw the dynamism of creative ideas around the media, conflicting schools of painting, and the early signs of the gaining role of art market marked by the painting boom by the end of the 1980s. The issue of ‘painting boom’ did not only have effects on artists (suddenly finding themselves among the rich, for instance) but also results in the phenomena of clustering, seclusion, centralization and impoverishment of works of art in the hands of some people (collectors).
What cannot be disregarded was of course a critical event in Indonesian politics known as Reformasi in 1998. The event and all its excesses provided rich source of inspirations for artists. In their role as artists, they poured their critics on the canvas about the state’s policies, social decadence, violence (both structural and physical). The emergence of works by Djoko Pekik, Agung Kurniawan, Hanura Hosea, FX Harsono, attributed and was very striking in the art scene of the period.
By the end of the 1990s through early 2000, the existence and capacity of contemporary Indonesian artists enter the international scale. The decade of 2000 hallmarks the attempt in artistic concepts colored with ideas of using technological media (audio-visual, disks, electromagnetic waves, cellular phone and the web), social problems like urban issues (including public art movement that has been fervent in the last 3-5 years), public art, globalization, post-traditions (exploration of batik and tradition empowerment), natural disasters, and other major issues such as the discovering of history which often being addressed at both national and international forums.
Re-exploring Culture
As I have mentioned, one of the significant developments in Indonesian art currently is the emerging issue of post-tradition. A great many artists do not only work on and empower or revitalize local traditions and cultures in the media of sophisticated technologies exclusively; but also, they maintain their use of conventional media too.
At this exhibition you can see at least five examples in Gusti Alit, Marsoyo, Wayan Sudjana, Wayan Sudiarta, and Zam Kamil who still engage local traditions and cultures in their creative processes. They do not manifest their dealing with the local traditions and cultures in merely visual terms but in terms of philosophical concepts as well. The subjects for their works include not only around culture and art but also daily activities in Indonesia.
The works by Gusti Alit Cakra are often given in the abstract-expressionist style. He features common figures and objects like fish, faces and distinct textures; the inspirations for which come from many different places in his environment. Some of such subjects are adopted from traditional motifs but many others are individual inventions. He usually works at the subjects freely, or he will render them in geometric forms while retaining the visualization of wild textures.
Marsoyo’s works tend to take notes of daily habits and activities in his environments in naïve-impressive rendering. The daily activities include raising pigeons, visiting the zoo, and the phenomena of ‘synthetic culture’ going around him. Some subjects in which ‘synthetic culture’ is featured include lovers’ scenes and people’s dreams. In a different perspective, Marsoyo’s works are the results of cultural exchange and synthesis now often involving artists of his age.
As for the works of Wayan Sudjana (Suklu), I consider them as a further development of the idea of post-tradition. His life (in Bali) that is enclosed by Hindu religious activities and traditions has to be synchronized with his global thinking. His works are the manifestations of his creative “resistance”. He resists while creates a new strategy and creativeness regarding traditional art in Bali. In such spirit he expresses resistance through his fervent individual style: lines to convey universal issues.
Wayan Sudiarta’s works easily convey to us the notion of cultural re-exploration. With his obvious verbal visualization, Wayan Sudiarta shows the way by his rich varying visualization of Balinese dancers. With his dynamic compositions, he offers tradition as a topic that is lovely, natural, and glamorous. The weaving gestures of the dancers seem to send the message of the restiveness of the local culture amid the assault of various contemporary problems, as well as expressing the lack of creativity in the traditionalists.
Zam Kamil uses the movements of body to offer his personal notes on various matters. His emphasis falls on the media instead of his subjects. Over all, his works seem to maintain that the body is the most honest language, the most significant means to convey ideas, claims, protests, and feelings. The culture that he mines is featured through the mediation of the body.
Observing the various themes created by these five artists, the most striking point is the emergence of various styles. Despite of their being conventional in terms of techniques, they show the potential of exploring one culture. It could be because they are children of the times, exposed to various events as well as the ooze of the history of Indonesian art. At least, when the culture they face transforms, they are part of the transformation. And in the current development of art in Indonesia, they are among the young emerging artists who begin to play their parts in a major development. Enjoy …..
Mikke Susanto
A lecturer at the Faculty of Art, Indonesian Institute of the Arts, ISI Yogyakarta
