Karya I Nyoman Erawan

Curatorial Text for Exhibitions “real[i]ti,  at Vanessa Artlink Jakarta Indonesia

The art in Bali is showing symptoms of the development of realistic painting, mostly evident in the works by young artists. Looking back into the past, Balinese art has actually been showing symptoms of realistic art; as evident in the birth of the Pita Maha school of painting, and then in the works by Ubud painters who used the plastic anatomy of the paintings by W. Spies and R. Bonnet. The art has also led to the birth of such artists as I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, whose works reveal the plastic anatomy of the human body, although still containing the wayang-style and the use of outlines.

If one analyzes further the basic concepts in Balinese art, which derives its inspiration from the spirit of Balinese Hindu, there has actually been a spirit to “reveal” (realize) something that is abstract and imaginary; rendering it thus into real forms. This can be seen in the representative shapes pertaining to the Hindu religion in Bali, such as in the sculptures of the gods, barong, and rangda. These objects, which the Balinese consider sacred, have taken shape out of the Balinese effort to give shape to the abstract concepts in the Hindu religion of the Balinese. The forms are representative in nature and contain symbolic meanings. Therefore, the realistic tendency in the (traditional) Balinese art has not been based on the mimesis principle of Plato and Aristotle, which was the basis of the development of the realism tendency in the West.

The realistic forms in Balinese art play a role only as a path or mediator for the understanding of the religious concepts (in Balinese Hindu). In this context, the reality does not contain the concept about materials, but instead is the manifestation of the abstract and imaginary. It is this concept that forms the basis of realistic art in Bali among the Pita Maha artists and their followers. This is evident in how their works are mostly focused not on the formal awareness or visual language, but instead on the narrative contained within.

It is worth noting here the presence of Sanggar Pejeng under the painter Dullah, Sanggar Kamboja in Denpasar, and especially Sanggar Senin Kamis in Sanur led by the artist Chusin Setiadikara. They all constitute a phenomenon that can be understood as forming the initial symptoms of the emergence of realist painting in Bali, which applies the methods and techniques of (Western) realism—based on the mimesis theory: The awareness about the importance of human anatomy and proportion as well as of perspective, which in principle tries to reveal or transfer the reality in the nature to the plane of the canvas. They have a strong awareness regarding the corporeal reality in the nature.

In the subsequent period, the artists who are engaged with the realist paintings are mostly young painters emerging in the early 2000s. Their works betray the link between realist painting and the technology of photography and digital software such as the Photoshop program. These techniques become an integral part of the creative process of these artists. In this domain, the issue presented is that of the representation of reality rendered in the medium of painting.

Realistic painting initially served as a medium to present reality according to the mimesis technique (or realism). In its development, when photography came and progressed rapidly, the role of realistic painting shifted due to the technological development. Walter Benjamin in his essay, “The Work of Art and Mechanical Reproduction”, explained: “For the first time in the process of pictorial reproduction, photography freed the hand of the most important artistic functions which henceforth developed only upon the eye looking into the lens.”[1]

Photography has taken the place of realist painting; in reality, however, realistic painting was not truly replaced. In the subsequent development, realist painting precisely became affiliated with photography. Realist painters then used the technology of photography as a device that assist them in painting, and thus photographic realism or photo-realism, super-realism, hyper-realism, was born. In realist works that were based on photographs, photography replaces the role of the eye to capture the reality directly. The realist artists take advantage of the development of technology; they try to transfer the photographs into the painting. It means that the development of the technology of photography has not truly replaced the role of (realist) painting.

Realist painting then resurfaced in the development of contemporary art, presenting the problem of the contemporary culture. “Realist works that use as their bases photography and computer can be created with great sensitivity and details, resulting thus in a language of expression,” explained Jim Supangkat, a curator.[2] While previously realist painting revealed the reality captured by the eyes, now photo-realist painting represents the representation of reality. In short, photo-realist painting reveals layers of reality; and the layers bring new problems in the perceptions about the representation of reality itself. Dani Cavallaro affirms, “The idea that the world might be objectively understood and represented using one appropriate perspective has been recently made open to doubt thanks to the digital vision.”[3]

The works by Cundrawan and I Wayan Hendra Kusuma in this exhibition betray the role of the technology of photography and computer rendering by Photoshop software, which created certain effects to the narrative that they are conveying.

Cundrawan presented the problem of the urban reality of the city of Denpasar as he took pictures of the landscape of the city, which he then processed using the Photoshop program. In his works, Cundrawan dramatized two figures of a child and an adult in one corner of the city. The work, titled Green Sands, 2009, reveals the figure of a mother carrying her child, walking in the city. The background of the city landscape had been made blurred—by means of the Photoshop program—and the two figures were made to look more realistic and created in great details.

In a similar search, I Wayan Hendra Kusuma also presented a depiction of urban reality, capturing the activities of a group of people in a certain spot in Denpasar. Like Cundrawan, Hendra also played with the realistic appearance and blurred background using the Photoshop software. Hendra used a certain point of view, depicting such activities as people filling their car tanks at the gas station, or people at the motorbike parking lot.

Albeit presenting fragments of activities and location, their works are not entirely narrative. The background has been deliberately made to look blurred while the rest of the painting were created with a strong realistic approach—one can consider the juxtaposition of the different techniques as an effort to delve into the possibilities of realism as a visual language, which can be further explored following the progress of technology. This is all done without ignoring the content, which is still conveyed as a response of the artist toward the urban issues in Denpasar.

The realist painters in Bali have been continuously exploring the language of realism as well as the technical domain. Agus Cahaya is interested in the graffiti that he often finds on the walls in the area where he lives in Denpasar. He takes the free expression of the art of graffiti and presents it in his painting, overlapping it with the figure of a child as the representation of the urban society. Agus thinks that “my work presents the realistic representation, but the freedom to express ideas and emotions don’t restrict the painting techniques. The paint sprays and the marker lines become the focus in the technical exploration, liberating the painter in his effort to convey ideas.”

Meanwhile, I Nyoman Wijaya depicted cows, an animal that is highly revered in the Balinese Hindu faith and considered as the ride for the god Shiva. The Balinese treat the animals well, although they eventually sell the animals for consumption. Wijaya painted the cows using a rough technique of brush strokes and paint drips; he presented his memory about his childhood life as a cowherd. Agus and Wijaya presented anew symptoms resulting from the exploration of realistic painting, which has so far been known mostly for its fine lines. To them, realistic representation does not necessarily entail fine lines; more expressive techniques actually do not lessen the visual content of realistic painting. AS. Kurnia also often presented the effects of textures in his works.

In an effort that parallels that of those two artists, I Nyoman Erawan also combines the realist and expressive techniques; the latter of which has been familiar to him as a painter of the abstract genre. I Nyoman Erawan, whom we know better for his symbolic-abstract works, has shifted a bit toward realistic painting, although still conveying his focus of concerns: cultural symbols presented in unique brush strokes. The matter of the subject (the I) in Nyoman Erawan’s self portraits, which serves as the representation of identity, contains the social issues presented through such symbols as fire, water, wind, flowers, leaves, all functioning as metaphors. These are all the metaphors for the concept of a cycle in human’s life (as samsara or repeated birth) and the link between the buana alit (small cosmos or the human self) and the buana agung (the universe).

In terms of its context, the Balinese realistic paintings presented in the works displayed in this exhibition can be read using the frame of the identity discourse, or precisely how the (Balinese) photo-realist painting responds to the contemporary social and cultural issues that surround the artists, which they then represent in their works. The matter of identity has become a significant issue in Balinese painting. Due to the strong identity image that it has so far, Balinese painting is often seen as focusing merely on its same old domain (i.e. the domain of ethnicity). This image creates certain problems and makes it difficult for Balinese art to be included in the modern or contemporary art discourse in Indonesia.

It is through the photo-realist tendency that one can observe how the art world in Bali now has a different face. This development can be seen as resulting from the connection between the world of (painting) art in Bali and that of the contemporary painting in Indonesia. The world of art in Bali is often read differently and considered as something distinct from the general art discourse in Indonesia, but it is not because of its different structure or something that is specifically inherent in the world of art in Bali. Still, the visual signs in Balinese do show a highly characteristic content about the matter of the (Balinese) cultural identity.

This is obvious in the works by I Wayan Suja, who for the last two years have been focusing on presenting plastics as a part of the problems of the contemporary society. The material of plastics has become significant in the day-to-day life of the people, and in it lies the signs of the consumer culture, representing international brands that promote a consumptive culture among the public. In his latest journey, Suja explored the representation of the Balinese people in the works by foreign (tourist) artists who had resided in Bali and become inspired by the “exoticism” that the island provided. These artists were, for example, Adrien Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres, Rudolf Bonnet, and Willem Gerard Hofker. In his works, Suja depicted again the portraits that constitute the representations of (male and female) Balinese on the canvases of those “foreign” painters. Suja presented them in a layer of plastic. In the process, Suja explored the images and the plastic drapery, sometimes using paint drips. He made the images overlap, with the help of the Photoshop software. In his works, Suja tried to convey the issue of identity, covering it in layered meanings.

Meanwhile, Ngakan Made Ardana presented the matters of the subject and identity. His later works depict anonymous portraits; the identity of each of the people he depicted is no longer clear. This is because the faces have been made up, created from a combination of parts of the face: eyes, noses, mouths, moustaches, and eyebrows were taken from pictures of himself, of his family, his friends. Photographs of faces (portraits) form a text with a historical dimension. The photographs present individual identity, as well as forming parts of other individuals within the social, cultural, and political domains, and in a historical time. The manipulation of portraits in Ardana’s works is linked with the shift of perception about identity in this era of digital technology.

For the last two years, I Made Alit Suaja has been focusing his attention on the representation of the young women of Tenganan, a Bali Aga village (a region in Bali that is commonly seen as having been isolated from the impacts of the Majapahit expansion to Bali). The region of Tenganan has a unique tradition in which the people hold an annual rite, revealing their origin as a peasant society. They are also famous for their woven cloths. Alit Suaja portrayed young Balinese women in their traditional woven cloths, donning a certain expression, and standing in the midst of gold flowers. Gold flowers are one of the elements worn to decorate the hairs of the Balinese girls in certain ceremonies or in dances.

I Gede Arta depicted the old Balinese peasant, who is showing muscle lines despite his old age. The peasant is presented in close-up portraits. This is a representation that might yet again advance the long-held stereotype of the Balinese muscular prowess. Dani Cavallaro affirmed this: “Realist techniques hide the process of text or image production to urge us to believe that representation reflects the world…”[4] Gede Arta seemed to agree with this stereotype, as is evident in his work.

Metaphors in art works are visual metaphors. In linguistic, metaphors consist of phrases or terms that can describe reality using packages (or decoration) of words that do not immediately explain the reality. To understand the meaning of a metaphor, we must first uncover layer upon layer of the surrounding packaging in order to arrive at the essence.[5]

As the reality is turned into hyper-reality, a reality that Baudrillard mentioned as a simulation, what, then, is the role played by the visual metaphors? If one observes this further especially in ads, the reality that the ads present, which we then perceive as a true reality, is none other than mere metaphors. Metaphors about the beauties represented in the forms of thin, white, sexy women. To ensure that such beauties are indeed present in reality, we are bombarded by advertisements and promotions of products.

In the modern art awareness, the role of the metaphor has shifted in line with the efforts of the artists to grasp the essence of art. All packages and decorative elements in art are reduced, dispensed with, leaving only the visual element as the essence. As the manifestation of the autonomy of art, art is present as itself (art for art’s sake). It is later believed as “the absolute truth”, making the modern art to relativize any other development, considering it as ‘not art.’ As a form of achievements, the modern art “has been concluded” (“the end of art”, in the words of Arthur Danto). The development of postmodern art, meanwhile, returns to the socio-cultural reality that it is a part of a cultural entity.

The spirit of the contemporary art is to return to this reality, which means to be concerned again with the social reality surrounding the cultural domain in which the art grows and develops. Tatang BSP is acutely aware about the role that metaphors play in painting. Tatang BSP’s works are really simple, presenting a male figure seducing a female with a rose. “Say it with flowers is a cliché about the expression of love. The phrase is no longer sacred. The act has become a simple, lighthearted, and easy rite. ‘Do less have more’ has a parallel meaning in economic regulations, meaning we can get more results using a little effort,” explained Tatang.

In his works, AS Kurnia still responded to the issue of the “porn act”, which after being enforced is still triggering disputes in a variety of communities. His work, titled Banyak Menabung (Save Money) depicts an act of love-making using the metaphor of a piggy bank. Like Tatang, Kurnia is an artist who often presents contextual meanings through metaphors. Metaphors now play a significant role in the construction of a consumer culture that has made people drunk with simulations. Art, therefore, can use metaphors as an act of “resistance” (subversion) against the simulations. Metaphors in art now regain their role as something subversive, and they can again appear in “fearful,” “brutal,” “banal,” or even “sublime” manifestations.

For the last few years, Rediasa, commonly known as Polenk, often depicted female bodies in his works. To him, the matter of the body, especially female one, is never free from the exploitation of the consumer culture. The female body is a device of desire, touching the libido, creating images and desire to own and devour things, in relation to consumption. The body, in this case, is invariably victimized. Polenk deliberately presents stereotypical images of the body in a banal manner, naked.

A different case is presented by AA. Dharmayuda, who presents fragments of the body such as the clenched hand with muscle lines, which constituted an open text, unbounded by conventions. This work touches upon the audience perception and can simultaneously serve as a metaphor. Dharmayuda’s works do not bind metaphors to conventions, and therefore do not immediately construct meanings. Rather, he presented the metaphors as visual sensations. As a text open to meanings.

Realist art, for the Balinese artists whose works are on display in this exhibition, is not fixed. The artists believe that realist art constitutes a visual language that can always accommodate new developments in the era and adapt with them. From the works displayed in this exhibition, one can see how the artists consciously use the realist language to convey contents about the socio-cultural issues, as well as global and Balinese problems, as the domain for their creative efforts that they can always elaborate and explore.

Bali, June 2009

I Wayan Seriyoga Parta

Curator

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[1] Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art and Mechanical Reproduction” in Art in Modern Culture edited by Francis Frascina and Jonathan Harris, Phaidon Press London, 1992,  p. 298

[2] Jim Supangkat, “Expanding Contemporary Realism”, in the introduction for the Akili Museum Art Award, Jakarta, 2008

[3] Dani Cavallaro, 2004,  Teori Kritis dan Teori Budaya, (translated from Critical and Cultural Theory), Penerbit Niagara, Yogyakarta

[4] Ibid. p. 73

[5] I. Bambang Sugiharto, Posmodernisme, Kanisius Yogyakarta