By: Heri Kris (Artist and Curator of ISI Yogyakarta Alumni)

Post Hybrid is the theme presented in a joint exhibition by the Magetiart Art Group that will take place on June 2023 at Pendhapa Art Space in Bantul, Yogyakarta. Founded in Magetan last 2017, a lot of the members of this art group comes from the city of Magetan. I knew them and their works ever since I curated their 2019 exhibition with the theme “Lang-lang Rupa”. And finally, I also curated the “Magetan Art Venue” exhibition in 2022.

Magetan might seem to be a city last in sight on the Map of Indonesian Art, but they have high enthusiasm for art and has shown to create progressive works. In their current exhibition which upholds the theme “Post hybrid”, where a representation of the fruit of thought and work on the combination and marriage between cultural elements which are processed into contemporary works. The fusion of these cultural elements undergoes a long artistic process. The artists involved in the exhibition included: Agus Wicaksono, Agung WHS, Agus Zuga, Hendra Prast, Abd.Mukti, Nurina, Hariyanto, Mahendra Yudha, Romdon Hamdani, Rio Wahyu Anggoro, Subekti Gagar, Zulfian Hariyadi, Eko Sudarmawan, Nanang yulianto and Wahyuono.

In this exhibition, each artists presented works that are in accordance with the spirit and character of themselves. Their work is relatively large with a size of about two meters on one side with a style that is different from one another. The curation session that I done online every two weeks is in the form of a presentation to analyze their works from different perspectives. I had started this curation session around 5 months ago and it’s a time to discuss ideas, techniques and work concepts . The curation session aims to find and determine quality of good works. In the exhibition, their work combines many cultural elements which are called cultural universals. Magetan holds strong traditional elements such as classical Wayang, traditional dances, cultural customs and so on.

Traditional Magetan culture continued to inspire them in a lot of their work, including several artists who also respond to the changing nature of contemporary culture. Information on Art and culture taken from social media plays a huge influence on the development of their works, because contemporary works deals with contemporary issues. Contemporary works are influenced by our knowledge, where myths, traditions, news or and anything we see influences our mind. Therefore we can choose which elements we need to select to fuse everything in a work of art which is fits the ‘Post Hybrid’ theme. Signs or symbols in a work serves as a doorway on understanding the narrative and the meaning contained within the work. However, it can’t be denied that a number of works (paintings) are known to create and potray a sense of mystery. Usually, works that show mystery are in expressionist paintings which spontaneously express the spirit of oneself, or some abstract works which present things that are vague.

Just about 5 years ago, Magetan was not well known for the artwork it produces in the Indonesian art world. However just recently, there has been a rise in major art activities. With high quality works beginning to emerge from this city. There are not much artists that actively participates with the visual arts agenda there. Currently, the Magetiart members only consists of 30 artists with most beingpainters. Only half of the total members are actively participating on working and exhibiting professionally. Magetiart regularly holds discussion forums to share knowledge and also often held joint work activities to further sharpen their skills.

Currently there arearound 30 paintings being displayed at the “Post hybrid” exhibition at Pendhapa art space. Each painting is created with a different style from one another. As found in the paintings by Agus Wicak, Zulfian Hariyadi and Nurina. The three of them both raised the decorative style in their paintings.

This style has been practiced by our ancestors in art forms such as batik, wayang kulit and wayang beber. This style used in classical and traditional art expresses the spirit of Agus and Zulfian as well as Nurina in paintings with more contemporary themes. We can see in the paintings entitled “Sesarang” in 2023 by Zulfian and “Eksodus” in 2023 by Agus Wicak. Nurina also uses a slightly childish decorative style with soft colors

There are paintings with surrealism, such as those by Hendra Prast, Rio Wahyu Anggoro, Agus Zuga and Mahendra Yuda. They adopt a surrealist style, which are inspired by dreams and imaginary realms. The essence of the surrealism is a state above reality. Agus Zuga exhibited a painting entitled “Instincless machine” in 2023, which depicts robot wars. Machines or man-made robots never use feelings when in action. Rio Wahyu displays a very imaginative painting titled “Playing battle” in 2023. The painting depicts an imaginary game of flying objects. Hendra Prast displays a painting entitled “Hanoman in wonderland” in 2023.

The painting combines the Javanese legend with contemporary elements by deforming the objects in the painting. Indonesia is now experiencing a growth in mainstream pop surrealism, similar to America in the 70s where the Lowbrow group’s underground movement emerged as a style of its own. They incorporate elements of pop culture, toys, comics and so on. The emergence of the Lowbrow group was a resistance to the tendency of abstract and conceptual works at that time. Currently, there are also many young artists in Indonesia who paint themes that surround dolls, cartoons in comics and films which are packaged in works of surrealism.

However, in this contemporary era, the genre is no longer a standard in grading an artist’s work or assessing the movement of a group, but rather serves as a preference in the artist’s personal ideas and techniques in presenting their work.

In western modern art, the flow that developed was a manifestation of a movement based on the ideology on art during that period. The development of Indonesian contemporary art is very diverse and tends to be presented alternately. This is what the Magetiart group is currently doing, which also has a variety of styles and concepts of work. There are several abstract works in this exhibition made by Nanang Yulianto and Subekti Gagar. These two painters exhibit formless paintings, with only intuitive strokes and a touch of a mysterious, vague image. As in Nanang’s painting entitled “Sebuh” in 2023, where the difference between two opposing characteristics are shown here this work, soft and rough elements are combined in one canvas. Subekti Gagar presents intuitive abstract paintings using pointillism techniques such as in his work entitled “Negeriku Jiwaku” in 2023. The painting expresses his admiration for the beautiful nature of Indonesia, but the way it is presented is in the language of abstraction. Abstract works provide opportunities to be interpreted by different people. Many western painters have pioneered abstract works such as Willem de Kooning, Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock and others whose works have gone global.

Abd. Mukti is a painter who participated in the Post Hybrid. He is known to actively participate in managing an Islamic boarding school in Magetan. Calligraphy of Arabic letters and some Javanese letters as well as other letters are the source of inspiration for his paintings. The overlapped letters are randomly arranged and intuitively like to form the painting entitled “Tasamuh” or which means tolerance made in 2023. The painting tries to portray the meaning of unity in diversity. Semiotic works are also found in Agung WHS’s painting entitled “Nyimas Utari” in 2023. Raden Ayu Utari Sandi Jaya Ningsih, or better known as Nyimas Utari, was a warrior during the Dutch colonial times who was tasked with disguising himself as a Mataram spy to assassinate Jan. Pieterszoon, the VOC governor in Batavia in 1629.

Although the painting was inspired by past events, the artist successfully created the painting with a contemporary style. Paintings that express the values ​​of struggle are also found in Hariyanto’s painting entitled “Imagine” in 2023. Hariyanto is a retired soldier who knew the military world by heart. The painting expressed the tense situation between Russia and Ukraine, where the title of The Beatles’ song ‘Imagine’ is shown on the painting. In the end, a soldier always longs for peace and avoids conflict. In contrast to Romdon Hamdani’s work where the remains of the past in the form of temple ruins are juxtaposed with symbols of contemporary objects in a work. The two objects from different eras are arranged into a single narrative that gives the impression of an artifact. Wahyuono presents a wayang story about war, but in the painting entitled “Baratayudha” in 2023 it is expressed in war in the present context. A battle using sophisticated war equipment that can easily claim many human lives and destroy large buildings and people’s homes. The world of Wayang was also painted by Eko Sudarmawan by displaying a painting entitled “Solace” in 2023. The painting shows two puppet figures named Cangik and Lebuk playing violin and saxophone music. The atmosphere of the painting is really dark and lonely.

This joint exhibition held by Magetiart group with the theme ‘Post hybrid’ has displayed the potential Magetan city holds for its several talented artists who all have great potential in the world of fine arts. All that remains is how this potential is managed professionally and progressively. This era of openness and the advancement of the internet has a positive impact on our art world, where all information about art can be accessed quickly. So that everyone no longer feels marginalized. Congratulations on the exhibition, I hope Magetiart will continue to grow and develop to become successful in the future. ***