Jogjakarta, IDNTRIBUNE – Organized by several artists with the theme “Spirit of humanity,” the joint exhibition at the Omah Budoyo gallery in Yogyakarta started from the concern over the emergence of mainstream trends in today’s art. Where many artworks circulating around was of the same type and was made with the same technique. The immense power of pop surrealism has made it a favorite for today’s young artists whose works we often see at several art exhibitions in Indonesia. This reminds us of the popularity of the Lowbrow group from Los Angles, California in the late 1960s to 1970s with one of the figures named Robert Williams. He was an American painter, cartoonist and founder of the magazine Juxtapos art and culture. The presence of pop surrealism then continued to give rise to many artists who also worked on the same themes, such as Carl Moore, Ken Vrana, Tony Leone, Mike Ferrari and others. Fine art that was born underground is characterized by graffiti, comics, paintings featuring popular objects, punk music, hot-rod culture are part of their activities. Absurdity and surrealism became the group’s ideology and have now spread to Indonesia in almost the same form. Many cartoon characters, imaginary dolls, toy objects and so on appear. Mainstream usually never keeps up with the market or market demand for certain types of works. Artists who are inconsistent will turn to newer trends, and those who are consistent will gain a strong position and be recorded in the history of art.

Those taking part in the current exhibition are: Andi Hartana, Ary Kurniawan, Budi Barnabas, Catur Nugroho, Dimas Permana, Gusti Ketut Alit, N Rinaldy, Rizal Ketdhes, Ronald Effendi, Sri Pramono, Suryo and Uswarman. These artists exhibited works of fine art in the form of paintings and sculptures at the Omah Budoyo Mergangsan Yogyakarta gallery. The theme of this exibition “Spirit of human” or the human soul can be interpreted as a representation of works rooted in the expression of the human spirit (artists). Works that are born from the sedimentation of inner experiences or metaphors from imaginations of aesthetic moments. The works on display are mostly abstract, each with their own character. The characters that appear are more representative of each artist’s personality and are distant from each other. A human character or personality is formed which is greatly influenced by biological factors, physical environment, culture and of course personal experiences. This is what fosters the formation of a person’s personality and soul, including working artists. The formation of a person’s character is also the result of habits that are continuously carried out from childhood to adulthood.

Bringing back works that tend to be abstract with personal expression amidst the strong current of pop surrealism is certainly a challenge in itself. Both are different styles where one still works with plastic anatomy and popular objects, while the other blurs and is free from the illusion of natural forms. If we mention the abstract paradigm, of course it cannot be separated from the abstract pioneer named Wassily Kandisky born in Moscow, Russia in 1866. After the decline of the western impressionism style, Kandinsky gave rise to the abstract school which was a renewal of the previous style. He is also considered to be the first painter to work on pure abstracts, and then many other American and European painters emerged. They worked on abstract as their style of choice, such as Jackson Pollock who was born in America in 1912 and Willem de Kooning who was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1904. Willem de Kooning is better known as an exponent of abstract expressionism in America because he lived there longer. In Indonesia, one of the pioneers of abstract painters was Fadjar Sidik, who was born in Surabaya in 1930. Fadjar Sidik is known as a painter who has achieved purity of form. He is also considered an agent of change in modern Indonesian painting. Apart from Fadjar Sidik, there is also the painter Ahmad Sadali, born in Garut in 1924 and died in 1987. His paintings are in an abstract style which is often known for featuring many areas composed of brown and gold. The development of abstract art also occurred around 2000, when many works emerged from the younger generation in Yogyakarta and Bali. The abstract expressionist style emerged from 1998 to 2005, combining elements of locality and personal expression. Made Sukadana, Nyoman Sukari, Made Sumadiyasa, I Gusti Alit Cakra and of course there are many other painters who create paintings in an abstract style that evokes traditional idioms. The large size of the canvas with expressive strokes using a wide brush became their characteristic and was much sought after by art lovers at that time.

At the current “Spirit of Human” exhibition, artists are displaying many works with abstract styles and different nuances in accordance with current developments in techniques and styles. Check out Ary Kurniawan’s work with the title “Your World”, 120X80cm, acrylic on canvas, 2021. The work displays the idiom of objects and writing with a fairly regular composition, but a childish spirit is felt in the painting. Andi Hartana also displays work in a childish abstract style in a 3 panel composition with the title “Study Java Script, page 13”, 45X35cm (3 panels), acrylic on canvas, 2023. Paintings in shades of gray with spontaneous lines depict a manuscript that is not quite regular in composition. Images and lines are created randomly and expressively. N Rinaldy presents a painting with the title “Live together die alone #3”, 150X135cm, acrylic on canvas, 2024. Looking at the title, it seems like Rinaldy wants to talk about human existence, where a human being lives in a social system and is independent in consciousness until death arrives. Uswarman displays a painting entitled “Un focus”, 150X150cm, acrylic on canvas, 2017. A painting with intuitive strokes without an image with a round circular line leading to a point in the middle, like a target in the center, while the title of the painting is “Un focus” or not in focus. Suryo in this exhibition displays a painting with the title “There is still hope”, 200X200cm, acrylic on canvas, 2022. An abstract painting with a vague image and soft strokes accompanied by small lines. The painting is quite enigmatic and builds a multi-interpretive dialogue. This is also similar to what Sri Pramono did in his painting entitled “Nature and spiritual”, 160X140cm, mixed media on canvas, 2023. Sri Pramono was inspired by the natural beauty of the mountains which was then expressed in semiotic abstraction. Sri Pramono’s paintings use impasto techniques and mixed materials by arranging collages to form imaginary objects. This painting conveys the perception that contemplating and enjoying nature can bring spiritual awareness to humans towards God, the creator of the universe. Catur Agung Nugroho is one of the artists who uses unique work materials with the title “Shadow of luxury”, 60X80cm, acrylic plastic resin on canvas, 2024. Plastic materials that often become waste are transformed by Catur into interesting and innovative works. This is an upcycling step, how to shift the essence of objects that are unused and harmful to the environment, turning them into valuable art objects. In the painting the plastic has been arranged intuitively in monochrome blue. A painting with the title luxury shadow is quite artistic and poetic. I Gusti Ketut Alit is an abstract painter who composes several small paintings into one painting theme. The title of the work on display is “Space recap”, 50X50cm (12 panels), acrylic on canvas, 2024. These small paintings are done with strokes that use emotional pressure so they appear expressive, then composed according to the rhythm of the strokes, lines and colors. The painting looks neat and inspires the viewer to go deeper into the meaning of the painting. Dimas Permana is currently presenting a painting entitled “Daily Emotion”, 150X150cm, acrylic on canvas, 2023. An abstract painting that uses two scratching techniques in one painting. The background is made with emotional strokes and above it there is an image created with soft and measured strokes. A color and stroke represent a symbol of the current situation, where emotions will be represented by lines or strokes. Brushstroke pressure or brush strokes are the semiotics of a person’s feelings and emotions when painting , and that is what Dimas feels every day. Ronald Efendi Simabua presents a painting that is more of a conceptual art entitled “Realism after Gustave Courbet”, 150X150cm, acrylic on canvas, 2023. In this painting there are two signs that can be read and seen, namely text and abstraction. There is a writing that Gustave once said about the arrogance of realists, namely “Show me an angel and I will paint one” which means “Show me an angel and I will paint him”. Jean Desire Gustave Courbet, born in 1819, was a French painter who led the realism movement. However, Ronald’s painting is more abstract, not realist, and this is a play on concepts in reverse analogy. Apart from paintings, there are two sculptors who are also participating in the current exhibition, namely Rizal Ketdhes and Budi Barnabas. Both artists concentrate more on working on three-dimensional works using different media than painting. Budi Barnabas exhibited a sculpture entitled “Water splash”, 100X90X80cm, brass, 2024. Budi Barnabas’s abstract sculpture shows that the hard brass material can be made to flow like splashing water. Of course, the world of sculpture has a different level of difficulty from painting and each must have special skills.

The art exhibition with the title “Spirit of Human”, the majority of which is in an abstract style amidst the current of pop surrealism, is something interesting to look at. At least there are always new symptoms in the development of fine art. It is not like the ism that developed in Europe and America with the tradition of making a declaration regarding the discovery of a new theory there. However, this shows that there are many styles of fine art that developed in Indonesia. Eastern art, such as in Indonesia, has developed under the influence of world modern art, including Europe and America, which is strengthened by the values of locality and personality. Western hegemony is indeed strong because modern art has been around for a long time and has been widely copied into lessons and lectures in Indonesia. This is what to this day casts a shadow over western art on the development of Indonesian art. However, this is not the case with contemporary art, where much of the inspiration is taken from current events or the most recent issues and each country has an equal position in the contest.

Jogjakarta, 25 April 2024

Heri Kris, artist and curator, an alumni of ISI Yogyakarta