| Ni Nyoman Sani
is a young artist from Bali. The only woman presenting works
in this exhibition, she depicts women in a variety of costumes
in the same way as a fashion designer presents models. However,
in contrast to a fashion designer, Sani presents the facial
expressions of woman with various touches of color and form
so that the images we see are no longer like the images found
in a fashion magazine, but more as paintings which “speak”.
In general, the facial expressions are rather similar, and
sometimes Sani does not even consider them to be of importance
and then she dispenses with depicting the faces at all. What
is it that she wishes to portray? Woman are depicted singly,
in pairs or in groups, all sharing the same fate or position
in society. The deformation of their elongated and elegant
bodies, the bright, clear, harmonious colors used for the
figures and the backgrounds, and the artistic gestures used
by Sani make her paintings easy to comprehend. What is it
that this woman artist wishes to show us in her depictions
of women?
Tjipgito Soerjanto graduated with an MBA
in the USA and later left his profession to settle in Ubud
where he paints and sculpts. Since he was a child he loved
painting but he has never had any formal training in the visual
arts. This is his first exhibition. Gito is inspired by traditional
Balinese arts and he also admires the work of Gustav Klimt,
a famous Austrian artist known for his richly ornamented paintings
of women. The women tend to look the same in all of Gito’s
paintings. I do not know if his women are painted from a live
model or whether the woman is a creation of his imagination.
With the addition of gestures to the face, he succeeds in
transforming this woman into various women with differing
characters portraying moods of gentleness, softness, cunning,
aggression, sadness or sensuality. The thread connecting the
paintings of this series is a flower. The women in the paintings
are each given a name: Sabrina, Natalie, Clarissa and so on.
Do these names hold a meaning for Gito? However, some of the
paintings are given titles such as Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh,
Toulouse Lautrec, Amadeo Modigliani. In these works the identifying
characteristics of these legendary artists – in the
form of their most famous paintings - appear in the figures
or the backgrounds of Gito’s works. Is this his form
of homage to the artists he admires or has he done it just
for fun? I hope that Gito continues to progress as an artist,
and I look forward to his next exhibition.
Iswanto Soerjanto, a professional photographer,
is the younger brother of Tjipgito. In this exhibition he
presents his experimental photography. Rather than using the
medium of photographic paper, he has chosen to use aluminum
and iron sheets, an alternative medium that is rarely used
in Indonesia. His subject matter is presented in a subtle
manner in which the form of woman is barely discernible. As
a result, the viewer’s curiosity is stimulated. What
could it be that he wishes to relate to us about these women?
Does he wish to show us the mysterious face of woman as shown
on a stained glass church window? In fact, the mystery of
woman has never been solved.
Dr. Lau is the most senior in age and the
greatest all-rounder of the four artists in this exhibition.
Lau is a doctor who graduated in Germany, a painter, sculptor
and art photographer. In this exhibition, he shows his three-dimensional
works, paintings and art photography using the conventional
method of printing on photographic paper. In his works, woman
is shown in contrasting situations or moods, as in Lust and
Conscience where we see a bare-breasted woman holding a Bible.
It seems that we are presented with a choice between lust
and religious morality. In the work entitled Disclosure, a
woman attempts to politely cover her breasts with thick clothing
yet at the same time she wishes to display her sexiness. In
Beauty and the Beast, a woman’s face is covered in the
style of a terrorist, but we also see her beautiful breasts.
It is as if Lau wishes to portray the symbolism and contrast
of interlocking pairs such as yin and yang, good and bad,
hard and soft, physical and spiritual, lust and morality.
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