Garis Art

PHOTO / SCANOGRAFI?
Our general perceptions about photography today are closely related with our view of a tool called “the camera”, and we see a photographer as someone working using the camera to immortalize certain moments or objects onto a piece of paper, canvas or, in such a digital era, a digital file

As an artist dealing with the world of photography as his chosen medium of expression, Angki Purbandono (Angki) is always seeking for new possibilities to further develop his works. He invariably re-questions general perceptions in the world of art photography, seeking possibilities for new spaces into which his artistic passion can be channeled. One of the examples is when he examines whether or not a photographer must always take pictures using his or her camera. What if the photographer makes use of another’s photograph in order to create a work of photography? In one of his art projects, titled Anonymous Project, Angki collects many old photographs that he then re-prints over neon-boxes or photographic paper. In this art project, Angki tries to explore further the role that photography plays as a means of archiving, a proof of the era and perhaps even a record of history.

It is obvious in his works that as an artist Angki does not only deal with problems of art; rather, he is thoroughly aware of the fact how art is inextricably linked with other branches of science such as history, anthropology and technology. It is this awareness that brings Angki to the discovery of scanography, in which Angki substitutes the camera with a scanner. The process actually constitutes a statement that art photography does not stop at the camera. The scanography process that Angki discovered has brought about a new perspective about art photography and created a greater creative space that would enable further developments.

Through Angki’s statement with his art of scanography, we can understand photography through a greater perspective, as we see photography, in its context as a form of art, is not limited to the use of the camera to record a moment or object. Rather, we can thus see photography as an end result of the process of recording light reflections from an object. Scanography also helps us to situate photography in the context of its essential functions.

SCANOGRAPHY
In a scanography process, Angki places a variety of objects on the scanner surface and scans them. The process has many limitations, as the space is restricted to the scanning surface of the used scanner, and the process does not recognize perspectives, either. These restrictions, however, give rise to images with highly distinctive characteristics; the light seems to be flat while the compositions present overlapping images. Angki’s scanography works show the artist’s highly distinctive visual characteristics, which we can see in the works displayed today.

NOODLE THEORY
In his solo exhibition, titled “Noodle Theory”, Angki Purbandono invites us to enjoy the noodle through a range of different perspectives and interpretations. In Noodle Territory, Angki talks about the historical debates about the origin of the noodle. In Superman is Dead, Angki discusses about the effects of MSG in instant noodles. Meanwhile, in Golden Dragon, Angki presents the Western and Eastern mythologies about dragons; with the Chinese mythology viewing the dragon as a strong, beautiful, wise, and agile creature; while the Western mythology presents the dragon as a tough, wild, and evil creature.

The noodle is a rather universal food staple. The noodle, which many believe as originating from China, has grown as a food staple found in many parts of the world with different versions, each of them showing the distinctive feature of the respective country. In China there have been different versions of noodles ever since Columbus introduced the noodle to Europe, while the Italians have developed a range of pastas, and the same is true for the Japanese and many other Asian nations. With the progress of technology, we can now enjoy instant noodles, and they have even become a second main staple—especially in Indonesia. All of these things indicate that noodles have been playing an influential role in our lives.

Finding the issue as a source of inspirations, Angki now tries to present a different and unique culinary experience, in which we are using our eyes to enjoy the noodles. One thing that I find impressive about Angki is his ability to surprise us with his artwork, as we can witness in this exhibition. Please enjoy the works.

Hermanto Soerjanto