Chalk thief to gumnut gatherer
The Tugu
Tani statue in Menteng of a sturdy farmer
farewelled by his humble wife is one of the best – or worst - examples of
Russian Realism beloved by the late President Soekarno. The genre is now widely discredited – but
what’s the scene now? Duncan Graham reports from Perth and
Yogyakarta.
It all started with nicking chalk while the
teacher’s back was turned.
Fortunately when Ninus Anusapati (left) was a
schoolboy in the 1960s, whiteboard markers had yet to be invented, so the raw
material of classroom instruction was plentiful and wouldn’t be missed.
Most pupils dutifully copied their master’s
blackboard scribbles, but to one naughty lad’s creative mind the gypsum could
be better used.
Inside each plain stick of chalk lurked an
image waiting to be born, wanting only the hands of the right midwife, or in
his case, the subtle gougings of a penknife.
It was a rare though not a novel idea; at
the time the young Javanese was unaware that the 15th century
Italian artist Michelangelo is said to have entertained similar thoughts about
beauty seeking release from coarse inanimate objects.
That knowledge and much more, would come
later. The journey moved beyond carved chalk when the son of a customs officer
resisted his parents’ plans for a career in the bureaucracy.
Instead he entered Yogyakarta’s famous Institut
Seni Indonesia [ISI – Indonesian Arts Institute]. His parents should not
have fretted. Their creative son was
rapidly recognized and is now the national president of the Indonesian
Sculptors’ Association.
After graduating in 1984 he won a Fulbright
Scholarship to the Pratt Institute and studied for two years in New York. Now he’s back in ISI as vice rector,
uncomfortable that his administrative duties are crimping his once substantial
output.
“I originally thought I wanted to be an
architect,” he said in a splendid new office on the old campus. Surprisingly this demonstrates a concern for
design. Most government buildings are concrete pillars with infill, as riveting
as a stack of shipping containers.
Does this indicate a fresh approach to
supporting the arts? ”I hope so, it’s overdue,” said Anusapati, 58, though he
doubts that President Joko Widodo is an enthusiastic culture man.
“Soekarno was interested in art, though he
favored a Soviet style in public statues.
These were more political statements than art.
“Nothing cultural happened under [second
president] Soeharto unless it was an attempt to legitimize his version of
history. As a country we’ve been
constantly searching for identity – but finding nothing.”
Yet Java was once a workshop of skilled
artisans carving detailed frescoes on the splendid temples erected before the
fall of the Majapahit Empire in the early 16th century.
Added Anusapati: “Though there are plenty
of modern monuments I don’t know of any city in Indonesia that has a public
sculpture park. That’s something I’d like to see introduced, like Gomboc’s in
Western Australia.” [See Breakout]
Apart from private commissions his work is
in the National Gallery in Jakarta and in galleries in the Netherlands, Italy,
the USA and Singapore. He has just returned from completing Sound Tower
a commission in Japan involving wooden bells.
Critics trawling for a repetition of ideas
and styles will be disappointed. The man
is versatile and his art resists easy assessments. Much is abstract – it’s the form that seduces.
Anusapati is at ease with a casting on a
coffee table that used bamboo in the mold, the carved roots of coconut palms,
or a giant bronze of freedom fighter Ngurah Rai who died in 1946 in a battle
against the Dutch. This artwork is at the new Denpasar airport named after the
Revolutionary hero.
Naturally this eight-meter statue has the
subject’s name as title – though labeling works is something Anusapati is
reluctant to do. He believes art should speak for itself and let viewers
determine their feelings without being guided by words on a plinth.
“The challenge is to think and not be
told,” he said. “As artists we are dealing in symbols, not words. Some people get it – others don’t. It doesn’t really matter.”
But it does. Exhibitors need a title in their catalogues.
So reluctantly he adds labels, like The Journey for a small empty wooden
boat floating in a sea of discarded wood shavings; the work is now owned by
Western Australia’s Curtin University of Technology.
At the start of this millennium Anusapati
was artist in residence at the university’s School of Art. Every year since an
exhibition has been staged at the Gomboc Gallery in Perth’s Swan Valley
featuring artists from around the world. However Anusapati remains the only
Indonesian so far to have been invited.
“I was among about 14 international artists
and we went to a camp deep in the forest,” he said. “I was fascinated to discover different
trees, particularly the hardwood jarrah and gum trees which shed large nuts. I brought some back for a collection.
“Then, as now, refugee boats were sailing
from Indonesia to Australia and getting arrested or turned back. This inspired my work. Humans are not goods that can be imported and
exported.
“I’ve always been interested in natural
objects – and also those from industry, how the two can be together or
apart. Sculpture has gone through many
changes – the term now embraces all materials.
“You can use anything, paper, cloth, found
objects, waste - that would not have been allowed when I was a student. Other
barriers have come down, though sculpture remains a minority and male interest
– we get few female students.”
Despite the building changes on the ISI
campus there’s an avenue of deans, a parade of roman-style busts of worthy academics.
These seem to fit into the traditional role of
Indonesian sculpture – honoring the past rather than exploring the future.
“But I am optimistic,” said Anusapati. ““The dominance of Western art is vanishing. So
are boundaries. It’s now difficult to tell whether this is a Japanese piece of
work or European or American. I like
that.”
The
bronze visionary of the Swan Valley
During more than 30 years of running
international programs, sculptor Ron Gomboc, 68, has hosted scores of overseas artists
– but only one Indonesian, Anusapati – at his Sculpture Park, the largest
private gallery in Western Australia.
“We’d welcome interest from the Archipelago,”
Gomboc said. “Please apply. We’re neighbors. We should be sharing. Where’s the new generation of Indonesian
sculptors?”
Since 1984 Gomboc has been funding an
annual sculpture exhibition inviting overseas artists to work and exhibit. It’s
an opportunity Japanese, South Korean and Chinese artists and their governments
have seized with enthusiasm.
In the creative arts, skills alone are not
enough to turn talent into business. You
need a champion, like Vincent van Gough’s brother Theo, to attract the buyers
and keep the accounts.
The right name is also important. Gomboc Gallery is alliteratively artistic,
while Sculpture Park suggests open air and little chance of being buttonholed
by a curator talking down her nose at a Philistine who’d strayed into an elite
environment.
The gallery is located in Western Australia’s
Swan Valley, 40 minutes from Perth’s Central Business District, so no great
effort is required to discover the site – an important factor to remember for
any Indonesians planning a similar venture.
Ratimir Marijan Gomboc sounds exotic but
the man is unpretentious, ruggedly Australian. The Slovenian labels given by
his parents didn’t roll easily off the tongue, particularly when the users are
monolingual. So his forenames were mangled to become Ron.
Gomboc wasn’t going to let anyone make him
an outsider. Instead the teen who
arrived from the former Yugoslavia with his family enthusiastically embraced
his new country and made it his own.
He was conscripted and served for two years
with the Royal Australian Engineers, putting the time to good use. During his service with the Army he studied
painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture.
So he was well prepared in the 1970s when the
arts flourished with backing from a reform government and a booming mining
industry with cash to spare for culture.
Gomboc didn’t just start to sell – he
became an entrepreneur for sculpture.
He’s won more than 20 international and local awards, including WA
Citizen of the Year.
He’s succeeded by creating the 4.5 hectare
Sculpture Park with around 100 pieces, and making it open to the public to
encourage creation and appreciation.
However he attributes much to his wife Terrie.
“None of this would have happened without
her support,” he said, waving his hand across the plantation of steel, bronze
and concrete sculptures.
“You can’t do something like this
alone. You need support. I also thank everyone who’s bought or
commissioned my work.”
Two years ago a cultural exchange
exhibition was organized with the United Arab Emirates, and Gomboc sees no
reason why a similar program can’t be run with Indonesia to the benefit of both
nations.
Unlike many other artists Gomboc doesn’t
design and get others to make his creations. After leaving school he worked
with his builder father so learned engineering skills.
Gomboc is a polymath and can turn his hand
from abstracts delighting the avant-garde through to religious figures that
traditional conservatives would appreciate.
“I’ve only contracted out once,” he
said. “This was for Northern Spirits ordered
by the iron ore company Fortescue Metal Group and now standing in Port Hedland.
“It stands 12 meters and was just too big
for one man so I had to get in made in an engineering factory. But everything else I’ve done myself.”
His other commissions have included a
memorial to film actor Heath Ledger [Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight]
who died in 2008 from a prescription drug overdose, and the Australian Academy
of Cinema and TV Arts awards, Australia’s Oscars.
The Gomboc workshop behind the park is a
sculptor’s paradise, equipped with welders, cutters and presses, hoists and
pulleys – and a foundry. There’s all the
equipment to handle aluminum, steel and bronze, Gomboc’s favorite metal though like
Anusapati he’ll work in anything, including wood.
This makes it an ideal one-stop workshop
for visiting artists. There’s even
self-contained accommodation. All it
needs are creative Indonesians.
First published in J-Plus - The Jakarta Post 3 January 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment