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Western esthetics
meet eastern symbolism
Wayan Sunarta
Contributor/Ubud
German-born painter Peter Dittmar combines western esthetic skills
with eastern
symbolism in his ongoing solo exhibition New Colour Windows. The displayed works are a vivid testament of the artist’s incessant
journey to reach the state of emptiness so revered by eastern
philosophy.
Held at Tony Raka, a gallery in Mas, Ubud, known to support contemporary
and avant-garde art, the one month-long exhibition is curated by noted
art critic Jean Couteau. Dittmar’s works are the visual equivalence of
haiku, the short and spontaneous traditional Japanese poetry, a
revealing condensation of the true nature of experience.
Haiku is commonly associated with reclusive poets mesmerized by the
solitary serenity of Mother Nature. His works offer such meditative
tranquility with geometric shapes, such as circles, squares, and
rectangles placed in beautiful composition upon layers of colors. He
used rice paper, common in Chinese religious rituals, as the primary
medium. The squares and rectangles frame the colors and guide the
spectators to look at what Dittmar has to offer.
To
some extent, the squares and rectangles are the windows of colors, thus,
hence the title of the exhibition. The arrangement of the geometric
shapes brings to mind the Mandala, sacred geometric shapes and spatial
structure used in esoteric Hinduism and Buddhism teachings at the center
of a meditator’s attention.
In several works, Dittmar played with shades and hues to create the
illusion of depth and space. In other works, he worked his brushes in
uninhibited strokes and powerful splashes, creating a visual
calligraphy. Dittmar is no stranger to eastern philosophy and
spirituality. He had travelled to India to quench his thirst at the
springs of Hinduism and Buddhism cosmology. He studied and practiced Zen
Buddhism, a school of thought that often defies logic and places the
emphasis on direct and spontaneous enlightenment.
Dittmar also immersed himself in the study of Japanese and Chinese
calligraphy, searching the secret behind conveying messages with the
least strokes.
Born in 1945 in Munich, Dittmar was educated at the Munich Academy of
Fine Arts. Later on, he juggled his time between creating art works and
teaching arts. His teaching stints included Jakarta Institute of Art (IKJ)
and Federal University of Para in Belem, Brazil. He has participated in
joint and solo exhibitions at numerous cities across the world,
including New York, Tokyo, Basel, Berlin, Hong Kong and Melbourne, and
has lived in Bali since 1982. Dittmar said most of his works were about
spiritual soul-searching and contemplation on the nature of cosmos. He
believes the cosmos was constructed by two different elements that
complement and harmonize each other, be it nature-culture; male-female;
the Balinese’ Rwa Bhinneda and the Chinese Yin-Yang.
The exhibition’s curator, Jean Couteau, said the displayed works were
quite different from Dittmar’s earlier paintings. The latest works show
a higher level of control and order as well as minimum color processing.
“Dittmar has continuously explored the essence of colors and space, to
find a totally different form of abstraction. Surely, that exploration
is closely connected to his spiritual search,” he said.
- Photos by Wayan Sunarta
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