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The charm of Imago Mundi
The Imago Mundi exhibition exudes the beauty of contemporary art created by the minds and hands that embrace different cultures.
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Sunglasses by Antonius Kho (JP/Steven)
A
rtists living in different countries might work in different styles, but when they gather to work together, they speak using the universal language of art.
The Imago Mundi exhibition exudes the beauty of contemporary art created by the minds and hands that embrace different cultures.
The event, which opened late in March at Sunrise Gallery at the Fairmont Hotel in South Jakarta, was a result of a global project set in motion by Italian art collector Luciano Benetton two decades ago. His objective was to unite the cultures of the world in the name of a common artistic experience.
Tens of thousands of artists — whether seasoned or up-and-coming — from around the world participated in the project, which showcased the collections and works of art commissioned by Benetton, an avid traveler with a heart full of love for art.
“I am thrilled to see the different cultures in this exhibition finding art as a unifying language,” the director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Jakarta, Michela Magri, said during the opening of the exhibition.
The man behind the event in Jakarta was Antonius Kho. He said after the Benetton project finished in 2017 that several of his colleagues who had participated in the global project felt the spirit lingering on. They proposed to hold this exhibition in the same force, albeit at a larger scale than the initial postcard format.
“Of course I first went to Benetton for permission, which was gladly given,” he said.
Antonius was the man whom Benetton had approached in 2015 with the request to gather 200 educated artists in Indonesia, 140 in Malaysia and 140 in Singapore. Benetton apparently knew of Antonius’ personal initiatives of organizing an exchange exhibition between artists from Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos.
Antonius obliged, and with the help of friends in the respective countries, he managed to gather the artists and their works in a postcard format as required by Benetton, and cooperated with the Benetton foundation and his Wina gallery to compile the works and print books unique to each country, namely Indonesia: Islands of the Imagination, Malaysia: Colors of Destiny and Singapore: 21st Century and Beyond. The books can be found at museums and relevant institutions.
After numerous exhibitions in various countries, the Imago Mundi web platform continues to promote the founding spirit of the Luciano Benetton collection by cataloguing, sharing and passing down to future generations thousands of 10 by 12 centimeters works of art.
He had once said that a better understanding of the distinctive features of contemporary art in the various countries would help shape the values that guide our lives, as the project was not formed to earn a profit.
The current exhibition at Sunrise Gallery, however, is an exhibition in which the public has the opportunity to buy art made by a wide range of artists with different skillsets and styles.
Interestingly, not all participants have taken up art as their main occupation. Ti Yi Rou from Malaysia, for instance, is a young lawyer who was influenced by her artist friends. Her painting Beautiful Dance with the Fear is her expression of getting rid of the fear that shackles our lives. Singaporean Abu Zaki Bin Hadri is an architect whose two paintings focus on Jakarta’s iconic National Monument and the traffic jams in the capital city as revealed in his painting titled Macet (Congested).
Indonesian artists’ works are influenced by their educational backgrounds and experiences. Antonius Kho, for example, studied art in Cologne but his works undeniably show the influence of his Balinese upbringing, while Deddy Paw, who is known for his “apple metaphor”, is now delving into the world of abstract art.
Other artists to watch are Titis Jabarudin, a senior female artist who created the forceful The Head and the Window and Agus Koecink, a curator who has also produced murals in Ruen, France.
There are many more treasures to find at the exhibition, but it is cartoonist artist Grace Tjiptonimpuno’s painting Love in Diversity that beautifully captures the spirit of Benetton in her visualization of diversity within one frame. The exhibition ends on April 3.
