Zora Rahman, Contributor, Cologne, Germany
""We have something for every taste.""
Nurcan Gross was probably right with this statement. The 41-year-old artist of Turkish origin is the manager of the gallery Atmosphre in Cologne, Germany, where currently six Indonesian artists are exhibiting their works.
The painters from different generations have their own styles and each one has a story to tell, but in front of very different backgrounds, personal developments and relations.
Nurcan Gross is convinced that the Germans are interested in exactly such a mixture of artists coming from a foreign country like Indonesia.
""Art is relative -- and it has definitely an international language,"" he said.
For example, the works of the brothers Daniel and Anton Koh from Klaten, Central Java, who both work with mixed media. Pieces of textile or bark, plastic, paper scraps or cord shape impressive patterns above the painted canvas. Everybody has to interpret for themselves the created forms, which are all untitled.
While the 47-year-old Daniel has live permanently in Germany since 1979, his brother Anton, two years younger, has split his time between Bali and Cologne since 1984. Both of the Koh brothers show a clear influence by Indonesian arts: the patterns in Anton's works often remind one of batik fabrics, while Daniel's pictures instead show birds, geckos or simplified men, which recall partly the primitive arts of some native people.
Nurcan Gross and Daniel Koh have worked together several times. Daniel was also the one who introduced Nurcan to other Indonesian artists living in Germany, whose pictures will be exhibited in Cologne until the end of this month.
One of them is Andry Cahyono from Jakarta, who has lived in Boppard, Germany, since 1997.
""Actually, I just wanted to come here for a language course, but then I was caught by love,"" the 30-year-old painter said. ""But this new development was also good for my art.""
In fact, Andry found his way from more ornamental patterns to very clear colors and forms. In his paintings geometric figures nestle in and above each other, resembling building blocks. ""I want to break rigidity and stiffness,"" says Andry, who titled his works Appearance, Creation and Jericho.
More concrete are the pastel colored pictures of Yayak Yatmaka, which demonstrate the critical-political intentions of the artist. A little boy, cowering under a huge straw hat, is called Optimist. And the painting Long Lives shows covered female bodies, whose white shawls are soiled by red splotches that finally run down into an American flag. The 47-year-old painter from Yogyakarta is actually better known for his satiric caricatures, which is one reason he had to leave his home country 11 years ago.
Not as biting as his caricatures but as apposite as them is Yayak's Who's the Terrorist? The work shows a nude woman, first in front of some masked women, then hooded and with a gun and finally alone. The color of the fairy-like woman changes from white to pink to green, holding a white lily in her hands.
Although his paintings look much softer than his caricatures at first glance, Yayak has lost none of his bite.
Two other artists are taking part in the -- both with only one work, both a series of paintings. Red, Black and White consists of six abstract pictures by the Berlin-based Yudi Noor. Me, by Lena Simanjuntak, who has lived in Cologne for more than 20 years, shows five paintings focussing on the white silhouette of a woman, who seems to dance with a green-transparent shawl while her shape does not change at all.
As impressive as the works of these artists might be, the exhibition does not do them justice. Although the facilities are nice, they do not offer enough space for more than two or maybe three artists.
That this exhibition nevertheless features six artists can only be explained by the economic difficulties of small galleries in general. And since there was no unifying motto for this exhibition, with the exception of the nationality of the artists, the paintings seem motley and compiled by accident.
The principle ""a little bit of everything"" might work for cooking, but as a concept for an exhibition it is not enough.
I-box:
Galerie Atmosphre, Lindenthalgrtel 58a, 50935 Kln, Phone: +49-221-469401-00, Fax: +49-221-469401-11.
The exhibition of Indonesian art will run until May 31. Thirty percent of the profit of all sale will be donated to Dinamika Edukasi Dasar, an organization providing an alternative education for street children in Yogyakarta.
