Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta
Teachers at art institutes may be good teachers in terms of instilling their students with the basics of art, which today would include new modes of making and creating art, understanding the new paradigms in esthetics and in particular, evoking the creative and the innovative in their students in order that they are able to meet the challenges of the present as well as the future.
But to do so, art teachers are expected to possess and project a strength in creative dynamics that can rejuvenate, inspire and stimulate new visions for elevating the mind, the body and the spirit.
Of course, one can hardly expect teachers who are toiling with curricular tasks to be great artists as well. But it appears the teachers of the Faculty of Visual Arts, Design and Craft of the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) were intent to show that they were not merely instructors, but that they were able to create as well.
So how does the exhibition of 40 teachers and a few alumni of the IKJ, currently on show at the Galeri Nasional, fall within such a framework?
We Create, Therefore We Are Here is the title of the group exhibit, which opened on May 30 and will run through June 10.
The works on display indeed span a great variety of arts genre and media, from paintings to sculptures, from print art to woodcraft, and from fashion to interior design.
Expectations ran high upon entering the premises of the gallery, with a stunning installation in the garden that welcomed visitors.
Moving with the wind, 18 giant cocoon-like shapes rise to the sky, measuring between 21 and 65 centimeters in width and varying between 290 and 610 cm in height, leaving an impression of observing surreal vegetation in a fairy-tale atmosphere.
The installation was made by Yani Mariani Sastranegara, a 1981 alumni of the IKJ sculpture department who created the shapes with fairly simple material. For the frames she used real roots, then covered them with a white stretch fabric. Some bamboo was added to provide structural support.
A full-time artist, Yani displays a close affinity to nature and the natural, and her works are marked by the imaginary and a fine sense of aesthetics. She was part of the Indonesian delegation at the 2005 Venice Biennale, and has won many awards.
In the exhibition hall proper, the works of current IKJ teachers brought a smile to the lips of many a guest, particularly the hilarious wooden sculpture by Boyke Mulyana, featuring a fist holding a stick on which a becak, a Metro Mini bus and a car are skewered.
Also tracing an urban theme are the fine drawings of Aditya Tobing, which employ an almost surreal technique to show the chaos of life in the city.
Meanwhile, a wooden sculpture by Erlangga Soegiarso reveals the fine craftsmanship of the artist, who was educated at IKJ's crafts department. Inspired by buffalo horns, Erlangga uses teak and the trunk of a coconut tree to create a sculpture that can be likened to the strong and mature branches of a tree.
But it is the installation by Hardiman Rajab that reflects artistic ingenuity and a touch of contemporary esthetics. Featuring two Echolac suitcases connected by a white bridge that may call to mind the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, one's first impression might be that of a work embodying today's travel mania. A closer look may even confirm such an impression as one peeps through the holes in the two suitcases to view the two-way traffic along the bridge.
Yet for Hardiman, this work reveals the up and downs -- the negative and the positive -- that make up the reality of life. While he is a crafts teacher at the arts institute, Hardiman is known more as an artist who has been featured in many exhibitions, one of which is opening at the Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta.
While the aforementioned works can stand present and future challenges, it is hoped that the next exhibition of IKJ teachers' own artworks would show more pieces along present-day dynamics.
The IKJ was founded in 1976 within the Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) arts center; TIM was established in 1968 by the Jakarta administration under governor Ali Sadikin as a center of cultural activities.
The center has long been the arts hub of Jakarta representing the confluence of arts education, artistic experimentation and international exchanges with respect to the changing tides of art and its appreciation in Indonesia.
We Create, Therefore We Are Here
An exhibition of artworks by teachers of IKJ
May 30-June 10
Galeri Nasional Jakarta
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