Dolorosa Sinaga examines one of her half-done works at her studio in East Jakarta. (JP/J. Adiguna)
One seasoned sculptor has seen so many human bodies, has studied so thoroughly the muscles and movements that she can tell thousands of stories about them -- both the bodies and the people who inhabited them.
So many of us have wondered whether we as humans add up simply to the flesh, bone and blood that form our physical selves, or something more.
Veteran sculptor Dolorosa Sinaga brazenly raises that particular question in her upcoming solo exhibition -- set to open on Oct. 15 at the National Gallery in Jakarta. Displaying more than 20 works, both old and new, this, the third solo exhibition of her long career, touches upon a subject matter that many humans are unwilling to address -- to what extent are we simply body and flesh.
"The theme is apakah kamu pernah lihat patung tubuh? (have you ever seen a sculpture of a human body?), which means the sculptures are about humans, about people, what they want to know and how they view themselves. To me, until this day, the human body has always been like a never ending source of inspiration that will never dry up no matter how deeply we explore it," she said.
Her third solo exhibition has the same title as her first, which was held in 2001.
"I am still the same person and the whole idea for this exhibition is the same -- the human body -- and the stories that can be told about it."
In her third exhibition, Dolo showcases a new theme, that of the plastic bag.
She said she was through with wax and clay, "Wax and clay no longer excite me or come to life in my hands, while plastic and textiles have rejuvenated my dormant spirit."
The inspiration to use the unconventional material came by accident.
"One day, I covered a still-wet work in progress with a large plastic bag to retain the work's moisture. Observing the shape that the plastic made over the wet half-molded clay, I was suddenly struck by the possibilities that plastic itself could have as a medium."
"Now, the clay has become just an anchor for the plastic, so the plastic can be molded freely."
Dolo, as she is affectionately known, is a household name both at home and abroad.
Born in North Sumatra on Oct. 31, Dolo, who turned 56 this year, is instantly likable. She doesn't have the bitter chip on her shoulder that so many angry-at-the-world artists possess.
Her spacious house in East Jakarta, where she lives with her husband Arjuna Hutagalung, is open to anyone. "My door is always open, 24-hours, seven days a week. Anyone is welcome here," she said during an interview in the studio in her house recently.
After graduating from the Jakarta Institute of Arts in 1977, she went on to earn a post-graduate degree at St. Martin's School of Art in London in 1983. Dolo also studied at Berkeley's School of Arts, majoring in fine bronze casting in 1984. She underwent an apprenticeship at Sonoma State University's department of fine arts, where she studied sand casting. The list goes on.
Despite extensive exposure to Western art, Dolo said she had jumped at an opportunity she was offered in 1985 by the Ford Foundation to restore the oldest traditional bronze foundry in Trowulan, East Java.
"I mostly use references from my overseas studies because I have not had much experience in sculpture at home, but the experience in Trowulan greatly influenced me," she said.
Until this day, Dolo has casted all of her bronze sculptures in Trowulan.
"There is Pak Sabar, the oldest artisan in Trowulan who works to preserve the traditional method of bronze casting. Cheers to Pak Sabar that the place has become a center for bronze figurines that we see displayed in Bali, Yogyakarta and even in Jakarta art shops," she said.
Trowulan is most famous for its formal role as the site of the Majapahit kingdom, one the great Javanese kingdoms, which was in its heyday during the 12th century.
The old man, Dolo said, was also an assistant to Dutch national Henri Maclaine Pont, who founded Museum Purbakala (Prehistoric) in Trowulan.
What was most evident in her recital of the story about Pak Sabar was her humbleness and deference to the role of others in the story of her success.
However, it was not without hardship that Dolo was able to reach success. She had to defy her father's wishes on the way.
"In my second year at college at the IKJ, I won first prize for a painting in an art contest. From that point onward, my father lost all justification for keeping me from entering the 'free world', and that worried him," she said in her catalog.
"That world, he said, is not suitable for women."
Perhaps now though, her father may sleep soundly, for her work has been collected and put on display at the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta, at the International Monetary Fund Gallery in Washington D.C., at the office of the Indonesian central bank, the office of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, Quezon University in the Philippines, Kyoei Life in Tokyo, and the Sol Art Gallery in Chianti, Italy.
Since 1883, she has been teaching sculpture, the history of art, anatomy and figure drawing.
She said she had told her students, "Being an artist is not number 27 on the list of good careers. It is a number one profession."
Mastering a technique is one thing but being able to reflect life in art for the benefit of others is the duty of all artists, she said. An artist's work should enable people to reflect on their own lives.
"If artists can place themselves in that position, from then on the public can better appreciate art," she said.
And she doesn't only talk the talk: Through her works, Dolo has allowed the public to view themselves in a new light, one that casts tales of love, grief and anger though that strange, infinitely complex but familiar figure called the human body.
Have you ever seen a sculpture of a human body?
A solo exhibition by Dolorosa Sinaga
National Gallery, Central Jakarta
Oct. 15 until Nov. 1, 2008
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