Massaging at Senen Sidewalk by Edhi Sunarso. JP/Munarsih Sahana

Hundreds of thousands of people each day drive pas his creation Selamat Datang, the Welcome Monument at Hotel Indonesia’s traffic circle in downtown Jakarta.

Edhi Sunarso (77), the sculptor commissioned by Indonesia’s first president Soekarno to make this memorial — commemorating the return of the Indonesian government from Yogyakarta to Jakarta in 1949 — is one of Indonesia’s most noted figures in the world of sculpture.

Having left his mark all over the country, with major monuments in Semarang, Denpasar, Ambon and Biak in Irian Jaya, Sunarso was bestowed the Empu Ageng Seni (Grand Master of Art) award on Thursday night.

The Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) Yogyakarta award kickstarted his much-anticipated one-week
solo exhibition titled “Retrospeksi” (Retrospective), displaying miniatures of his monuments, an array of his wood and bronze sculptures, as well as paintings selected from his earlier days, at the Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta.

The exhibition’s two curators, Mikke Susanto and Anusapati — both lecturers at ISI Yogyakarta — placed his defining works on the gallery’s first floor, tracing his artistic journey from the concrete to the abstract. Most of his sculptures are of woman standing and a few reclining.

All the miniatures of the monuments he created occupy the second floor, including The Unknown Political Prisoner (1952), which came second at the International Sculpture Competition in the UK.

His earlier less abstract sculptures on display include Kedinginan (Freezing, 1959) depicting a woman standing freezing, Ngangsu (Carrying Water, 1958), two women carrying traditional jars filled with water, and Mandi Gosokan (Taking a Bath, 1958), women bathing and lathering each other.

Sunarso’s choice of seemingly mundane subjects illustrates his understanding of the minutia ruling people’s everyday life.

Fighting against colonial powers and spending time in prison — courtesy of the Dutch ruling authorities — kindled his patriotic spirit, which he then infused into all the statues he created for monuments and dioramas, giving them strong facial expressions.

Over the years, Sunarso’s sculpting became more abstract, as he is said to have been influenced by post-WW2 foreign artists while studying art at Visva Bharati Rabindranath Tagore University in Santiniketan, India (1955-1957), and while traveling on an art study tour around several European countries in 1954.

His work Berjalan dalam Kekosongan (Walking in Emptiness) for instance, depicting humans with gaping holes in the middle of their faces, is very reminiscent of British sculptor Henry Spencer Moore’s style.

Although some of Sunarso’s work became quite abstract, viewers can still discern silhouettes of women in his series Torso characterized by the sensual forms of breasts and thighs, or in his work Gadis dan Mimpi (A Girl and Her Dream, 1959).

His reverence for women’s sensual bodies comes with a fascination for family values and relationships between men and women, as can be seen in his works Lingga and Yoni, Pasrah (Submission, 2000) and Mahkota yang Retak (The Cracked Crown, 1999).

His sculpture of a happy family titled Pijat di Trotoar Senen (Massaging at the Senen Sidewalk,
1982), portrays a husband receiving a massage from another woman, while resting his head on his wife’s lap.

Edhi Sunarso’s collection of works displayed in his “Retrospective” exhibition conveys heroic and humanist messages that have earned him awards from home and overseas over the last 50 years.

Retrospective

Solo exhibition Edhi Sunarso

Jogja Gallery, Jl. Pekapalan 7

Alun-alun Utara Yogyakarta

Jan. 14 to 21, 2010, except Mondays

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