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Art under the volcano
Any mention of volcanoes is likely to conjure images of disaster and tragedy
Any mention of volcanoes is likely to conjure images of disaster and tragedy.
Take for instance the explosion of Krakatoa, a volcano located between Java and Sumatra, which killed at least 40,000 people in 1883. Or the recent eruption of the long-forgotten Eyjafjalla in Iceland, which caused mayhem across the world's airline industry.
The volcano's negative image hasn't stopped some of the world's most prominent artists from highlighting its beauty.
Art works of both paintings and installations on Yogyakarta's Merapi Volcano, one of the 16 most dangerous volcanoes in the world, are currently on display at an exhibition "Art Under The Volcano" in Affandy museum on the banks of Gajah Wong River in Yogyakarta until Sunday, June 20.
The art was created by artists from Indonesia, Italy, The Netherlands and Japan, who participated in the sixth symposium organized by World Art Delft (WAD), a Dutch foundation that aims to pay attention to cultural richness throughout the world.
The symposium held from Dec. 20 until Dec. 31, 2009 is the first ever held outside Holland, said Paula Kouwenhoven, a participating visual artist and director of WAD. "To work together with other artists from other corners of the globe is very important as most visual artists tend to work in their studio", Paula said.
Art gives insight in each other's culture that may lead to better communication, Paula added. The choice of Merapi volcano was partly initiated by Dodog Soeseno, a participating artist who was born in Surabaya and studied fine art in Yogyakarta and has lived in Holland for years.
The artists involved in the symposium were Paula Kouwenhoven, Dodog Soeseno, Joyce Bloem, Noriko Yida, Masahide Kudo, Johnni Bogi, Jun Sato, Tamaar Toth Varju, Seiko Kajiura, Yvonne Muizert, Yoshiki Takata, Yu Minami and Bart Lentze. During the entire symposium, they all lived in Cangkringan village, Yogyakarta, situated at the foot of Merapi Volcano.
For Paula, Merapi is such a beautiful mountain that she painted it on a 25x35 cm canvas titled Merapi. She is fascinated by tracks of lava through the soil. Her portrayal of Merapi is intended to alleviate the fear of eruption.
Johnni Bogi's Merapi is presented in light brown, layered by a composition of several other light colors. Through his painting of Merapi, the Indonesian painter and graphic designer wants people to feel the spirit of the volcano.
Whereas Seiko Kajimura drew a colorful picture of Merapi in watercolors on paper, titled The Small World Is Not Small.
Most of the artists portrayed the volcano as non-threatening, including the one by Dodog Soeseno who painted flowers next to the mountain. He acknowledged that volcanoes are symbols of destruction and energy at the same time. For him, a mountain in a pyramid shape symbolizes (positive) ambition. Life needs to move forward.
Painter and graphic designer Noriko Yida was also inspired by Merapi, particularly the fire and stones spitting from the crater.
In her Definable Style III (ink on paper), Yida featured three panels consisting of deformed shapes of the volcano.
Other artists are more interested in featuring the people and the life surrounding Merapi. Tamaar Toth Varju, a Dutch textile and installation artist with a Hungarian father created three-seated puppets, inspired by Indonesian wayang puppets but she wants to modernize them in Waiting for Fire Flies.
Japanese installation artist Yoshiki Takata was inspired by the cultures of several countries, including Japan and Indonesia. He expressed mixed emotion of different cities in his Color Chart of Yogya presented on layers of white transparent fabric. He used the name of the city as he used all local materials for his work.
Japanese architect and artist Jun Sato presented his undeniably architectural signature in 7 day's in Yogya in which he draw pictures on two rolls of Japanese rice paper.
His work looks more like his diary in architectural drawings using bright colors. Looking at his work more closely, we notice various images including houses. Asked about the meaning of his drawings, Sato briefly said they were all about his stirred feelings while participating in the symposium.
The choice of the theme "Art Under The Volcano" for WAD's 6th symposium was based on the worldwide growing fear on the outbreak of calamities as an eventual effect of crisis, climate change or painful social difference.
It was also inspired by Malcolm Lowry's novel Under The Volcano. Unfortunately, all those great art works are not well-displayed.
The exhibition is open to the public from June 12-20, 2010, everyday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at Affandy Museum, Jl. Laksda Adisucipto 167 Yogyakarta 55281.
