I’ve Just Seen a Face. (Courtesy of Gallery Rachel)

In a two-panel canvas for each painting, viewers may both wonder and indulge in a deep psychological interpretation of an artwork — a kind that resonates ambiguously between impressionism and abstract.

Bandung-based artist Muhammad Reggie Aquara held his first solo exhibition titled “Rorschach and Roll” at Gallery Rachel in Jakarta, presenting 12 paintings he did of public figures that resemble the painter’s role model of popular culture.

“Paintings done with the Rorschach technique always bring a big question to their audience: What do you see? It is also applied in my work,” says Reggie.

Legendary names in music, movies and art like the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison, Thom Yorke and artist Gerhard Richter greet one in a loud-secret gesture as they are wrapped in abstract with attention-stealing colors — a sign of pop culture.

Monrorschach. (Courtesy of Gallery Rachel)
Reggie applies the Rorschach psychology test to his work.

The Rorschach test — also known as the Rorschach inkblot test, the Rorschach technique, or simply the inkblot test — is a psychological test in which subjects’ perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both.

Some psychologists use this test to examine a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly.

The test is named after its creator, Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach.

“When I learned about this technique and did a little research on it, I found that when people are faced with symmetrical pictures, they tend to compare the right and left sides.

“The test is aimed at measuring a person’s imagination. Nowadays, the phenomena in imagination are quite different. I play with my imagination in this work but in a more realistic way, which is by making my role models the dominant figures in my paintings,” Reggie, 30, tells The Jakarta Post.

We Could Be So Good Together. (Courtesy of Gallery Rachel)
He further shares that his painting technique was mainly inspired by a childhood experience. “In elementary school, we used to have fun drawing and painting on paper and then folding it. The experience of putting the ink, similar to writing, on the paper and folding it to have an artsy piece of work was just amazing.

“I applied the same technique with the ink in this project. The difference is that I used two canvas boards hinged together as the media — so it’s like a big book. My analogy, each of my work is like a personal journal. So, it has a unique impression,” adds Reggie.

To make the mirrored images, Reggie closes “the book”, with one of the canvas boards having image and the other one blank. “The important part of the whole process is when I open ‘the book’.

“Of course, failure happened during the work since February, but it was all worthwhile,” says the undergraduate degree holder of fine arts from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Play with Fire. (Courtesy of Gallery Rachel)
On Reggie’s creations, curator Asmujo Jono Irianto says that after spending a substantial amount of time exploring realist tendencies, the painter instead made a breakthrough with an entirely different style.

“His works are diptychs of twin images arranged in a bilaterally symmetrical position reminiscent of Rorschach psychology tests. One prominent aspect that quickly draws attention to Reggie’s paintings is the thick, textured layer of paint.

“It can be seen that Reggie’s paintings are created by placing a thick layer of paint on one canvas and then pressing a blank canvas onto it. The result is a pair of canvases, symmetrically mirror images. During the early stages of his experimentation, Reggie was unaware of the Rorschach psychology test.

“When he discovered that his paintings, with their mirrored images, were actually similar in spirit to the Rorschach test, Reggie found a renewed desire to learn more about this method, also known as the inkblot technique,” shares Asmujo.

Inkblot images became Reggie’s starting point to rethink fundamental concepts of his paintings. As opposed to Rorschach’s abstract test images — designed to trigger the imagination of various forms — Reggie coaxes recognizable figures into his paintings, says Asmujo.

“Reggie’s efforts result in diptych paintings that appear both representational and abstract, depending on the
way you look at them. This is also Reggie’s way of reconciling the tension between abstract and representational approaches to painting.

Works of Muhammad Reggie Aquara on display. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)
“As a result, Reggie’s paintings appear unique and quite different from most Indonesian contemporary paintings. Despite this observational difference, it is the thinking process and discourses that accompany Reggie’s painting method that are the most significant.”

However, unlike the use of abstract inkblot images in Rorschach tests — created to provoke the imagination regarding certain forms — Reggie’s artwork displays clear figures that challenge viewers to look past the images and identities of said figures, says Asmujo.

“The appearance of two symmetrically similar figures is an absolute component to achieve this aim. As such, although both canvases can be hung separately as independent pieces, Reggie has chosen to display both as a unified piece.

“By presenting these mirror images like Rorschach test presentations, Reggie tries to convey the capacity of painting as a region with the potential for imagination. The figure’s singularity is disturbed by the presence of its congruent reflection/mirror image. It seems to disaffirm the figure/character in question by transcending its identity.”