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Of alchemy, family, color and Indonesia
Green message: Artist Arya Pandjalu makes the installation in the memory of his late father, who liked plants
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Green message: Artist Arya Pandjalu makes the installation in the memory of his late father, who liked plants.
The National Gallery is currently exhibiting the works of Austrian artist Helmut Kand and of the late painter Raden Tohny Joesoef and his four sons. Despite showcasing artists of different nationalities, the exhibitions have a common thread: They expose the richness of Indonesian culture.
Kand, with a surrealist approach, focuses on the traditions of Bali and Yogyakarta; while Tohny, who launched an art movement in Bandung, West Java, tells of the beauty of Indonesian nature with a realist style. Meanwhile, his sons experiment with different media to convey messages on the environment and family.
Helmut Kand: Color alchemist
Kand defines himself as a poetic surrealist, who gives his paintings poetic titles, such as Travelled too far but only for two hearts, Coziness in the labyrinth of dreams III, or Traced hide-out of feelings at 11th floor II.
Choosing a title is part of his creative process, Kand said in the exhibition catalog. 'I collect keywords and half-sentences on a piece of a paper and then combine them as they are suitable to the content of the painting.'
He continues, 'I don't take interest in exaggerated profundity, the titles ought to be poetic, light and loose.'
Entering the exhibition, visitors are greeted with reds, blues, yellows and other bright colors in every corner. It's clear why critics have called him the color alchemist.
At the age of four, Kand repainted a water-colored landscape belonged to his father. At the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he studied with prominent Austrian artists before studying and working in Rome, London and Greece, which he describes as a second home.
He then discovered Indonesia. Before then, Kand's paintings were explosions of brown and blue hues. After seeing the beauty of Bali; green, yellow, red and orange nuances emerged on his work.
Titled 'Coziness in the Labyrinth of Dreams', the National Gallery's exhibition of Kund's work features pieces that expose the nature and culture of Indonesia.
Shapes and symbols, such as lotuses, temples, Balinese dancers, mountains and sacred animal effigies, emerge in the paintings displayed in the exhibition.
While in Bali, Kand also worked with Balinese sculpture Ketut Radio to design a series of sculptures inspired by his paintings, some of which are on display in the gallery.
Raden Tohny Joesoef and Sons: Family on exhibition
The latest exhibition by the Joesoef clan, 'Pada Cermin' (On Mirrors), is believed to be the first family art exhibition held at the National Gallery.
The show brings Tohny alive through a display of old pieces that have inspired his four sons ' Hassan Pratama, Syarief Hidayat, Arya Pandjalu and Arya S. Putra ' to follow in his steps.
Despite his strong influence on the Bandung art movement in the 1960s, Tohny's remains a relatively unknown figure, even though he established the Ligar Sari art studio in Bandung that fostered prominent painters, such as Ian Mulyana and Indra Gunadharma.
The current exhibition aims to reintroduce the artist to the public, National Gallery chiefTubagus Andre Sukmana says in the catalogue.
The exhibition is divided into two parts. Tohny's early works and his sons' pieces.
One of the curators, Rizki A. Zaelani, said that 'Pada Cermin' represents the relationship of the Joesoef clan as an artistic family.
'Standing in front of a mirror, everyone has the right to reinterpret the reflection in front of them and this how Tohny's descendants understand their father's influence,' Rizki said at the opening of the exhibition.
The curators have designed the exhibition in a way that all the pieces of a given artist are displayed under a similar theme.
In the first part, Tohny's paintings are featured in three rooms: one focusing on Tohny's signature paintings of lotuses and natural landscapes, a second full of Tohny's abstracts and a third of sketches.
The second part of the exhibition is more colorful and uses more media than the first part.
While each of Tohny's sons has their own style, their work has a common thread of nostalgia, family and their father.
' Photos by JP/Ika Krismantari
