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Kartika Affandi: Giving Indonesia another perspective
It’s clear that renowned painter and sculptor Kartika Affandi, who just turned 85 in November, has been boisterously independent for all eight decades of her life.
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Laughing out loud: Painter and sculptor Kartika Affandi congratulates Azam Bachtiar on his work. (Erlinawati Graham/-)
Kartika Affandi claims she’s ugly. She was also raised to be truthful.
Let’s settle for conundrum.
To push her point she adds make-up and fractures another taboo. Instead of masking womanly mysteries by preening in private, she steers her wheelchair into the open, opens her box of tricks and faces her fans.
The voyeurs seek more than rouge, red chili ear danglers and an upturned clown mouth. Deceptions or pointers?
They strive to catch character on canvas and the best succeed with wild swirls of color and shades of darkness. Their model has got to that certain age where she no longer cares a damn what anyone thinks. Or maybe it’s always been that way.
There’s no brashness, nothing unkind. Her eccentricity is benign. It’s not a gimmick, though it might be a shield against past pains: “I’m doing this not to look beautiful, although I enjoy people looking at me,” she said. “I want to get rid of bad spirits, to help us all enjoy life.”
The Yogyakarta painter and sculptor turned 85 in November; it’s clear she’s been boisterously independent for all eight decades.
