Chronicles… Frozen in Time - Art Stage Jakarta 2017

www.artstage.com

Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda, Kebayoran Jakarta, Indonesia

j a k a rta | 1 1 - 1 3 A U G 2 0 1 7

booth

B23

Sudjojono (b.1913) - Pasar Baru - ink on paper - 26 x 36 cm - 1981

www.dgalleriejakarta.net

Jl. Barito I No.3, Kebayoran Baru Jakarta, 12130, +62-21-739 9378 dgalleriejakarta@gmail.com

Chronicles‌

Frozen in Time Drawings and Sketches on Paper of Indonesian Old Master: Affandi, Basuki Abdullah, Batara Lubis, Fadjar Sidik, Harijadi Sumadidjaja, Henk Ngantung, Hendra Gunawan, Itji Tarmizi, Lee Man Fong, Sudjana Kerton, S. Sudjojono & Widayat

C h ro n i c l e s … F roz e n i n T i m e

Sketches, usually drawn on paper, could be seen as a temporary plan before creating a finished work, both paintings and sculptures. On the other hand, drawings are considered as finished works although they are done using same material with sketches. In drawings, artists generally use instruments such as pencils, pens, inks, charcoals and others to mark papers or other two-dimensional media.

The title of this exhibition borrowed a phrase from the last line of Chairil Anwar’s poem, Some are Plundered, Some Escape (Yang Terampas dan Yang Putus).1 This poem encompasses such a dark mood but the author takes perspective on how sketches and drawings in this exhibition have frozen a number of events and stories.

The 12 artists in this exhibition experienced the independence revolution of the Republic of Indonesia. Their artistic career have colored and influenced this period which later

Affandi (b.1907) - Cangklong Kesayangan ink on paper - 43 x 55 cm - 1983

also shaped the character of modern Indonesian art.

is also performed in poster painting which was well developed in the Revolution era.

Drawings and sketches have unique characteristics compared to other art mediums. With only a paper and a pencil or pen, an artist can do the drawing. Sketches and drawings became the most affordable medium during the economic restriction when the new Republic was established and had to face military aggression.2

Slightly different from the previous tendencies, there are some artists who actually make the practice of drawing to record an event like a camera. In this case, what is presented in the drawing contains news value. Sudjana Kerton and Henk Ngantung have a track record of being ‘visual journalists’. Sudjana Kerton was a visual journalist in a daily newspaper Patriot led by Usmar Ismail in Yogyakarta in 19451949, while Henk Ngantung produced sketches showing images of figures or crowds that mark important events in the Revolution, especially the struggle to uphold the nation independence on the negotiation table. The drawings of Henk Ngantung perpetuate these events in a typical artist’s perspective, through spontaneous, thick and artistic lines in depicting faces and figures.

This aspect of affordability also affects other contexts. Affandi, Barli, Hendra Gunawan and Sudjana Kerton once joined the Pelukis Front (Front Painters) in Bandung, a group that pledged themselves to record war events directly through sketches, especially in West Java. The most important painting of Hendra Gunawan, The Bride of Revolution (collection of Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics, Jakarta), dated in 1955, is the end result of a sketch when he recorded a unique wedding event somewhere in Karawang in 1945.3 This workmanship was also done by S. Sudjojono and Harijadi Sumadidjaja as their paintings, which dated back to the revolutionary period, still record the atmosphere of war and daily life during the Revolution.

We could see that paintings and artworks have become a mode of documentation, not merely seen from its artistic value. Or vice versa, we could actually perceive the artistic achievement of these paintings which its documentary character is presented to fuel the spirit of nationalism. This instrumental function

Henk Ngantung (b.1921) - Di Atas Kapal Renville ink on paper - 35 x 40 cm - 1946

In documenting events through drawings and sketches which later turn into paintings or other works, an artist is expected to capture the decisive moment and then precisely record it in efficient scribbles on paper.

As a study, let’s examine a sketch made

by S. Sudjojono, Majapahit. We could read a number of notes or inscriptions in that sketch to accommodate the artist’s concept or idea which maybe later become a painting. In a slightly different practice, we could observe some sketches or drawings of artists who were united in Pelukis Rakyat (People Painters) like Hendra Gunawan, Affandi, Batara Lubis,

Itji Tarmizi (b.1939) - Pemandangan ink on paper - 22 x 28 cm - 1960

Basuki Abdullah (b.1915) - Pemandan water color on paper - 18 x 23 cm - un

C h ro n i c l e s … F roz e n i n T i m e

Itji Tarmizi and Fadjar Sidik. This group has a strong sketching tradition. They usually went deep in the market crowds, roads, beaches and other locations to make sketches.4 Almost all People Painters artists in this exhibition learned to draw in autodidact. Therefore, practices of direct sketching on site are the best way in training their artistic sensitivity and technical prowess. This practice also has a tendency to record reality that may be incubating with the spirit or populist manifesto of People Painters.5 In general, all sketches and drawings shown in this exhibition represent the artists’ ability to master objects well, realistically and expressively. Some lines or scratches depict figures in deformation but still have volume and refer to human figures in daily life. In sketches or drawings that portray landscapes or city corners, the artists’ ability to draw objects and present the impression of space is clearly seen. With noisy strokes or minimal lines, they could summarize the strong mood and emotion, and bring certain atmosphere to the audience.

Especially on the sketches of Affandi and Hendra Gunawan, they offer such a quieter and subtle atmosphere than their paintings although they seem to represent their painting workmanship, both from drawing lines, how to draw objects and subject matter.

The sketches and drawings in this exhibition also reflect the artists’ immersive experience in undergoing moments directly and instantly eternalize it in scratches on paper. The

ngan nknown year

Fajar Sidik (b.1930) - Di Studio 2 ink on paper - 22 x 33 cm - unknown year

styles and tones of the lines could serve as the consequence of experiences when technology of photography has not been as massive today and becomes our media in experiencing reality.

As a ‘reality record media’, some sketches and drawings tend to exist as a kind of personal journal but some drawings also mark the time and space that are worthy to be studied. In addition to presenting biographical records of these important artists, we can see fragments of Indonesia’s journey as a nation as well as its progress and ironies in an uncommon viewpoint. In Pasar Baru (New Market) (1981)

by S. Sudjojono, we can see the noisy traffic in Pasar Baru, Jakarta. The audience view to the Istiqlal Mosque seemed to be distracted by the traffic crowd in front of the mosque. We will not find the crowded traffic in Pasar Baru area in this work ten years before this drawing was made. The economic progress which causes traffic jam indicates the distinctiveness of S. Sudjojono’s workmanship in recording daily life without reducing the reality, one thing that is not presented in Mooi Indie paintings.

Let’s take a look at Fadjar Sidik’s ‘abstract’ drawings. Interestingly, Fadjar Sidik stated that he created ‘his own object’ because the nature in Indonesia, at that time, had been changed by the dynamics of industry and technology from developed countries.6 The importance of sketches and drawings in this exhibition, first, represents how the past events are being preserved artistically and can

Batara Lubis (b.1927) - Pedagang Buah ink on paper - 21 x 26 cm - 1960

be used as historical archives which possess more value than photos. Second, sketches represent how artistic knowledge, especially education, takes place in the Indonesian art world in 1940s until 1960s. In groups or sanggar (studios), senior painters shared their knowledge by inviting younger painters to create as many sketches as possible. Later on, this practice was continued and institutionalized in the educational curriculum at art colleges. Therefore, the position of sketches and drawings in the context of modern Indonesian art becomes important, beyond its polemic debate about the equality of degree between drawings/sketches as a medium and other mediums such as painting.

Chabib Duta Hapsoro Exhibition Curator

Endnotes 1) Chronicles… Frozen in Time was translated from Cerita dan Peristiwa… Berlaku Beku. Read: Chairil Anwar, Kerikil Tadjam dan Jang Terampas dan Jang Putus, (Jakarta: Pustaka Rakjat), p.53 2) One of the artists who had a difficult time is S. Sudjojono.

Since residing in Bogem Village, Prambanan, Yogyakarta in 1948, Sudjojono often found sitting bare feet in market stalls to sell sketches to survive. Read Aminudin TH Siregar, S. Sudjojono’s Pendulum. Publication on the occasion of the exhibition Strategies Towards the Real: S. Sudjojono and Contemporary Indonesian Art, (Singapore: NUS Museum, 2008), p.75 3) Agus Dermawan T. expresses (from interview with Karmini, Hendra Gunawan’s wife) that Hendra Gunawan, as a freedomfighter painter, often engaged in a war for two or three days

Batara Lubis (b.1927) - Meeting water color on paper - 20 cm x 30 cm - unknown year

C h ro n i c l e s … F roz e n i n T i m e

Lee Man Fong (b.1913) Untitled charcoal on paper 50 x 30 cm unknown year

Widayat (b.1919) Wajah ink on paper 30 x 20 cm 1994

or even a week. On returning home, Hendra brought sketches depicting the mood of death, like burning houses, dead Dutch soldiers, wounded Indonesian guerrilla fighters, and meetings of BKR strategists. The sketches later became the basis or plan of a number of famous paintings, one of which was The Bride of Revolution painted with oil paint in 1955, ten years after he made the sketch. This painting depicts the wedding atmosphere in Karawang in the midst of a critical period of the Revolution. The bride and groom is common people, but their wedding costume is unusual. The groom wears an army jacket while the bride’s dress is the costume she borrowed from the Betawi mask dancer. The groom pushes the bike where the bride sits on the metal bicycle frame. The bridal couple is followed by a procession of a group of people and tanjidor musicians and becomes the center of attention among freedom fighters, including Hendra himself. Read: Agus Darmawan T., Hendra Gunawan: His Life and Times (Singapore: Archipelago Press, 2001), p. 25-26.

4) As narrated by Claire Holt that the artists of People Painters often went out alone or in small groups to explore the fields, river banks, street corners or markets for sketching and painting, or hiking to mountains and beaches to paint landscapes. Read: Claire Holt, Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change, (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1967), p. 331.

Hendra Gunawan (b.1918) Nude 1 pen on paper 15 x 10 cm 1973

5) Hendra Gunawan, founder of People Painters, once said some things to Fadjar Sidik which can be considered as a populist manifesto of this group. That if he wants to understand the people then he must live with them, feel their pain, their joy, their greed and their desires. These things are the main capital. Hendra continued that with good skills, Fadjar (and other artists) will be able to paint people’s lives with realistic forms so that people can understand. Read: Sun Ardi, Fadjar Sidik Dynamics of Creation Process: Collection of Sketches, (Yogyakarta: ISl Publisher Agency Yogyakarta, 1991), p. 6.

6) In the previous statement, Fadjar Sidik in the 1950s revealed that his feeling was shaken by the national independence and humanity so it encouraged him to describe the lives of people and search for the form of Indonesia. However, in thirty years later there is a dynamism that shattered his feeling more, which is the spread of world culture derived from the advanced industrial countries that expands their industrial and technology invention. Fadjar Sidik felt that although the results of the industry have good appearance but they are not good to be painted, that its presence is like from another world. See Sun Ardi, ibid., p.11.

Sudjana Kerton (b.1922) Untitled charcoal on paper 47 x 32 cm 1950

Chabib Duta Hapsoro (born in Salatiga, Indonesia - April 18, 1986) is a curator and a writer, working with Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (SSAS) as well as on independent projects. He attained his master degree from Bandung Institute of Technology (2011-2014). His research focuses on the aesthetic practice of the DECENTA artists’ group that related to Indonesian modern art identity and their relationship to the State agenda in cultural propaganda in the 1970s. Chabib has curated some exhibitions such as Historia Docet, Historia Vitae Magistra, D Gallerie, Jakarta (2016); Temporal, National Gas Building, Bandung (2015); Sehat Walafiat, Ruang Mes 56, Yogyakarta (2015); Apin: Sang Petualang dari Gelanggang, SSAS (2014); E - Prilla Tania Solo Exhibition, SSAS (2013); Unload/Reload, Nadi Gallery (2012); Bandung New Emergence vol. 4, SSAS (2012). Chabib also has presented papers in some symposiums and discussions such as Equator Symposium: The One and The Many: Ethic and Aesthetic Practices in Our 21st Century Democracy, by Biennale Yogya Foundation, Yogyakarta (2014).

English translation by Lela Herliana