Arts: Arts & Crafts

Erasmus Huis Spirit

of Interaction

Reality expressed in Sculpture Part II

Text and photography by Loreen Neville
20th March 2009

“Today, sculpture development creates an interaction with performance art. Performance art is one of the forms of expression in visual arts that crosses disciplinary lines. The artist can become a part of the work’s elements, which sometimes use the element of smell too. Installation art is an expressional concept that carriers the same spirit. The embryo of installation art’s thoughts was founded in the 1920s by Russian Constructivism activists, with Vladimir Tatlin as one of its leaders. Tatlin created a work using corners of two sides of a wall as its elements. Interaction from both sides created an object, which depended on the tension of steel cables in the walls.” -Dolorosa Sinaga
 
Here sculptor Amalia Sigit Rajab produced a mannequin wrapped with maroon sash laced lined with thin bendable wiring to give a blowy wind-like effect. Henna-like patterns were painted over the body of this mannequin.  Propped in between a grey scale make shift wall, dangling by thin iron rods.

Admiring sculptor Amalia Sigit work, it is as though she infused fashion into her work thereby showing her designer instinct skills. By dressing up the mannequin with clothes and henna paint, a statement of fashion and lifestyle is made here, cleverly disguised in sculptor. Amalia Sigit is keeping up with the dandy trend of fashion with its audacity.  Her model work is suited for interiors like in the shopping malls. This interaction will also stand out if the governor of Jakarta could engaged Amalia to decorate the streets during the festive seasons of Hari Raya, Christmas, Gregorian New Year and Chinese New Year which falls along consecutive monthly periods. Jakarta streets are usually decorated with miserable lightings on palm trees often with spoilt or fused bulbs that don’t work. Often from the work of half-hearted unprofessional without bothering with tiny bulb maintenance! 

Amalia Sigit Rajab other piece entitled, ‘learn to fly’, mixed media, reminds me of my toys, passed onto my daughter as her toys. We have the whole collection of toy figurines from the ninja turtles, star-wars, batman and robin, cat-woman, GI Jones, transformers, Anime characters, entire collection of Barbie dolls and accessories since 1970s etc. I cherish and maintain all my toys but my daughter has destroyed a few pieces.

Here Amalia displayed a fairy-like green figurine with holey bat wings colored green, yellow and blue. I wondered why she entitled it; learn to fly because the doll appears to be gracefully dancing raising her left foot up. She had a green tail too.  This fairy would really fit in with my toy collection next to the dinosaurs.  This graceful swan-bat-fairy like toy sculptor was not for sale. Since I am able to relate my toys with Amalia’s art, therefore Interaction as thus taken place here.

Tom boyish sculptor Innes Indreswari, a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology showcased outdoor and indoor pieces. Her works are all bold, strong with positive and negative interpretation as the sculptor planned it to be. She incorporates her work as trying to represent women. As tom boyish looking as she is, I think her outdoor piece entitled, ‘PIN’ made out of dried banana fibers and wrapped by a red painted metal sheet with gold trim paints resembles her inner protest towards men and she could be right because men can be a pain in the neck especially when they are in power, those silly kings!   Innes told the press that, banana trees can only produce one batch of fruit before it withers, and is replaced by the seedlings. This is what happens to a woman’s life often treated as second or third class citizens, needed often only as props. Innes further says that this nation cannot progress because for women are the pillars of this nation”. The 3 meter art form, PIN is an apparition for it can be interpreted as a large bowling pin, a Christmas outdoor décor, a buoying or a huge size Russian wood doll without the facial feature.    

Fantastic array of in-door modern contemporary egg-shaped ornaments by sculptor Innes

It is not that I have not seen the same type of art form model before because I own similar or exactly the same types in real jade, marble, onyx and also I have a 24 carat gold plated egg in my secret cabinet. 

It is not that I have not seen this particular art shape model before because I own similar or exactly the same forms except my pieces are in real jade, marble, onyx and I also have a 24 carat gold plated egg in my secret cabinet.  In this exhibition, Innes mixes her talent piece, ‘My Son=My Sun’ of brass with wood produced in 2007. It is subjective for it appears like the stone on the wall or Kaaba called Hajre Aswad in Mecca.  The bronze sculpture inside the black lacquer hole looks human in form perhaps as in my son.

Innes’s copper base, egg shaped sculpture entitled, ‘My World’, copper wire 2007, are wires stringed tightly around to form the shape with a bent on one side. It is beautiful and abstract. Why would Innes name it her world? It is so closed and safe up like inside an embryo a flower bud. Maybe perhaps the artist has hidden secrets or is waiting to bloom. But what baffles me about this art is why was it listed as produced in 2007, when the brass metal plate below the copper-wire art stated 2004? Hey, it caught my investigative eye!    

Innes’s ‘Egg’ bronze produced in 2004, work is pierced lightly with dots. All Innes egg pieces are truly artistic pieces that will fit in any offices or homes. Innes had worked wonderfully with metal and here again the egg representing reproduction or birth. Innes has managed to remind us of the auspicious egg in her sculptures. Eggs means life but Innes art is lonely, safely secured in metal egg cocoons.      

Taufan A.P, born in Pasuruan East Java, produced these range of bronze, silver-plating and aluminum figures. The piece, ‘Lady in silver’,  a silver plated figurine produced in 2007 stood in size 17 x 27 x 62cm. Taufan managed to capture in silver, the flow of a woman’s attire breezed to one side. The head was animal like in appearance. His sculpture, ‘The Woman’, in aluminum produced in 2008 looked like the Oscar’s award except this is a woman. Her figure was shaped to be slim with a graceful scanty cocktail like wrap dress. I guess this would be the artist’s dream girl.  This piece stood out in size 20 x 20 x 95cm.

Taufan’s most interesting piece is his bronze piece, ‘The Couple’ produced in 2006, sized 30 x 13 x 48cm, is molded in such a way that the texture seen from afar can appear like folded hard stone washed leather. I think that Taufan used the cold cast method which is a combination of powder bronze metal and polymers binding the bronze metal without being time consuming. The cold cast method also makes it easier to shape or mould.

At first I thought he had sculptured it from acrylic materials but after touching, it was definitely cold bronze. The two heads of the bronze sculpture were looking away from each other and resembled dog or vulture faces. The heads although faced away from each other were jointed by a semi folded cloak like, embedded to have separate bodies yet linked by two thin metal rods as stands that looked like the legs. I really enjoyed and like it for its artistic uniqueness.  It can be interpreted into many explanations. The texture is captivating.

Sculptor Anuspati work:


Now this piece, I don’t get it! An art work that look like an upside down dog house or kennel, made out of wood for the outdoors. Too much borrowed art from the ideal dog house here. The rain that night of the exhibition had sort of washed away the wordings of the title of this piece.

But what surprise me though after down loading this digital photograph, from a distance the beams that held the huge glass frame window of the Erasmus Huis center at the back, of this art piece made the entire piece look like a chapel in a distant or a grave. He produced this piece in 2006.      

Anuspati ‘object #12’
Made of wood, produced in 2005.

Looks like a ‘pocong’ in wood. I don’t know, I don’t get the art work of Anuspati.
I am not inspired therefore no words can easily flow out. 

 
Sculptor Yani Mariani Sastranegara produced soul of emerald and Mandala Bayu mixed media of copper and gold plating.  

Artistically sculptured as mass form like the base and then shaped into a form. His objects are works of inspiration, like figures in the wind from his piece of Mandala Bayu.
Soul of Emerald has this blob base mass molded into a tree root that becomes a woman holding a globe that looks like earth. 
So creative. Yani talents are natural and he is tremendously gifted. Yani born in 1955, in Rangkasbitung, Banten.  His work is very original from what I have seen in this particular exhibition. I truly appreciate originality and respect it. Yani has been in exhibitions since 2003 and will travel far with his beautiful abstract metal sculptures and figurines.

See also: 

• Erasmus Huis Spirit of Interaction Reality expressed in Sculpture Part I
• Speech of H.E. Maxime Verhagen, Foreign Minister of Netherlands
• Speech of Art Curator Madam Dolorosa Sinaga
• Photo Album of Event