JAVA LAND IN THE HANDS OF ARTISTS

Kompas, Friday, October 29, 2010

RAMAH TAMAH TANAH JAWA, 2010

On a similar theme, Nurul Hayat or Acil makes a sculpture out of newsprint. He created an island. There is a small tree on it bowed before a human figure headed a back-hoe. Through the work which is titled 'Ramah Tamah Tanah Jawa' (Hospitable of Java Land), Acil touched permissiveness of Javanese cultures. In fact, when something comes from outside would harm himself.

CROSS-GENERATIONAL artists exhibit their work at the exhibition titled 'Tanah Djawa' (The Land of Java) in October 27 to 31 in Taman Budaya Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Cultural Park). In the exhibition held by Arts Liberation Front, each artist sees and questions Java in different ways.

Anton Larenz, as the exhibition's curator, divides the work of 38 artists into a number of sub-themes. Natural issues in Java seem to be a concern of many artists. It was seen by both a number of paintings and three-dimensional works which raised the issue of nature.

In his painting, 'Melewati Batas' (Past the Boundaries), for example, Budi 'Bodhonk' Prakoso displays a body headed home stacks. The houses pile up and crammed so high. Around the body there are houses flying through the air and being grabbed by a bunch of humans.

Through that work, Budi was questioning the impact of urbanization and population growth in the Land of Java. This land should continue to bear the heavy burden. The Green Land of Java is a distant memory now. On a similar theme, Nurul Hayat or Acil makes a sculpture out of newsprint. He created an island. There is a small tree on it bowed before a human figure headed a back-hoe. Through the work which is titled 'Ramah Tamah Tanah Jawa' (Hospitable of Java Land), Acil touched permissiveness of Javanese cultures. In fact, when something comes from outside would harm himself.

In addition to natural questioning, a number of artists also raised the issues of culture. They are questioning the fate of their local (traditional) cultures among the strides of global cultures. In that context, Nurcholis created his work of 'Rasido Mukti'. He created a painting in batik motif with face's Princess Diana of England at the intervals. The title is a play style of 'sido mukti' batik which the meaning is 'to be prospering'. Thus, 'Rasido Mukti' means 'not to be prospering'. Through the work, he doesn't only offend to the fate of batik as a symbol of local culture. In fact, setting apart of local culture is also turned aside the local people.

Global culture also changes men. It can be seen from the nature of Javanese, especially modern generations in the urban who became consumptive. The trend, for example, was being questioned by Bayu Widodo on the work of 'Cerita Kota' (The Story of a City).

Deputy Mayor of Yogyakarta, Haryadi Suyuti, in his speech to the exhibition, said that the involvement of 38 artists from West Java, Central Java, East Java and Yogyakarta indicates the concrete contributions of the artists. (ARA)