NEWS | Mar 23, 2008 (Source: )
Technical acrobat, body erotica
Presently, artists in Bali are "infected" with the "contemporary art fever" that has triggered them to create artworks by employing realistic jargon.
During this period, they relinquish the characteristics possessed by their predecessors, such as Made Wianta and Made Budiana, who created art by adapting figurative patterns or employing expressionistic or abstract techniques.
The "infected" artists convey themes that emanate modernity by applying realism or political caricature. This artistic frame undeniably reminds us of the esthetic method popularized by the Pita Maha group -- an assembly of emerging local talents under the guidance of several foreign artists who resided in Bali in the 1930s.
One of those foreign artists was Rudolf Bonnet, who reconstructed Bali's characteristics and brought a realistic aura to it. Despite some similarities, these contemporary young artists possess a different kind of taste as well as new metaphors.
The most remarkable characteristic displayed by these young Balinese artists is their ability to carry out a sort of esthetic "acrobatics" with their work in order to capture real objects of the universe, namely female bodies, animals and pop icons such as TV advertisements and street billboards. This characteristic reflects a spirit of a different era, with a blazing passion.
A young Balinese artist, Polenk Rediasa, born in 1979 and currently pursuing his master's of cultural science at Udayana University, Bali, is one of the young artists who has utilized a similar "art-vocabulary" in creating his recent works.
In his solo exhibition, titled "Eksplo(ra)si Tubuh (Body Exploration)" at the Galeri Nasional from March 12 to 23, Polenk presents several interesting "symptoms" to be observed.
The first is object precision; owing to digital photographic technology, carried out prior to the painting process on the canvas, and the technology of computer-based design programs, the neo-realism presented by Polenk is utterly splendid in its precision in duplicating factual objects.
The most diminutive details such as the wrinkles on an old man's hands are presented realistically before one's eyes. Polenk's large canvases invoke details that are often disregarded by the artists of previous eras. One can't seem to believe this is actually an oil painting on a canvas. The flawlessly silky bodies appear as if they are within one's grasp at this exhibition. It's first-rate technical acrobatics.
The second symptom is found within a two-meter canvas, where Polenk strikes one's eyes with erotic objects, particularly female bodies. Intentionally, sexual-related taboos are set aside. The artist explores various positions of the models that pose for him. In an intimate manner, with depiction of porcelain-like skin and rousing body positions, he paints close-up images of nipples combined with a thorough lighting technique.
The composition Obsesi Sunyi (Silent Obsession) toys with one's mind and imagination. An image of a naked woman clashes with a magnified shape of a bee or insect.
With darkness and brightness colliding on the canvas, one is able to conclude that insects and women are equally sensation-inciting.
In another painting, the female body is presented alongside banknotes, a watch and a half-opened woman's dress, with a highlight on protruding breasts from inside the dress. This piece, titled Hasil Malam Ini (The Result of This Evening), shows how women today have considerably transformed into creatures that place more importance on material acquisition.
In another corner of this exhibition room, one will find a collection of body portrayals. This time, the objects are newborn babies, which look as if they are dancing in line. The artist chose Child in Time as the title of this piece. How babies face a new era is a metaphor that illustrates the same circumstances that the young Balinese artists are coping with; dealing with the contemporary art that they are attempting to interpret realistically.
Polenk himself said the current era delivers a voyeuristic spirit that focuses on our physical bodies.
"Our bodies essentially possess a social construction," he said.
Bodies, whether being possessed or not possessed as a personal or social commodity, are no longer free. However, the existing symbols, which bind them as a form of power, industry, consumerism and even political ideology, have confined people and the meaning of their bodies. Polenk aims to address this issue through his symbolism of women's naked bodies.
Solo Exhibition
by Polenk Rediasa
"Eksplo(ra)si Tubuh"
March 12-23
V-art gallery and National Gallery
Jl. Merdeka Timur No. 14, Central Jakarta
GENERAL INFO 
