Terang Bulan, An Exhibition by Yogyakarta’s Young Artists

Terang Bulan, An Exhibition by Young Artists Inspired by Full Moon Phenomenon

Taking place at Yogyakarta’s renowned artist, Djoko Pekik’s front yard, nine young and talented artists display their creation in an exhibition called Terang Bulan : Katanya yang Katanya from December 14^th to 24^th 2016. Those artists who participate in the exhibition are I Wayan Agus Novianto, Laksamana Ryo, Oktaviyani, NPAAW, Nesar Ahmad, Triana Nurmaria, Ridho Rizki, Riski Januar, and Petek Sutrisno. With such a unique and wide theme applied to these artists, they were able to present their artwork with their own individual style. The theme Terang Bulan was inspired by Javanese children folksong in which the lyrics encouraged children to play under the bright moonlight and reminded them not to fall asleep at noon. The lyrics cemented the whole spiritual foundation for the exhibition.

The exhibition opened on Wednesday, December 14^th which was also carefully chosen to synchronize with the full moon cycle which usually appear during this date of the month. Under the clear night on Wednesday, the artists, curator, and appreciators all gathered in Galeri Pelataran Djoko Pekik to see the artworks unveiled. The exhibition features different generation of artists and it is exciting to see how the era of their upbringing could affect their creation. As you can see, millennials, which were born in the mid to late 90s are more closely entangled to gadget and technology. Whereas people who were born beforehand, usually were tend to spend their childhood closer to nature and prefer socializing with their peers.

Upon close inspection of their artworks we could clearly see two approaches of life in the point of view of different generations. Some use the perspective from virtual devices to describe life through the artworks, meanwhile the others play a role in society to deliver their take on life. Petek Sutrisno, for example presents his two artworks which fuse pop art style with realism and put a little bit of satire through them. The 28-year-old artist’s artworks titled “Second Wave” and “Beauty Landscape” aim to blend both traditional and modern senses in one painting. Traditional sense is represented by Wayang’s (Javanese puppet play) characters, and modern sense is represented by social media logos and current obsession towards internet fame. Other artworks also display intriguing and rather peculiar takes of life that you should witness yourself in Terang Bulan exhibition at Galeri Pelataran Djoko Pekik Yogyakarta.