Dwell Into Goenawan Mohamad’s Visual World Through “Kata, Gambar” Exhibition
As reported earlier by The Display, artist and poet Goenawan Mohamad‘s sketches are currently being displayed at Dia.Lo.Gue Artspace at Kemang, Jakarta in an exhibition called “Kata, Gambar”. We had a chance to stroll through the exhibition and further learned about Goenawan Mohamad’s craft as an artist through his exhibited sketches. Having been known as an author and poet who’s also the Editor-in-chief of a renowned publication, Goenawan Mohamad can be said as a newcomer in visual art. He only sketches in his spare time as a hobby, but it recently caught attention after his artworks were featured on Don Quixote’s poetry collection in 2014. He then bravely held his solo exhibition called “PE.TIK.AN” on November 2016 at Pelataran Djoko Pekik in Yogyakarta and this is his second sketch exhibition. “I just followed my latest impulse. I think Dali is right when he said ‘drawing is an honesty of art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad’,” says Goenawan Mohamad. In the opening session of the exhibition, folk duo AriReda who usually sang their musical rendition of Goenawan Mohamad’s poems performed upon such enthusiastic crowd and the poet himself.
As we entered the exhibition space, the sketches of GM as he’s friendly addressed, were divided into three big themes. Those themes are Grotesque, Poem and Faces and each of them displayed his personal wordings and sometimes verses. In Grotesque, with the official title “Yang Grotesq”, GM drew Indonesia’s mythical creatures like Sundel Bolong, Kuntilanak, or Gendruwo completed with little explanations about them. He also depicted suicidal interpretation through his artwork within this theme. Meanwhile, on Poem with the title “Gambar, Sajak Yang Diam”, GM wrote his verses or words to response poems in a handwritten visual. He explains that within this theme, it’s not about drawings that decorate the verses, but the opposite. Lastly, on Faces or “Wajah”, he drew several familiar faces that the public will recognize. Slamet Raharjo and Fidel Castro are two examples of the figures he drew on his sketches. In total, 100 of Goenawan Mohamad’s sketches are displayed during “Kata, Gambar” exhibition. It shows another side of Goenawan Mohamad as a visual artist which is rarely shown to the public. The event will run until 5 March 2017, so you still got couple of days left to witness his creation.
Reporter: Intan Maharani/Editor: Novita Widia