ART|JOG 10 Offers a “Changing Perspective” Towards Reality
From 19 May and lasts until 19 June 2017, an annual art exhibition is held in the city of Yogyakarta named ART|JOG 10. The 10th edition of ART|JOG brings the theme of “Changing Perspective” and it boasts artwork exhibition from 59 local and international artists. We had the chance to visit the celebration of art that takes place at Jogja National Museum. With the admission ticket for IDR50,000, the visitors of ART|JOG 10 are welcomed by a huge installation upon entering the gate. The creation titled “Floating Eyes” is the selected work by Wedhar Riyadi and it is made out of fiber glass and car paint in the shape of several huge colorful eye balls that float on a pool. The eyes are the symbol of our society’s social interaction nowadays that tend to shift towards a more virtual shape of connection rather than real face-to-face conversation. It is a clear testament of this year’s ART|JOG’s theme about a changing perspective. With this underlying theme, a series of visual artists, painter, scupltor, and other multi disciplinary artists’ works are curated and displayed on all three floors of Jogja National Museum. Not a single space left empty without an artwork to be showed, so to absorb all the things and get inspired, you have to walk carefully and observe the artwork closely, because right then your minds might enter a state of retrospection.
There are 3D shaped artworks made out of almost any materials like metal, paper, wood, leather, plastic and many more. Take an example of the work from Budi Kustarto, an artist who uses everyday objects as the source of inspiration for his artworks. With both 2D and 3D works on display, Budi wanted us to dive into the minds of children who see those objects as toys, a different perspective from most adults. By changing, distorting, and eliminating some parts of the toys and re-imagining them as they float on a puddle, Budi wants to show that these objects could be played by adults and be seen as an artistic view. There is also video or motion graphic shown to the visitors and one that caught our attention comes from Geng Xue, an artist based in China. Using porcelain, Geng Xue portrays ancient traditional story with porcelain animation. The R-rated animation shows the mystical creatures and Gods and Godess that the citizens believed back in the days. The one stop motion animation use the combination of lighting that shines naturally from the surface of the porcelains, making the ambience rather subdued and calm.
by Faisal Habibi
Moving on, there are lots of intriguing pieces that showcase how our current understanding could be easily changed by a simple change in discourse. Geometric shapes are used in some of the artworks in the form of paintings, installations, or motion graphic. These shapes under a specific condition, like different angles, lighting, or perspectives can be seen differently. Faisal Habibi’s artwork is the embodiment of this type of work, as he drew his inspiration from advertising products. In his installation made out of woods, he displays several square panels that portray how unboxing ritual, lighting, and reviews done by advertisers or endorser could change the customers’ minds on seeing the products. It is either making it clearer or more biased, depending on how our brains process the influx on information that is constantly given to us. While Tompi’s artwork in the form of photography, shows how some people are often misjudged, mistreated and stereotyping on daily basis. He uses some models whose whole faces are covered in black paint as an interpretation for this message.
Some artworks utilize words or written objects to convey their message, like what Dedy Sufriadi and Farhan Siki do on their works. Dedy Sufriadi emphasizes on how written context that we see on our daily lives are often misleading, misinformed, and exaggerated to the point of being untrue to the actual event. It is an auto-critic piece that is directed towards our mass media as well as the readers to not simply swallow any news without knowing and understanding the basic context. Meanwhile Farhan Siki writes a large compilation of world’s most renowned brands and sheds a light on how consumerism blinds us from being objective. Our tendency to put renown brands on pedestal just because they are known, sometimes makes us worship those brands without knowing the true quality their products hold. Upon seeing these, we sank into a contemplation that sometimes we do this on daily basis. On how we sneer at local or lesser known products, even though they are equally or even better produced than the branded ones.
Nature once again becomes one of the prime inspirations for these artists. Nature’s interaction with human, machine, as well as other natural elements are interpreted into some of the objects we found at ART|JOG 10. Mulyana Mogus showcases a series of complex installation that are shaped like dead corals in his artwork called “Silent Prayers”. These corals produce a line of yarn each and form a circular pattern like a carpet. It holds an interpretation of prayersthat is always silently uttered to the Almighty. Without hope and effort, those prayers will go to waste. Just like how the corals go die if we do not pay close attention to the nature. This artwork will make you stand and stare for a while, watching the lighting comes and goes creating hues and shadows upon these beautifully shaped but dead corals. Zico Albaiquni on “No Land Too Beauty For Sale” where he drew his inspiration from a village of Ciwaruga on West Java. As a sacred village that still holds the beliefs of animism by praying on to a sacred tomb for fortune, the citizens there sell their lands to the investors who want to transform it into a Balinese themed resort. With such irony, Zico uses ad-banner model for his painting that depicts his worries on how our people would sacrifice the land’s beauty for some money.
Other interests like music, fashion, animals, renown figures, aliens, abstract object and human’s anatomy are also present on some artworks at ART|JOG 10 Changing Perspective. Complicated artwork by Hendra “Blangkon” Priyadhani titled “Fashion as A Weapon” assembles a series of miniatures with such details you have to squint your eyes to pay attention to every nook and cranny. Clothes, and whatever lays on our bodies could become a weapon to enhance our aura. Najib Ahmad Bhamadaj created a piece of artwork in the shape of human’s ears. The piece titled “Telinga Berbulu” is a Malaysian phrase which means getting tired of hearing someone’s lies. He dedicates this artwork as a protest for local politicians who he thinks are untrustworthy and full of their lies without serving their best to prosper the people. Agus Suwage painted human’s anatomy on cow’s skin and it represents how we are often fooled by outer appearance. Skin is just a mere layer that shows the surface, we even judge someone without knowing their true nature. Other artworks are no less intricate and extravagant, our minds are constantly taken to a philosophical journey and visual pleasure. ART|JOG 10 also serve some exciting programs like curatorial tour, daily performance, and other shows that take place either on the stage at the back or at the front. With only 4 days left until the exhibition is wrapped up, you should not miss the chance to experience a ‘Changing Perspective’. For more information about the exhibition, head straight to their website.
Writer & pics : Novita Widia
