Exhibition Mangku Muriati + Teja Astawa : Eternal Line (Sudakara Art Space)

>> MANGKU MURIATI + TEJA ASTAWA : ETERNAL LINE
>> Sudakara Art Space at Sudamala Suites & Villas – Sanur, Bali is pleased to present works by two Balinese artists, Mangku Muriati and Teja Astawa, in an exhibition framed with a title, "Eternal Line". The exhibition presents explorations of wayang painting, yet from opposing perspectives, of which it aims to expand our notions and interpretations of endurance and convention in wayang painting. "Eternal Line" brings together for the first time wayang paintings that, one adhere to the 'Kamasan' style and the other that flout from the practice. Mangku Muriati's wayang paintings are interpretation and explorations based on allegiance to the pakem (strict proscriptions / rules) handed down through hundred of years of generations, whereas Teja Astawa strips the pakem away from his paintings but yet surfaced from iconographies of the pakem. The exhibition opening will be held on 03 December 2015 at 3PM.
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>> Mangku Muriati's composition, although bound to the pakem of Kamasan style, creates a strong distinction of style and explorations to those of her peers' of Kamasan artists. Her works are embodiment of the extravagant and extraordinary sanging (painters; subjects of the royal court during the years of Bali dynasties) aesthetic of Gelgel dynasty (Gelgel period: late 16th century to early 17th century) and Klungkung era (Nine Kingdoms period: late 17th century to early 20th century). "Mangku Muriati's in-depth mastery of the intricacies and the pakem of wayang painting became her platform to play with wayang iconographies; it enabled her to reach spaces of creativity that transcends the perceptions of wayang painting serves as conservative art," explained Wayan Seriyoga Parta, curator of the exhibition. "Eternal Line" exhibition presents series of her works that are themed based on the narrations extracted from the Ramayana and also Mahabharata epics (narrations of Hindu teachings that are widely spread in Indonesia – specially in Java and Bali islands – by the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom of Majapahit from 1273 to 1527), folklores and stretching to feminist and historical & nationality issues. The artist enriched the wayang painting iconographies and themes, and produced her works based on the intention to inflate the exploration space of wayang painting through the pakem of Kamasan style.
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>> A discrete sense of iconographies, yet familiar but still vague if compare to Kamasan wayang painting, that somewhat seems randomly composed with absurdity and humor play into Teja Astawa's paintings. His works depict obscure visions where unconscious memories excerpted spontaneously and fantasies run wild creating borderless narrations of the here and now phenomenon found in everyday life. As Wayan Seriyoga Parta explained, "Narratives in Teja's works are 'pseudo narration' that seems like wayang narrations but in fact the narrations are more subjective and open to diverse of interpretations by the audiences". This is quite a divergence approach to the Kamasan style painting, in which iconographies from Kamasan style are fused into his sphere of creativity, as pointed out by Dr. Siobhan Campbell (Australian expert in Kamasan wayang painting and University of Sydney researcher of Indonesian art and culture) in her essay accompanying the exhibition. In other words, Teja Astawa managed to reincarnate the structures of wayang painting and domesticate them from their collective habitus into his own style and personal language of expression. In this exhibition, works from Teja Astawa are also produced based on iconographies that he found through his observations on Kamasan wayang paintings from their early years, of which he explained that in those early paintings, for example, icons of rock are placed more scattered and the eye shaped cloud icons are more raw compare to the Kamasan paintings produced in the later years.
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>> Historically, the Kamasan wayang paintings were produced for ceremonials or rituals purposes in the Balinese Hindu culture. In her essay, Dr. Siobhan Campbell explained, "The principle function of traditional paintings is for display in temples and compounds … narratives serve a didactic of their devotional function and the stories acquire many layers of meaning in the context of their display." Anthony Forge (Siobhan Campbell, "Anthony Forge in Bali", 2014) said that the art is often called wayang painting (in reference to its shared roots with the shadow-puppet / wayang theater), but as time passed on other terms are also commonly applied, like narrative art, temple art, and in the 1930's (colonial era when the Dutch's political, social and cultural roles influenced the Balinese art development) the term shifted to traditional art in the sense that it was not part of the 'new' or 'modern' art during that time. Since 1970's, what was considered 'modern' in the 30's had become 'traditional' and it 'marginalized' wayang painting to become 'classical' art.
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>> The above condition, along with others such as the general notion of its pakem, has somehow created a misinterpretation of wayang painting as a conservative and 'immobile' art. This notion of wayang painting in 'vegetative' state became one of the backgrounds that urges Sudakara to juxtapose the works from Mangku Muriati and Teja Astawa in the exhibition "Eternal Line". As mentioned, firstly the exhibition aims to explore wayang painting from opposing perspectives, and secondly it aims to expand our notions and interpretations of endurance and convention in wayang painting.
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>> The exhibition will be opened on 3 December, 2015 at 3PM and launched by Sudamala Art & Cultural Dialogue (part of Sudamala's art and cultural appreciation and development programs since 2011) with speakers including : Wayan Seriyoga Parta (Art Curator), Ida Bagus Agastia (Writer and expert in Ancient Javanese Literature), Rain Rosidi (Art Curator and Art Director for Jogja Biennale 2015). Sudakara also has invited Arif Bagus Prasetyo (Art Curator) as the moderator for the dialogue session.
>> Mangku Muriati, Perang Kusamba, 2015
>> Teja Astawa, King's Patrol, 2015
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>> Mangku Muriati (b. 1966, Kamasan, Bali, Indonesia) is a graduate of Fine Art from Udayana University (now the Faculty of Visual Art and Design is part of the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) Denpasar). She is the daughter of the late Mangku Mura; one of the prominent Kamasan artists of his generation and also the artist who was commissioned to restore the Kamasan paintings at the Kertha Gosa Pavilion, which was the hall of justice that was erected in the 18th century by the Klungkung dynasty. It was through her father's will that Mangku Muriati was assigned to continue the family's legacy as an artist. Her skills and knowledge of Kamasan wayang painting acquired through years of apprenticeship with Mangku Mura and her study at the university has also nurtured her diverse of art perspectives. Not only her father passed down to her the rights to continue the family's legacy in art, but also the duty to continue the family's heirloom of priesthood (pemangku – hence the term and title mangku). This role as priest of their clan temple becomes one of her challenges in life. Too is the role of the Mangku Mura's successor as Kamasan artist, whereupon as was her father, within the Kamasan circles she is someone of an outsider and pusher of boundaries. Despite all, Mangku Muriati's works are now part of the Australian Museum collections and also hung in the homes of both international and national collectors, just as her father's.
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>> Teja Astawa (b. 1971, Tuban, Bali, Indonesia) graduated from the Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia (now ISI) Denpasar. Teja Astawa has spent some years in Tuban, which was his birth place, however, grew up mostly in Sanur, Sudamala's own neighbourhood. Sanur is one of Bali's most enduring art and artisanal hubs, where not only it become home for artists such as Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur, Theo Meir, and Miguel Covarrubias but also Sanur has birth some of Bali's finest artists like, Ida Bagus Nyoman Rai, Ida Bagus Ketut Soenia, I Gusti Made Deblog, I Gusti Made Rundu (who significantly contributed to Sanur School of painting), I ketut Rudin, I Soekarja and more. Teja Astawa's works have been extensively showcased in national and international galleries, and museums through exhibitions and art fairs in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Beijing, and the Netherland. His works have become part of many private collections in those places and also museums' collections at Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art in South Korea and the Museum of World Cultures in Frankfurt, Germany.
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