A STAGE OF METAMORPHOSIS
Solo Exhibition by Sunaryo
May 15 - June 15, 2001
CP ARTSPACE, Washington DC, USA




A Stage of Metamorphosis

In May of 1998, a political change took place in Indonesia. The regime known as “The New Order” which had held onto power for 32 years was overthrown. The change was not just a matter of another political power coming into power. The change was immediately followed by social unrest throughout the country.

Conflicts occurred between political powers. An economic crisis arose. Terror and anarchy took hold. People who had been oppressed for over thirty years took to the streets to celebrate their freedom in mass demonstrations that along the line became distorted. These incidences had led to clashes with security forces, followed by chaos in almost every large city in Indonesia.

In the midst of that situation the artist Sunaryo was deeply disturbed. He was saddened to see how politicians and indeed, most people overlooked the violence. Sunaryo is an Indonesian artist who began his career in the 1960’s. He is a painter, print maker, and sculptor who often create sculptures, installations and mixed-media works for public spaces.

Reacting to the condition in Indonesia which he perceived as too much politics, in 1998 Sunaryo wrapped all his works in his private collection, with black cloth. He did it to abate his anguish. After he had wrapped and tied all of his works - in a powerful, artistic way – Sunaryo came upon the idea to create an art project.

In the art project which actually took place in September 1998 at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space , his hilltop studio which also functions as an art space for the city of Bandung, he exhibited his wrapped works as if the works were not covered. Some of the works were united in a new installation or a mixed-media work. He called the art project, Titik Nadir (the expression in some way is similar with “The Inferno”).

At the opening of the exhibition, he stated he would stop making art and exhibiting his work until the situation in Indonesia began to show some signs of hope. The art project and also his statement shocked the Indonesian art world. A controversy occurred, basically questioning what he was actually hoping for. Sunaryo’s art project has become political – his act could be seen as politically correct – since Sunaryo is one of the leading artists in Indonesian (his pieces can be seen in museum collections both at home and abroad as well as in private collections).

In two years time Sunaryo never really created a significant work. He refused to take part in any exhibitions. It took two years for Sunaryo to start working again as an artist and he started to dismantle the covers from his works. He did it in an ardent manner – one piece at a time, (some of the wrapped works can be seen in this exhibition at Circle Point art space).

In May 2000, Sunaryo began to exhibit again once the political conditions in Indonesia began to show evidence of change toward decency, although the economic crisis was still not over and the political race continued. The exhibition held in Jakarta entitled Puisi Titik Putih (White Poems) showed his paintings and several installations. It was at the official opening of this exhibition in Jakarta that he started to dismantle the covers from his works (two installations showed at the exhibit can also be seen in this exhibition).

Sunaryo is an artist who believes in sensitivity of feeling and thought (rasa in Indonesian language). Like many artists in Indonesia, his works focus upon a search for ‘rightness’ in moral ethics rather than a search for the philosophical absolute ‘truth’ – this is then the raison d’être of art in Indonesia. The moral ethics are believed to be “open” because the rightness in the ethics is dependent upon a discourse which changes with the conditions and the times. In other words, according to these ethics, there is no absolute and stable rightness.

As in phenomenology, representations in Indonesian art works represent reality to raise a phenomenon as a discursive component to be discussed and analyzed through a shared set of values (the representations are close to, although not the same as, cultural representations). Representations in Indonesian works commonly show intentions that reflect the aim to find the limit of tensions. The representations are not aimed at finding neither conclusions nor black and white judgments. It is a matter of feeling the values of the moral ethics and not just knowing them.

This exhibition at Circle Point Art Space entitled A Stage of Metamorphosis reflects the extension of Sunaryo’s contemplation on the “social drama” in Indonesia. Through his works he questions “change” as a phenomenon. Close to the beliefs of many traditions in Indonesia (where over 300 different ethnic traditions can be found), Sunaryo uses the workings of natural forces as a reference for his contemplation. In A Stage of Metamorphosis he has observed the metamorphosis of a cocoon to a butterfly to search for the rightness in the radical changes which have taken place in Indonesia over the past two years – which at one time had disturbed him so.

The expressions are deeply colored by the intuitive nature of his approach which relies upon a transmutation of energy (from a restlessness to creative, and at the same time, destructive potential) to show his efforts – although not totally conscious – to deconstruct his perceptions of change.

In all of his works on the theme of the butterfly, he expresses the fragility in the process of change. In the metamorphosis of the cocoon to a butterfly he sees that fragility as a significant aspect in change. Based upon this, he questions whether reformation is a significant part of change. Does the form of change always follow a linear development from something bad to something which is better; is change always an innovation which signals progress? The metamorphosis of a cocoon into a butterfly is a change which in no way follows the laws of common sense. The time consuming and arduous process of forming a cocoon gives rise to a butterfly which is beautiful and enchanting although not long lived.

In the piece entitled HARDWARE, THE TIME TRAVELED (2001) Sunaryo seems to be questioning the idea of reformation which holds such faith in linear development and discontinuity. This piece, which is the most important one in this exhibit, shows his reflection (constructing “the self” by seeing others of the outside world) on the process of change in reformation. He looks upon the poles which signify the changes and discontinuity in a reformation process as completely ignoring the tension which takes place between the poles of change. He sees this tension as the most important aspect in the process of change rather than the poles which are points of discontinuity.

In that piece, Sunaryo places kemenyan, (incense that has been widely used for prayer) and a computer chip in opposing positions. As one would guess, the two objects are metaphors for the poles of tradition and modernity, or localness-globalness, or being stuck-being innovative. The message of the piece appears to come from the seemingly unstructured space between the two objects. Through various materials, media and textures, Sunaryo expresses a quality very rich in feeling for the ‘space between’ which reflects the tension between the poles of change.

The morality behind reformation in the modern world is based upon norms which Michel Foucault called, “philosophical hermeneutics constituted in the operations of a modern bio-politics.” Sunaryo, through his sensitive intuition, feels this to be true and thus thinks that structured norms in the modern world system (denied contexts) should be sanctioned. Political changes in Indonesia, which are no doubt based on a belief in the ideals of reformation, show that this reform clearly has grown increasingly distant from all the aspirations bestowed upon it.

Jim Supangkat | curator

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