Oleh Benny Kharismana

Apa yang menjadi tantangan seni rupa zaman sekarang agar mampu menarik perhatian, dipahami, dan dipelajari oleh remaja-remaja zaman sekarang?

Selama ini sepertinya kita menghiraukan para remaja SMA dalam pemetaan potensi kreatif visual kita. Kita lupa bahwa merekalah yang akan mengikuti tes-tes masuk ITB, IKJ, ISI atau kampus lainnya. Ada mereka yang benar-benar tertarik dengan dunia desain dan seni karena punya saudara yang bergelut di bidang itu. Ada juga yang senang membeli majalah desain atau tutorial photoshop lalu memutuskan untuk meneruskan hobi mereka. Tidak sedikit pula mereka yang bingung dan putus asa karena nilai mereka tidak cukup untuk tembus kedokteran, teknik sipil, atau arsitektur. Mereka pun melihat celah dan masuk ke FSRD, menyangka kuliah di situ lebih gampang karena tidak belajar matematika atau fisika. Seperti inilah cerminan bagaimana kurikulum nasional Indonesia memandang seni dan kreatifitas. Apa yang dilakukan 4 murid kelas 3 SMU dari Sekolah Pelita Harapan Sentul City (SPHSC) di bawah ini dapat menjadi harapan akan bibit-bibit baru untuk dunia seni visual Indonesia. Berikut adalah informasi pamerannya.

WHAT IS ART? EXHIBITION

2010 VISUAL ARTS DIPLOMA IB EXHIBITION

SEKOLAH PELITA HARAPAN SENTUL CITY

Kamis-Jumat, 15-16 April, 2010 dari 08.00 sampai 15.30

Sekolah Pelita Harapan Sentul City

Jl. Babakan Madang, Sentul City, Bogor

Jangan terkecoh dengan kata “Diploma” di atas. Ini bukan program D-1 atau D-3, melainkan program 2 tahun untuk murid-murid SMA kelas 2-3 yang dipakai SPHSC dari kurikulum internasional, International Bachaularette (IB). Pameran ini merupakan hasil eksplorasi para murid kelas 3 SMU (4 remaja putri berumur 18 tahun) pada kelas Visual Arts (selain itu mereka juga mengambil 5 kelas lainnya ditambah tugas skripsi dan layanan masyarakat).

Pada era sekarang ini dimana setiap anak muda terlayani oleh budaya serba cepat dan serba siap, menjadikan mereka seringkali lupa untuk terdiam sejenak untuk mencoba mengerti proses pembuatan dan konsep di belakang sebuah produk budaya. Saya pikir hal di atas menjadi sangat penting dalam melihat pameran Diploma Visual Arts di SPHSC yang ke-4 ini. Disini kita akan melihat karya-karya seni visual yang sangat bervariasi. Dari karya-karya konvensional seperti lukisan minyak dan pastel hingga karya digital, animasi dan interaktif. Namun jangan hanya melihat dari tampilan luar atau eksekusinya saja. Hampir semua karya ini dihasilkan melalui proses riset dari tema, konsep, inspirasi dari seniman berbagai budaya dan jaman. Jauh dari sekedar “beauty contest”.

Selama 2 tahun terakhir, keempat remaja putri ini berjuang keras untuk melawan diri mereka sendiri. Monica Winny Suria belajar bagaimana sebuah karya seni harus dibangun oleh persiapan yang detil dan matang, sebuah kenyataan yang melelahkan dan masih panjang untuk dipelajari dimana sebelumnya ia mengandalkan bakat seni spontan dan ekspresif yang ternyata mengalami kebuntuan dalam eksplorasinya. Maria Tan yang akhirnya menyadari untuk menghasilkan sebuah karya yang baik, ia harus mau membuka diri dan belajar dari seniman-seniman lain. Bagaimana membuat karya tidak semata hanya menyelesaikan sebuah tugas, namun mengekspresikan diri dengan seluruh aspek diri, fisik, logika, mental, dan empati. Dalam perjalanannya, Sienny Wijaya belajar betapa pentingnya semiotika, simbol-simbol dikelola dalam sebuah karya untuk membentuk sebuah makna di benak penonton. Sementara itu, Elita Elkana belajar dalam prosesnya, sebuah perencanaan kadang kala harus disertai kompromi dan pengambilan keputusan yang cepat.

Di bawah ini dapat dilihat abstrak pameran dari setiap murid dimana mereka berbicara mengenai apa yang telah dipelajari selama 2 tahun terakhir. Saya pikir sudah saatnya kita memikirkan bagaimana seni dan desain mampu menjangkau para remaja Indonesia. Pameran ini dapat dilihat sebagai pemicu kita semua untuk mengajarkan seni dan kreatifitas dari semenjak usia belia.

KLEPTOCRAZY by Sienny Wijaya (18)

A tryptich caricature about Indonesian politic after the General Election last year.

A mixed media about our 5 distorted senses during today political landscape. The inspiration came from Indonesian traditional motifs and Gustav Klimt’s artwork.

An Eko Nugroho inspired environmental art where Sienny play with many political and Indonesian traditional symbols.

An interactive chess work where the “law & justice side” versus “the corruptor side”.

A paper tesselation sculpture made from hundreds of 3 years personal school handouts.

An installation about power and vision inspired from Piet Mondrian, Mooi Indie style, and Kumbakarna mask.

A sample page from her investigation journal (exploration on Kumbakarna with Piet Mondrian’s De Stijl).

Indonesian recent politics have exposed corruption in an intense yet intrigue atmosphere which attracts me so much. “Kleptocrazy”, the madness of taken somebody else’s belongings is what poisoned Indonesia’s society nowadays. One of the ways to pour out my concern as a teenager about this bad nature of human being is to express it in different visual art presentations. I have explored several mediums including 3D installations, paper tessellations origami, caricature, papier-mache and glass painting, in order to displace my personal interpretation regarding the issue. Corruption is commonly perceived as something gloomy and dull; however, through this course I convert the look to be playful without abandoning the message itself. Several artists such as Zoe Bradley, Heri Dono, Eko Nugroho, Gustav Klimt and Piet Mondrian inspired me in understanding the styles that I am most comfortable at. Diverse art movements have impacted my journey in this course including contemporary arts, Indonesian traditional ethnic art, Indonesian modern art and De Stijl.

The process that I enjoy the most is the transformation of message into symbols. Indonesian culture conceals plenty of cultural symbols that are truly fascinating; moreover because of its social messages behind it. Political symbols such as rats, gecko, alligators and Indonesia’s icons such as Pancasila, justice scale, red-white flag are all integrated in the formation of my artworks’ contexts.

“Art is the expression of reality seen through personal semiotic lenses.”

Playing with symbols is such an interesting journey that I investigate for these pass 2 years. I personally believe that the purpose of dwelling in artistic world is to create new representations of reality which has packed to be a mind-trigger. As a social person, I feel that I need to shout out my aspirations and art has allowed me to subtly share it to other people therefore more awareness can be raised.

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BEAUTSYCHOLOGY by Maria Tan (18)

Before

Interactive

Finished
An interactive art about how teenager perceive make up on their daily routine and how do they express it into this work.

A successful paper cut silhouette inspired from Kara Walker about woman perception in our society

Before
A sample evaluation page from her investigation journal.

My subject is an exploration of woman’s beauty, inspired from my experience in struggling with my own self-acceptance. I’ve explored mediums such as mixed media, industrial object (safety pin), oil paint, acrylic, wire and paper, and have also learned various possible approaches using those different kinds of medium in carrying out the subject matter.

I used to have quite hard time to detach from my initial understanding of how messages can be implied in visual work. I, for quite a long time, refused to develop and enrich my artistic approach, visual style—thinking that “mine is just fine as every artist has their own style, preferred medium, so that I don’t need to practically learn other artists’ approach, style and medium”. Eventually this course has contributed so much in making me to above all, be more open-minded how the creative process should be carried out and how to appreciate the journey of creative process itself⎯ as I finally has learned to experience and to enjoy it. I’m now able to enrich the meaning behind the visual symbols and the contextual approach in my artworks can be rich, whilst my sensitivity toward elements and principles of design is sharpen.

Besides art in the context of its creative process, I also have come to understand that art is never about art itself. Just like a corporation, art has its stakeholders covering the public, the consumers and the costumers. Interpretation gives artworks meaning. As audiences’ interpretation can go wild; an artwork may receive much philosophical interpretative value than it actually deserves. I’m left wondered if there’s a thing that can rightly define or indicate whether a work is made by a good artist or the opposite, an artist or a novice, and even, if there’s a necessity to know about it.

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iWOMAN by Monica Winny Suria (18)

An installation about women journey throughout history, inspired from pixel art and urban art.

Another exploration on pixel art using “perlak” or baby mat as medium.

Pointillism inspired work about woman role during Indonesian prehistoric era.

An interactive costume art where teenage girls could try on and think twice before they pregnant during their high school times. This costume weight similarly with baby during pregnancy.

A sample page from her investigation journal.

The subject of feminism and woman had my interest during my study in Extended Essay and literature. Thus, I chose the subject of iWoman as the theme to merge my art knowledge and my own concern. iWoman stands for independent woman and a proud statement of being a woman. I personally believe the idea of independent woman exists only as society’s ideal construction because of patriarchal law, cultures, and even woman themselves were deep rooted to believe in serving a purpose to fulfill the society’s demand.

I learned how different art periods such as impressionism, pointillism, pixel art, and pop art shared Gestalt principle. This unified whole of dots and colors forming a greater picture that is understood by the audiences. Single dot itself is meaningless without the unification, and contrariwise. It is indistinguishable with woman and the society, the society is meaningless without them, and woman will also be meaningless if they don’t serve a purpose to the society. It is my intention to imitate this paradox of life to help audience learn and reflect this subjective reality. Lichtenstein, Angrand, Renoir and cultural aspect of both Chinese and Indonesian art have influenced me to integrate both of these concepts and techniques as a whole. Aesthetic beauty that could be viewed through an illusion of dots and colors were shown through these different art periods. I extract this specific technique to show how it represents my message of ideal idea about independent woman that only exists as an illusion to create pleasure for the eyes.

My ability in forming clustered objects and turning it into an understood image is both my weakness and strength. The patience and detailed planning to organize randomness has become a problem for me to overcome my carelessness. However, it is also a strength when I successfully achieved it as a focused study. I challenge myself with new mediums and extent the usage of benday dots from painting to sticker, which also pushed me to the limit in making larger artwork that contrasted how small dots could be used to affect color’s value and hue.

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Interactivity: A World Beyond The Canvas by Elita Elkana (17)

An animation exploring many architecture styles, symbols, and shadow puppet. This will act as introduction to the whole “circus” themed interactive art.

An installation inspired by fortune teller’s ball combined with contemporary lighting and interactive letter combining game.

A ticket box installation acts as gateway for the whole “circus” exhibition. Elita’s whole artworks are set of circus related works where audience can play and experience the art not only observe them.

1 out of 8 customed design gondola for a 3 meter ferris wheel installation. The motif is inspired from “wayang” face shape.

Pages from her investigation journal.

Edwin Schlossberg once remarked, “True interactivity is not about clicking on icons or downloading files, it’s about encouraging communication.”

Oftentimes, the stereotype conceived about art is that it involves a cluster of people musing over a sequence of paintings and sculptures in a museum. Throughout my journey in Visual Arts IB, however, I learned that art is much more than just scrutinizing a piece of painting hung in a gallery. It transcends this notion and has the capability of going beyond —in essence, I believe that it is a story about coalition between audience and artist working together to bring cultures together and celebrate existence. This relationship is something I yearn to establish with my circus, an interactive exhibition that circulates around a murder mystery that audiences are invited to solve through a string of clues strewn around the exhibition. As a child, I’ve always been enthralled by the colorful and nostalgic world of the carnival, yet I’ve also been fascinated by riveting tales of mystery and ominous whodunit crime stories often present in countless books.By marrying these two opposite concepts together to conjure up a dark carnival, I hope to introduce a paradox that I think reflects the bittersweet nature of life.

Throughout my journey, I’ve picked up insights from a string of inspirational artists: 42 Entertainment, an advertising company that utilizes Alternate Reality Gaming as a means of marketing movies, books, and products alike; Walt Disney, who was able to transform his animated world from paper and pencil to an amusement park; Luis Javier Laresgoiti, who foundedKidzania, an indoor simulation that invites children to explore occupations; and most of all, my father, Ardian Elkana, the chairman of a multimedia company (Avigra Communications) that strives to encourage children education in Indonesia through interactive means via website and TV shows. By following in their footsteps to establish an interactive platform, I hope to welcome audiences to set foot on a world beyond the canvas.

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Benny Kharismana
Visual Arts Teacher on Sekolah Pelita Harapan Sentul City
Freelance graphic designer

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