It’s rather hard to impress people through ceramic art, especially young generation. Their brain seems blocked by super obvious visual art such as paintings, digital art, mural, and photography, or by strong material for art like wood or stone carving. Ceramics… rrr, better leave it for oldster.
For their information, ceramic art is not as simple as it seems. The artist’ must control the balance between their ‘sky is the limit’ fantasy and the material (clay) vulnerability. Ceramics work contain a hellish processing, every ceramics artist must throw their work into flame, burn it like almost thousand Celsius to reach the pre-final result. (Can you imagine if Vincent van Gogh or Irving Penn do that process to their work? Don’t smile!). Furthermore, if the result turns out different from the expectation, then everyone need to start all over again, and leave the failure as an alien in the garbage bin.
Not enough, when the work is successfully finished and ready to be exposed in an exhibition, then the big red warning word, DO NOT TOUCH, is standby with it 247. It makes the visitor’s nervous system will always on, signaling them with: if your elbow kiss the ceramic, it will jump and fall into thousands pieces, and you need to find fire exit to escape or the artist will glaze you alive.
Anyway…, on this 1st Sunday of 2010, I go to northern Jakarta, at Ancol seashore, to see the Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Biennale #1 in North Art Space Pasar Seni Ancol. It is very interesting, ceramic artist form several countries display their latest work here, they are coming from Australia, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Netherland, Singapore and Thailand. (hmm… watch your elbow).
Noah Ark by Sri Hartono
Stoneware, Sukabumi Clay, glazed, 20 hours single firing-1240 Celsius.
This Noah Ark filled with cars and buildings, representing a modern greediness, when a huge tsunami hit you, the first thing you do is save your belongings, forget your soul, and other living creatures.
4 Bowls by Michela Foppiani & Marcelo Massoni
White naked Raku, dimension: 28x11cm
I like this works, beautiful, sensitive, naïve, its unpredictable pattern lock your eyes and emotion.
This is Superhero #2 by Taufiq Panji Wisesa
Casting stoneware – firing 1230 Celsius – with hand fabricated copper, dimension: 134x90x35 (6 pieces)
Taufiq’s work is comical, presenting today’s typical hero, fat body with a dog intuition.
Saint of The New Age by Hary Mahardika
Hand build earthenware
This jar looks fun, it has ancient aura blends with young and modern detail.
Sleepless Batara by FM Widayanto
Stoneware, dimension 45x52x60cm
Numbers by Nurdian Ichsan
Terracotta, diameter 300cm
This work is intersection between a site specific installation, interactive, and time based art. It consist’ approximately 2000 little bricks marked with number and date of the making. Bricks are stacked manually one by one into a circle shape. Visitors are invited to take freely one of the brick. The process of taking away the brick by visitor is such a reverse process of making and constructing.
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