Environmental Themed Sculpture Fair: Pakuwon City, East Java

Candika and I are almost 100% compatible and the one bane is my love for the arts. I will quite happily spend hours upon hours in art galleries and at exhibitions. Where I would look at a painting for fifteen minutes, Candika would say “Yeah it’s okay” and proceed to finish looking at the exhibition under the one-minute mile time!. So I can just imagine the darling lady at the current ongoing exhibition at East Java’s Pakuwon City.

Interestingly, the exhibition, which will run until the 11th April, has had its main focus on the environment. Thirty-six sculptors from around the country were selected to create works for this contemporary exhibition, launched to mark the 25th anniversary of the Pakuwon Group. Carla Bianpoen explains more:

Environment takes center stage at sculpture fair

Sculptors who have often felt marginalized compared to painters in the world of art should now look forward to a brighter future.

An ongoing exhibition at East Java’s Pakuwon City shows that the public at large now give more appreciation to sculpture. More than that, the country’s property and business owners now eagerly purchase sculptures or monuments to enhance the living environment of their estates.

While various monuments or public sculptures are scattered all over the country, the Pakuwon exhibition to introduce a sculpture park in Pakuwon City may be considered an event of national significance.

The exhibition, which runs from March 30 to April 11, displays 58 works by 36 sculptors from various cities in the country.

Abiding by the theme Relation: Tanah Air as a Base of Awareness was not an easy task for the sculptors, but many of them managed to elaborate on it, linking their works to their own imaginations.

Perhaps the significance of the exhibition does not so much lie in how well the artists were able to link their work to the theme, but rather in how some of the artists exposed a surprising ability to visualize serious issues with an aesthetic that uplifts the spirit.

Awan Simatupang, for instance, came with a finely executed work that makes one think of a blowing wind, one that may be threatening and beautiful at the same time. Pohon (Tree) measures 180 x 60 x 180 cm, with branches made of bronze showing the movement of the wind. In the bottom branch, a tiny figure is seen holding on to the trunk of the tree.

Awan’s Pohon visualizes two issues in the country — housing and the environment. While he has made houses in the realist mode to tackle the issue of environmental depletion, the tree for him is another house, namely one for birds and other animals.

Meanwhile, a good environment is needed for man to survive, which is expressed in the tiny figure holding on to the tree.

Liang, a new star in the sculpture firmament, speaks about human beings and the environment. The universe, tanah air (which literally means the earth and water, but also means the native country) and “mother nature” are intertwined with the life of humankind. Therefore, whatever happens to nature or the environment will affect human life and vice versa. A circle of stainless steel, a tiny baby made of plated silver placed in the bottom of the circle visualizes her idea of an environmentally friendly universe giving protection to the humankind. Placed on a specially selected stone, the work, which is the result of profound meditative thought, is beautiful in its simplicity.

Nature is also Yani Mariani’s inspiration, and the wind is something that is in her, something she feels inside her, she says.

Blessed with an incredible imagination and close to nature, she often creates works that give the illusion of the surreal, with an aesthetic that never fails to uplift the senses. In her work at Pakuwon, made of combstone (pulvered white stone), white, winged creatures slightly give the illusion of feminine dragons driven by the wind, evoking the sensation of experiencing an extraordinary tale, the nature of which lies between classic legends and futuristic visions.

Randai Menggapai Cakrawala is 8 meters wide and about 2 meters high. A larger version, measuring 30 x 8 meters will be placed at the roundabout of the Pakuwon City Park towards the end of this year.

Meanwhile Redy Rahadian’s monument Perjalanan has been placed on the roundabout of the twin lagoon in Pakuwon City. Featuring steps going up a construction that recalls the shape of an Aztec temple, it measures 7 x 7 x 5 meters and is made of mild steel. It shows a tiny figure on top, which appears disproportional compared to the construction, which is made in the realistic mode.

Plans of Pakuwon City to introduce contemporary sculptures to the public in the region took shape after Eiffel Tedja, Pakuwon’s CEO and the owner’s son, met Edwin Rahardjo of Edwin Gallery in Jakarta, one of the first people to promote sculptures in his gallery.

“My passion for sculptural works did not leave me anymore,” revealed Eiffel, who then asked Edwin to organize the exhibition.
He also said that besides sculptures at various landmarks in the Pakuwon City, a sculpture park in the real sense of the idea may follow at some point in the future.

Pakuwon City, a one-stop shopping center and residential are of 30 hectares in eastern Surabaya is just a small part of the wider Pakuwon estate, which Alex Tedja and his wife Melinda started in 1986 with Tunjungan Plaza.

With a one-stop mega block scheduled to open soon in the Gandaria area of Jakarta, artists — including sculptors — may look forward to yet another space to display their works.

Carla Bianpoen