Davy Linggar & Andy Dewantoro Catalogue

A Duet Exhibition by Andy Dewantoro and Davy Linggar

Cold Memories davy linggar - victim - digital print and acrylic on canvas - 80 x 77 cm - 2010

2

Cold Memories oleh Rifky Effendy

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)

Sejak jaman ketika S. Soedjojono mengritisi corak lukisan yang dijulukinya “Hindia Molek“ atau dikenal “Mooi Indie”, sebenarnya yang disebut realitas dalam cara pandang para pelukis serta merta menjadi problematis. Soedjojono seolah berartikulasi dengan persoalan persepsi terhadap apa yang terlihat dan diyakini (way of seeing and belief), bahwa realitas adalah suatu konstruksi yang dibentuk oleh manusia modern, terutama oleh perkembangan teknologi (fotografi dan media baru) dan posisi subyek ketika memandang suatu lansekap atau kenyataan di sekitarnya.

Dalam hal ini Soedjojono berupaya membedah cara pandang kolonial terhadap realita alam sekitarnya yang selalu dihadirkan dengan cantik, indah, damai tanpa problematika.

Bisa dikatakan dalam pameran dua perupa ini memperlihatkan olahan lanjut dari kritik dan artikulasi dalam membedah realitas yang disebutkan Soedjojono. Kedua perupa Andy Dewantoro dan Davy Linggar, masing – masing tertarik dengan melukis, fotografi, serta teknologi media baru, walaupun dengan cara yang berbeda.

3

Andy Dewantoro Infinite Sadness #2 acrylic on canvas 140 x 200 cm 2010

Andy Dewantoro adalah seorang pelukis dengan kecenderungan citra yang foto-sinematis. Hampir selalu menggunakan fotografi sebagai cara untuk menangkap dan merekam subyek-subyeknya, mengolahnya melalui komputer lalu kemudian memindahkannya ke atas kanvas. Sementara Davy Linggar , dikenal seorang fotografer yang kadang melukis, dan membuat objek-objek seni. Keduanya menggunakan medium fotografi dalam menangkap realitas dibalik lensa sebagai keberangkatan berkarya.

Alih-alih keduanya tak menggunakan fotografi sebagai idiom yang selesai begitu saja. Keduanya punya kecenderungan merekayasa ulang foto maupun obyek yang akan menjadi subyek karyanya. Sebagai tindak lanjut artistik visual maupun sebagai ungkapan kritis terhadap medium, baik fotografi maupun seni lukis.

Lewat lukisan terbarunya, Andy menyuguhkan pemandangan bangunan – bangunan yang seolah terabaikan oleh manusianya, hanya ditemani semak belukar dan pepohonan yang hampir menutupi keberadaannya. Sehingga bangunan itu nampak

4

seperti monster-monster dalam lagenda rakyat yang muncul dari dalam hutan yang tak terjamah, dibuang jauh ke jurang ingatan. Bangunan – bangunan terabaikan banyak kita temukan di tengah-tengah hutan atau ditengah belantara komplek permahan dikota-kota besar. Tak berpenghuni bertahuntahun bahkan puluhan tahun. Di kota-kota seperti Jakarta atau Bandung misalnya, banyak gedung, rumah tua ditinggalkan karena sengketa, atau memang sengaja tak dihuni, yang kemudian sering menjadi dianggap tempat “angker� oleh masyarakat . Cerita-cerita keberadaan mahluk halus yang sering menghuni tempat-tempat seperti itu dan kemudian menjadi lagenda urban, seperti yang ditayangkan melalui reality show dilayar kaca setiap minggu.

Inilah sebuah citra horor yang bersemayam dalam ingatan-ingatan kita setiap melewati suasana yang serupa dengan pemandangan itu.

Karya Andy Dewantoro mulai dikenali secara khas dengan menghadirkan rangkaian lukisan panorama sebuah lansekap kota senja hari ke malam. Lampulampu temaram menjadi kumpulan cahaya yang tampak berupaya mengalahkan gelap. Seperti yang diutarakan lewat catatan kurator Jim Supangkat lewat catatan pameran tunggal Andy beberapa waktu lalu, gambaran kota pada lukisan Andy bukan merepresentasikan kota yang ia inginkan tapi satu suasana yang menggunakan berbagai imaji tentang kota. Karena kota sebenarnya hanya sebuah media untuk menampilkan suasana ini dan suasana dalam imajinasinya berkaitan dengan pengalaman personal yang sebenarnya tidak langsung punya kaitan dengan suasana kota.

Andy memang selalu melakukan observasi langsung dengan mengunjungi dan mengamati kota-kota, baik di dalam maupun luar negeri, untuk kemudian dijadikan gagasan berkaryanya.

Karya-karya Andy, seolah mampu merekonstruksi ingatan-ingatan kita terhadap citra gedung-gedung, rumah dan lansekap tersebut, dengan menghadirkan kembali fragmen-fragmen yang mungkin pernah kita saksikan dalam penggalan sebuah tayangan film atau acara televisi, yang saat ini sebagai acuan kolektif atau konstruksi cara pandang masyarakat global.

Lukisan-lukisannya memancarkan citra mental (mental image) , suasana sepi yang melankolis bercampur dengan horor. Dalam beberapa lukisannya, Andy bahkan menampilkan fragmen- fragmen yang cenderung samar (blur) akibat dari penggalan yang diperbesar maupun cara menguaskan catnya. Menambah suasana menjadi temaram penuh misteri.

Suasana atau mood yang diciptakan oleh Andy, seperti juga yang dikemukakan Jim bahwa citra lansekap tersebut merupakan media ungkapan sang seniman.

Lalu apakah juga lukisan-lukisan dan karya videonya itu sebagai representasi umum terhadap ingatan-ingatan horor tersebut ? Toh horor yang disebarkan secara serempak oleh media massa juga telah bercokol dalam benak banyak orang. Atau malah Andy lebih berperan sebagai sang sutradara yang mendaur ulang citra horor tersebut untuk kita ? Di sini karya-karyanya menghadirkan suatu rangkaian tanda-tanda yang memungkinkan membangkitkan mood

davy linggar headless acrylic on canvas 80 x 100 cm 2010

5

tertentu. Ia tak punya intensi menandai konteks sosiologis dan historis dari lansekapnya.

Hal yang serupa dengan karya-karya Davy Linggar, yang menghadirkan serangkaian lukisan dan foto polaroid yang dicetak kembali di atas kanvas. Kita bisa melihat bagaimana ia memainkan tanda-tanda dengan menampilkan citra mahluk, binatang dengan perilakunya yang aneh. Davy membuat lelucon, sinisme, sarkasme dan ironi lewat objek mainan yang ditata sedemikian rupa: dinosaurus, babi, rusa, anak domba, lalu kemudian ia foto dengan polaroid.

Lalu ia pindahkan ke atas kanvas sebagai lukisan atau dengan melakukan lelehan dan brush stroke cat di atas medium foto yang dicetak ke kanvas lebih besar setelah dipindai. Sehingga citranya menjadi agak kabur dan samar, tapi kita bisa melihat gambar berubah mood, menjadi tampak enigmatik, liar dan lucu.

Watak karya-karya Davy memang selalu memainkan aspek-aspek ironi dan bahkan hal-hal yang dianggap tabu dalam masyarakat. Dalam karyanya kita bisa perhatikan ada perilaku dinosaurus sedang menyenggamai seekor babi. Seperti yang ia ungkapkan : “ Di dalam masyarakat kita saat ini banyak sekali tuntutan sosial yang

6

davy linggar midnight pig acrylic on canvas 80 x 77 cm 2010

membuat orang menjadi munafik. Mengharamkan dan mencemooh hal-hal yang sebenarnya justru adalah penolakan dari hasrat mereka yang paling dalam “. Sehingga karya-karyanya menjuktaposisi tanda-tanda yang harus dihindari oleh ingatan kolektif moralitas masyarakat. Watak yang subversif ini justru ingin menelanjangi tiap moral manusia yang diselubungi nilai-nilai yang dibentuk oleh keyakinan dan dogma-dogma. Tiap karya berpotensi untuk mengelupas tiap lapisan-lapisan nilai tersebut, namun dengan suasana bersenang-senang (excitement) yang kadang tak rasional, atau ecrits dalam wacana psikoanalisa Lacanian.

Davy Linggar adalah seorang fotografer dengan cara pandang yang tak lazim dan sekaligus pelukis yang seolah menghayati benar nilai kehidupan dalam masyarakat saat ini. Pengalamannya dalam dunia foto-komersial dan dunia gagasan seni setidaknya banyak berhubungan dengan beragam watak manusia dari berbagai lapisan masyarakat.

Hal ini juga mempengaruhi penggunaan spektrum bahasa gambar yang lebih luas, walaupun hampir dipastikan tanda-tanda itu juga berkaitan ungkapan personalnya. Disini kepribadiannya diungkapkan selain dengan penyusunan objek-objek tapi juga dengan kuasan cat diatas citra foto.

Kritikus Hal Foster dalam Return Of The Real mengetengahkan gejala “trauma pada realitas” melalui pengalaman citraan fotografi maupun yang bergerak (film dan televisi). Gejala kegagalan atau kebingungan persepsi dalam masyarakat kontemporer menghadapi realitas. Ia mencontohkan bagaimana trauma tersebut diartikulasikan dengan memberikan efek samar oleh goresan maupun kuasan, seperti dalam karyakarya fotorealisme Gerhard Richter maupun karya pop art Andy Warhol. Sedangkan

karya-karya Andy Dewantoro dan Davy Linggar, keduanya tertarik merekonstruksi realitas baru dari apa yang mereka buat. Mereka berdua menghadirkan ingatan-ingatan personal melalui karyakarya mereka, menjadi tanda-tanda yang bebas tafsir dan beringsut menjamah ingatan-ingatan kita. Ingatan-ingatan yang mungkin saja berada jauh dibalik kesadaran. Ingatan-ingatan yang telah “dingin” mungkin tiba-tiba muncul dan menggerakan hasrat untuk mampu melihat kembali ke dalam realitas lain.

Soedjojono mungkin akan kembali bertanya-tanya, dimana letak jiwa khetok? ---

7

Andy Dewantoro Tanjung Karang, 10 December 1973 Setrasari V No. 8, Bandung 40153, Indonesia +62 856 222 2261 - pohonmati@gmail.com - andydewantoro@ yahoo.com EDUCATION [1995-2000] Interior Design, Faculty of Fine Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) RESIDENCY PROGRAMS [2009] Art Camp Lazarea, Gyergyoszarhegy, Transylvania, Romania SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS [2008] Silent World - Ark Galerie, Jakarta [2007] Shade of Colors - Four Seasons, Jakarta [2006] Floating - Galeri Hidayat, Bandung SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS [2010] Space & Image - Ciputra World Marketing Gallery, Jakarta

Bandung Initiative #5 : Veduta - Vanessa Art Link, Jakarta

video art title silentscream artist Andy Dewantoro in collaboration with Monoproject (Marky Yahya Ali & Solomon ATS) format DVD PAL duration 6’ 21” still photography Adhi Hardiansah CG Animation Andri Novandri music & sound Fauzie Wiriadisastra

[2009] Layer of Visuality - Artsphere Gallery, Jakarta

PAN Amsterdam 2009 - Amsterdam RAI Parkhal, The Netherlands (Associated with Canvas International Art, The Netherlands)

Two Sides of Solitude - Garis Art Space, Jakarta

Diverse - 40 x 40 - Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong

Nature Peace - Geumgang Nature Art Pre Biennale 2009, South Korea

Indonesia Young Artists Exhibition 2009 - Cheongju Arts Center, South Korea

Spacing Contemporary - JAF #2, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta

The KorkeP - 35th International Art Camp’s Exhibition The Gallery of The Lazarea Castle, Romania

AWARENESS - Indonesian Art Today - Canvas International Art, The Netherlands

HYBRIDIZATION - North Art Space, Jakarta Jogja Art Fair #1 - Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta Pada Sebuah Pesta - V-Art Gallery, Yogyakarta Loro Blonyo Kontemporer - Gedung Tri Juang, Magelang MANIFESTO - Galeri Nasional, Jakarta Young Contemporary Southeast Asian - Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur Ruang & Subyek - Galeri Lontar, Jakarta [2008]

[2007] ARTVERTISING - Galeri Nasional, Jakarta [2006] Simplicity - Elcanna Gallery, Jakarta [2005] Spring Festival - Four Seasons, Jakarta [2004] Abstract - TOIMOI, Jakarta

8

9

Andy Dewantoro Infinite Sadness #3 acrylic on canvas 40 x 40 cm (18 pieces) 2010

10

Cold Memories

by Rifky Effendy

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)

Ever since S. Soedjojono criticized the painting genre that he called “Mooi Indië” or “Beautiful Indies”, what we call ‘reality’ in the perceptions of the artists immediately became problematic. Soedjojono seemed to question the artists’ ways of seeing and beliefs, suggesting that reality is a construction of the modern human, affected by technological developments (photography and new media) and the position of the subject as he or she is looking at the surrounding landscape or reality. In this case, Sudjojono tried to

dissect the colonial perceptions regarding the reality of the surrounding nature, which had invariably been presented as beautiful, peaceful, containing no problem. One can say that today’s exhibition presents further development of such criticism, revealing how two artists perceive and dissect the surrounding reality. The two artists—Andy Dewantoro and Davy Linggar—are both interested in painting, photography, and the new media technology, albeit by taking different paths.

Andy Dewantoro is a painter with a penchant for cinematic/photographic images. He almost always uses photography to capture and record his subjects, before proceeding to process them further using computer software and transferring them onto the canvasses. Meanwhile,

11

davy linggar haram tapi enak digital print and acrylic on canvas 80 x 77 cm 2010

12

Davy Linggar is known as a photographer who, from time to time, also paints and creates art objects. The two artists use the medium of photography to capture the reality before the lens and use the resulting image as their points of departure. They do not use photography as the ultimate and conclusive idiom. They tend to tinker with the pictures or objects that they will use as the subjects of their works. This step serves as their visual and artistic strategy as well as their critical take on their medium, be it photography or painting.

Through his latest paintings, Andy presents views of seemingly neglected buildings, covered by shrubs and trees. Those buildings appear like monsters in folktales, coming from virgin woods, banished to the abyss of memory. We often come across neglected buildings in the middle of the forest or in the heart of housing complexes in big cities, unattended and remaining untouched for years on end, sometimes even for scores of years. In cities like Jakarta or Bandung, for example, many buildings or old houses have been left behind by their former tenants due to some conflicts, or perhaps they are simply left uninhabited.

People then tend to view such constructions as eerie. Stories about ghosts residing in such places spread and become urban legends, and are eventually presented in reality shows on TV every week. They form horror images that lurk in the recesses of our memories, emerging furtively every time we come across such views.

Andy Dewantoro’s works can be easily recognized with the series of city landscapes in dusk. The feeble light of lonely lamps creates faint pools of light that try to overcome the darkness. As the curator Jim Supangkat has noted in the curatorial introduction to Andy Dewantoro’s solo exhibition sometime ago, the cityscape in Andy’s paintings does not actually represent a city, but instead depicts a distinct atmosphere by using images of the city. The city itself serves merely as a medium that helps him to present the atmosphere that he wishes to convey, which has to do with personal experiences that actually have nothing to do with the atmosphere of the city itself. Indeed, Andy always conducts direct observations, visiting and examining cities, in Indonesia and abroad, which he then use for the basis of his works.

Andy’s works seem to be able to reconstruct our memories about the buildings, houses, and cityscape that we might have seen somewhere in the remote past, by presenting fragments of images that we have possibly seen in films or television programs—images that today serve as the collective points of reference that affect the perceptions of the global audience.

His paintings present the mental images of a melancholic, silent atmosphere, with a tinge of horror. In some of his paintings, Andy even presents blurred fragments that come about due to enlargements or the way he applied the paints. This strengthens the mysterious, gloomy atmosphere.

As mentioned by the curator Jim Supangkat, the atmosphere or the mood that Andy creates is the focus of the work, while the cityscape serves as the artist’s medium of expression.

One might then ask whether the paintings and the video works that Andy has created also represent general perceptions of horror—as the horror images that the mass media distribute simultaneously have been engraved in public memory. Or perhaps Andy here plays the role of a director who recycles the horror images for us, the audience? Here the works present a series of signs that give rise to a certain mood. Andy Dewantoro has no intention to focus on the sociological and historical contexts of his landscapes.

13

davy linggar taxidermy acrylic on canvas 80 x 100 cm 2010

davy linggar the conqueror acrylic on canvas 80 x 100 cm 2010

The audience might then discover something similar with Davy Linggar’s works, with a series of paintings and Polaroid pictures that have been reproduced on canvas. We see how Davy is playing around with signs by presenting creatures and animals in peculiar gestures. Davy presents jokes, cynical remarks, sarcasm, and irony by arranging toys—dinosaurs, pigs, deer, lambs—in certain ways and photographing them using Polaroid camera. He then transfers the images on to the canvas by painting them or scanning the images on to the canvas before applying strokes or drips of paints. The resulting images are vague and blurred, but we can see how the images create a different mood altogether, appearing enigmatic, wild, and even funny.

Davy’s works invariably play with irony and even with issues that are considered taboo.

We come across the image of a dinosaur having sexual intercourse with a pig. Davy says: “In our society, there are so many social demands that turn us into hypocrites.

People forbid and scoff at things, which actually constitute the denial of their

14

innermost desires.” Davy’s works present signs that the collective morality seeks to reject. This subversive nature of the works is precisely intended to cast light on the moral values shrouded by different layers of beliefs and dogmas. Each work has the potentials to strip off the different layers of values, but in an atmosphere of merriment and excitement that can be irrational at times—or ‘ecrits’, according to Lacanian psychoanalytical discourse.

davy linggar

Davy Linggar is a photographer with a peculiar perspective, and a painter that seems to understand very well the prevalent values in the contemporary

killer pig acrylic on canvas 80 x 77 cm 2010

15

society. His experience in the world of commercial photography and the world of art allows him to observe and interact with a range of human characters from all walks of life. This has affected Davy’s visual idioms, although one can almost be certain that the idioms also constitute his personal expressions. Here Davy reveals his personality through the arrangement of objects as well as the brush strokes over the photographic images.

The art critic Hal Foster in Return of the Real discusses the symptom of “trauma on reality” that has come about through the still images as well as the moving images (film and television). This constitutes the symptom of perception failure or confusion within the contemporary society vis-à-vis the reality. Foster gives an example of how the trauma has been articulated by creating blurring effects through brush strokes, for example in the photorealism works of Gerhard Richter or in Andy Warhol’s pop art works.

Meanwhile, Andy Dewantoro and Davy Linggar are both interested in reconstructing new realities. They present personal memories through their works, creating signs that can be freely interpreted and furtively touch our memories— memories that have been well hidden in our subconscious. The memories that have gone “cold” can suddenly emerge and move us to observe another reality.

Here Soedjojono might wonder: Where lies the revealed soul? ---

Davy Linggar Born in Jakarta Indonesia, July 8th 1974 Education [1993-1995] Painting Studio, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology [1995-1997] Universitaet Gesamthochschule Essen, Fachbereich Fotografie, Germany Working Experiences [1999-2000] Master Printer at I-Print, Professional B&W Lab [1997-1999] Staff Editor at Fotomedia Magazine Solo Exhibitions [2008] Sketch, photo, image - Ark Galerie, Jakarta [1999] Black & White - Galery Cahya, Jakarta Group Exhibitions [2010] Crash Project - SigiArts, Jakarta [2009]

Crosspieces - Canna Gallery, Jakarta Urbantopia - North Art Space, Jakarta KADO #2 - Nadi gallery, Jakarta Revisiting The Last Supper - CG Art Space, Jakarta Hybridization - North Art Space, Jakarta CUT - Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[2008]

Come-in - Goethe Institute, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta Refresh - Valentine Wille Fine Art, Singapore Self and Reality - LinggarSeni, Jakarta Manifesto - Galeri Nasional

[2005] CP Biennale - Pink Swing Park, Collaboration with Agus Suwage, Jakarta [2004] Nokia City Stories - Singapore

11th Asian Art Biennale - Dhaka, Bangladesh [2003] Photography Exhibition for Olympic Culture 2004 Greece, Athen [2001] Photography Exhibition at ”Digital Touch” Exhibition Yogyakarta and Semarang [1999] Photography Exhibition at Teamwork Photo Exhibition Galery Cahya, Jakarta

Photography Exhibition - Lucky Strike Exhibition [1997]

Photography Exhibition at Indonesia-Korea Forum Taegu, Korea

[1991]

Painting Exhibition at Talented Youth Painters Exhibition - Galery Cipta TIM Painting Exhibition at Art Appreciation Week - Fine Art Museum, Jakarta

[1990] Painting Exhibition at Talented Youth Painters Exhibition - Galery Cipta TIM

Andy Dewantoro - Infinite Sadness #1 - acrylic on canvas - 145 x 200 cm - 2010

catalogue for

CURATED BY

TRANSLATED BY

publisheD BY

designed by

A Duet Exhibition by Andy Dewantoro and Davy Linggar

Rifki Effendy

Rani Elsanti

vivi yip art room Lot 2-3 The Promenade Jalan Warung Buncit Raya 98, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia +62-21-79 00 480 vivi@viviyipartroom.com www.viviyipartroom.com

Gamaliel W. Budiharga Kotasis Kamar Desain 3x3x3 Yogyakarta, Indonesia kotasis@kotasis.com www.kotasis.com

“Cold Memories”

PRINTED IN INDONESIA

EDITION 500 copies