Soul, Spirit and Mountain

Indonesia, a pluralistic nation characterized by expressions of continuity and change, has a viable history of modern art. That history, beginning in the 1930s, is unique in its syntheses between modern and traditional, foreign and indigenous, and is a part of the global past and present in art. Combining the approaches of thematic art history, cultural description, and biography, Dr Wright presents an introductory analysis of contemporary Indonesian painting. The focus is on the work and lives of a selection of painters, from Java, Bali, and Sumatra, whose influence was felt in the 1980s. Portraits are drawn of painters whose work is inspired by mythological and spiritual themes as well as of painters who are stimulated by social realities and empathy for people at the lower reaches of society. The long-standing division between these two groups of artists in Indonesia has provided the main organizational principle for this book.l All of the artists discussed highlight central preoccupations in modern Indonesian art. Material from personal interviews is combined with a discussion of individual paintings to demonstrate how painters, both men and women, draw on indigenous, Hindu-Buddhist, Islamic, or Christian world views, and how they are inspired by mysticism or social realities, history, psychology, or ethnicity. The traditionally significant metaphor of the mountain is used as a backdrop for the discussion and as a tool to illustrate a shift from more spiritual interpretations of man, society, and art, towards more secular and modern views. The art discussed is characterized by a persistence over the last five decades of themes and styles, which are uniquely Indonesian, even as they change.