Erica Hestu Wahyuni in Retrospect

by Carla Bianpoen

rekA-rekA ericA (Erica’s Puzzle) is the title under which Erica Hestu Wahyuni holds her solo exhibition. The exhibition is retrospective and looks back at her ten years of active painting. It also looks forward to the beginning of another chapter of her life.

Jakarta -- Erica Hestu Wahyuni’s solo exhibition opened on April 5 at the Galeri Nasional, with hundreds of invitees filling the gallery’s premises. Eighty-nine out of 600 paintings represent the artist’s retrospect of the past ten years as an active painter.

April 18 will see the launch of a book on the artist, written by Amir Sidharta, who also leads the team of curators of the exhibition.

The exhibit comes with a catalogue, priced at Rp.50,000. Unfortunately, it does not list all of the paintings on display.

To have a ‘retrospect’ at age 30 may be quite unusual, but for Erica it means looking back at a decade of active painting activities. It also signifies opening a new chapter in her life as she prepares to return to school.

In a few months, she will start a two-year non-degree course at one of Russia’s noted arts institutes, the Surikov Moscow StateAcademic Institute of Arts. Vasily I. Surikov was a prominent master of Russian Realist Art who devoted his life to the creation of monumental canvases on Russian history. Although Erica’s art deviates from the Classic Realism orientation of the institute, the professors gave her entry into the Institute without having to undergo the usual testing. They commented that her works are “interesting, demonstrate good professional skill and a great sensitivity towards life.’

Erica’s achievement after ten years of painting is not measured only in the hundreds of paintings made or the number of people who have become collectors of her works, but also in being one of the few painters who have had her works documented complete with background stories. Given the hundreds of paintings, this was no doubt a huge task that Amir Sidharta undertook.

One may also acknowledge her persistence in pursuing the realisation of her dreams. In this, the opinion of critics that she has not yet entered the mainstream art discourse or ‘wacana’, does not bother her too much. Combining talent with a fair sense for the pragmatic, she just goes ahead.

While some of her earlier works show a clear focus, her later paintings are very crowded. It’s as if she wants to put all of her thoughts on one canvas. Every little detail she sees or experiences in daily life or special occasions must go in. But using vibrant colors and metaphors of the animal world, the narratives of life’s realities are often pushed to the absurd and take an endearing air of fairy tales. ‘One can’t help smiling when looking at these paintings,’ says Alexander Komarov of the Cultural Division of the Russian Federation in Jakarta. A Portuguese visitor, who happened to be a painter herself, admired Erica for her ‘great imagination and power of design and colors’ Others find appeal in the paintings’ easy ‘language’.

Persistent and hard-willed

Painting is Erica’s life and nothing could stop her from doing just that. Not even the cricism about her inability to paint a figure properly. Instead, it pushed her even further, and she created The Mystery of the Ninth Woman (1996).

Created out of frustration as well as to prove herself, the painting which consists of three 2 x 2 meter panels features eight nudes in various positions while the ninth woman (invisible) is supposed to be herself. It was the first time she featured nudes, she later revealed. ‘Painting nudes in the naïve style is not usual, but I had enough of all the criticism, and I just did it’, she said. It was a big hit, but her only work in this style.

Erica is a ‘fast’ painter. The technique she applies has enabled her to be among the most prolific painters of our time.Pushing the paint straight from the tube onto the canvas, she replaced the brush with a palette knife which she finds more suitable to reflect her feelings. It is also a faster way to spread out the paint.

This does not mean, however, that she has no breaks. There are times when she just loves to do nothing but lie on the sofa and listen to music, even when there is work to be done. Then her friend’s question comes to mind - whether she wants to be a formula-A driver or just a slow-paced becak rider – and that usually wakes her up from her reverie and gives her the boost she needs.

The gender perspective

At first, most of Erica’s paintings seem to radiate an atmosphere of familial happiness and intense childlike joy. However, a closer look reveals that behind images that have the appearance of endearing naivety, there is also great anguish. The vibrant colors, in effect, reflect optimistic expectations and wishful-thinking rather than reality. What outside powers might be threatening the artist’s existence to the point that she positions herself curled  up like an embryo within the contours of an animal as if in serious want of protection, or power for that matter? 

In works like My Dream and Body and  Existence Cow, intense frustration takes prominence. Symbols abound. In My Dream and Body (2000), her most beloved metaphors of animals transform into frightening creatures with multiple gender.

Animals taking a human double-face, with paws likened to male and female feet, express her frustration with the double burdens loaded on a woman. In a shocking pose of pain, a woman figure is seen lying on the floor, crying, while her beloved elephant tries to give her consolation.(sketch titled Kuda-kuda goodbye (1990))

Meanwhile Existence Cow (1998) shows a male and a female face within the contours of an animal, while a fish is seen flying into the male mouth next to a tearful female face. Overhead, a  snake is depicted within a flying male figure. Wedding Party(2000), describes Erica as cynical about marriage describing power relations by painting a big elephant on the groom’s chest while only tiny elephants sit on the bride’s left arm and right arm pit.Such power distribution is also seen in WorkingTogether, where she positions the male figure sitting on a chair, and female underneath.

Other paintings, such as Sea Dragon (2000) reveal a state of helplessness. Here a woman figure lies on the back of the animal, while a heart is in its mouth. Underneath, a mermaid holds on to the elephant and a small fish is caught in the snout of a big fish.

Certainly, Erica appears to have had her share of problems, but her style of the naïve, and her love for the animals as well as her rich imagination blend reality with reverie and humor, often disguising the real state of her heart. For most people, her canvases are like endearing fairy tales stirring the imagination of the young and reminding the older generation of days gone by.

The artist’s rise to fame and fortune

Born and raised in the vicinity of the Yogya kraton, little Erica was surrounded by art and artifacts since the early years of her life. As a child, all she wanted to do was to paint, and her parents allowed her. They encouraged her by enrolling her in a sanggar (art workshop) for kids. Painting since then became a never-ending activity and the style of the naïve endured the passing of time.

She seemed, indeed, to be destined to be nothing less than a painter, receiving numerous awards during her adolescense. She entered the Yogyakarta Institute of Arts, but dropped out before graduating. Not because she lacked the ability as many may think, but rather because she had to attend to other personal matters, she revealed recently.

Ralph Fasanella became her idol, but Picasso, Matisse, van Gogh, Chagall, as well as Indonesian painters Heri Dono, Sudjana Kerton and Eddie Hara also made a deep impression on her. In fact, her style is akin to the latter’s, but many impulses have been internalised in a way that makes her works ‘typical Erica’. Erica reveals that she admires those masters because of the breakthroughs they made in the world of art. Drawing inspiration from their courage, she herself has somehow followed their examples, though in much simpler ways.

Erica’s rise to success has largely been supported by Joseph Solaiman, or Om Jo, as she called her beloved mentor and owner of Santi Gallery. He was a friend and a father to her, and helped her in the development of her art.

His death was a devastating blow. For some time, she lived in a void. Her paintings during this time seemed flat, lacking character and energy, remembers Amir Sidharta. Then, in October of last year, she joined a painting exhibition organised by the Indonesian Fine Art Foundation at the Moscow Museum of Contemporary art. She came back energized, and inspired by new dynamics. As it turns out, the Russian encounter was crucial for her decision to seek new ventures, away from home.

Erica may well be considered a rare phenomenon in the Indonesian world of art. In spite of criticisms about her way of painting, she has persevered painting the way she felt she could do best. Pushing paint straight from the tube onto the canvas and using the palette knife instead of the brush has enabled her to work fast and be productive. More importantly, her childlike style, once perceived as an inability of figure drawing, turned out to be an asset, that has reaped local and regional successes.

Exploring new avenues

Her Russian venture proved to be a turning point. Fascinated with the Russian atmosphere which was very different from what she was used to, she came back bursting with energy and obsessed with all things Russian. Her watercolors exhibited at the Nadi Gallery in November 2000 are telling of the new dynamics taking possession of her. In less than three months, she was back  in Moscow, charged with renewed energy. The snow in the winter of January 2001 and an apartment with an ambience of old Russia inspired her immensely.

Russia indeed seems to be the beginning of a new chapter in her artistic creativity. One of the several paintings she made in Moscow is the large 2x4 meter size canvas titled ‘Mayalubov’ (My Love) painted in the heart of Moscow.

Love remains an all-encompassing theme, but Moscow signals an important change. If her earlier works often showed herself within the contours of an animal, a powerful one by preference, now, there is the strong elephant painted on her chest, or dangling in her hand like a toy. Has the power of the animal at last shifted to herself? The large 4x2 m painting certainly leaves no doubt. Usually positioning herself as a small part of the scene, the Russian works now show her self image as a large matryoshka, the Russian doll which traditionally and symbolically opens up into several little dolls.

Another, smaller painting, titled ‘Dobraya’ (Forgiving), which she painted in just two-and-a-half hours (but is not on display), is an intensely sad self-portrait. It uses symbols such as the dry branch that encircles the face’s contours, while Russian domes form the wrinkles from forehead into her left cheek and a tear in her right eye. Arrows forming white Russian buildings coming out from a heart in white, around which blood red runs may all be signs of a more expressive style which is popping up in the wake of  a decade of painting in the naïve. While it resembles an earlier work, Woman in Red, visibility of the internal feelings within the face contours makes the difference. .

The colors she applied during her second Russian stay in January appears to be influenced by its specific ambience of snow-covered streets, buildings and trees, and the old furniture and bookcase filled with Dostoyevski’s, Chekov’s and Tolstoi’s writings in the half dark of the old apartment.

Unfortunately, the otherwise beautiful painting of ‘Mayalubov’ was given a broad teak frame with images carved on it, rendering the notion of craft and overcrowding, and diffusing the beauty of the original.The green-colored wall against which the painting is positioned, makes things even worse.

Aspirations

Erica’s aspirations go beyond her paintings and the market, and children in the art have her special attention. Three art contests are being organised for children, who are also given the opportunity to meet her in spontaneous chat sessions and simple, cheap, traditional toys are on sale beside expensive T-shirts. In addition, the Gallery’s yard has been transformed into a  children’s pleasure garden. Interest of the youthful public has been overwhelming.

What next

Her decision to leave the country for some time comes as a surprise to many of her fans. But her well-wishers welcome her decision at the height of her success as a selling artist, lauding it as a bold and wise conclusion to a decade of painting.

Will the two-year course in Russia have a major impact on the naïve style she has used so far, will it be the beginning of the end (of the style and the demand) or will she return to the style  that has taken her to these market highs? These questions no one can answer today, but some think much will depend on her personal maturity. She will need to take time for reflection to allow fresh inspiraions and give imagination an invigorating boost.

Meanwhile, Erica has has already great plans for the next five years. But that will be another story.  For now, her overwhelming success defies even her fiercest critics.

The display at the National Gallery features a number of  huge paintings, measuring 300 x  450cm  (Queen of the Animal World, 2001),194 x 194 cm (Pesta Ikan, 1999), 145 x 200 cm (Barong Laut, 2000),  145 x 285 (Nostalgia di Yogya, 2000), 122 x 244 cm (Imaginasi Indonesia, 1999-2000).  Half of the exhibits have been borrowed from collectors or belong to her private collection. Only 22 paintings are for sale, with prices ranging between  Rp15 million and and Rp45 million.

The exhibition runs through April 19.

The National Gallery is located at Jl.Medan Merdeka Timur 14 (across Gambir Railway Station), and is open to the public daily (incl. Sundays) from 10 a.m. through 8 p.m.

Pictures (not included in this Web edition):

1.       Erica in Moscow

2.       ‘My poem at Kutuzovski’

3.       Erica facing rof. Eugeniy Maksimov of the Surikov Institute, Moscow

4.       ‘Mayalubov’, Erica’s Russian masterpiece in the making

5.       ‘The Ninth Woman’