Talking about Life through Death

The Confluence exhibition presents the works of two Filipino artists, Marvin Quizon and Alfredo Esquillo. Marvin paints mostly semi-imaginary figures and symbols representing birth and death. He always depicts birth and death as vulnerable moments in life.

The similar tone is conveyed in the artwork he displayed in this  exhibition, titled Symptom of Healing. He paints a drying corpse of a  bird. From the corpse grows flowers. The corpse clearly symbolizes  death, while the flowers represent the beginning of life. The artist  believes and is trying to communicate his belief to the audience that  with an end always comes a beginning.

Marvin pays close attention to every single line that results in a  strong texture. His meticulousness in arranging the lines into a shape demonstrates his depth of understanding of the references. He believes that death and life are brought together in a cycle, thus inevitable.

Marvin’s concept of death and life is likely similar to the one presented by Ivan Sagita. In one of Ivan’s works titled Escaping One Death, Falling Into the Embrace of Another, he painted an old woman in three different styles, combined with two lifeless bodies. The woman’s facial expression shows resignation, surprise, and sadness over something unknown. The two lifeless bodies are represented with a human corpse wrapped in white cloth, but it seems like the burial ritual is not completed just yet. While in another work titled Earth and Air are His Homebody, Ivan painted two dead bodies lying on the ground while slowly being decomposed and united with the soil.

Ivan wants to talk about the essence of a human being that is tied to  or united with earth. Consequently, death is not detaching oneself from earth. It is returning our physical bodies to earth. Or else, death is  in itself the purpose of life. Life will undoubtedly meet death. In his previous research, Ivan investigated the infamous phenomenon of suicide by hanging in Gunung Kidul, the southern regency of the Special Region of Yogyakarta. It is locally known as pulung gantung. It is widely spread across the regency and reputedly contagious. Accordingly, finding hanged bodies becomes a common event for the local people.

During his investigation of suicide by hanging, Ivan kept many memories related to death and loss. These experiences naturally influence him while painting the facial expression of loss or depiction of death. In his two said artworks, he presents one’s expression after a loss and lifeless bodies lying on the ground. To depict a clear facial expression is never an instant work. It requires long observation and reflection. It is because expression is a non-verbal body language with multiple interpretations. It is hardly lucid.

Manifestation of Personal Experiences

Other artists make use of solid colors to represent their process of encountering their present selves—the selves that are constructed from previous experiences since childhood. Those personal experiences are manifested in paintings containing solid colors and clear lines. Those artists are Abenk Alter, Addy Debil, Anton Afganial, Bernardi Desanda, Iskandar Fauzy, and Tommy Wondra.

Abenk Alter paints many lines that form certain shapes with solid colors. From several digital references I found, Abenk calls his painting style ‘fastline’. His two artworks presented in this exhibition employ  ‘fastline’ technique with warm solid colors. To be able to draw these  fast lines requires Abenk to possess strong confidence and connection  between heart, mind, hand, brush, and canvas.

However, if we look at the details, the particular speed differs from the one used in expressionistic lines. Abenk’s fast lines occupy the canvas under a well-arranged plan, confidence, and connection between heart, mind, hand, brush, and canvas. Abenk might use this chance to imagine the infinite spiritual and mental world. Nevertheless, to be able to  reach that world calls for a chance for reflection. Through these  paintings, he manages to enter the said world—thanks to his cautiousness, meticulous strokes, and solid confidence.

Anton Afganial and Bernardi Desandra make similar attempts in their artworks. They utilize solid colors and clear lines, just like Abenk Alter. The difference is that Anton and Bernardi reprocess their childhood memories to create figures and shapes within their paintings.

Anton Afganial regards his paintings called Childhood Memory and Spring Waltz  as the opportunities to express his imagination of life as well as the world he imagines. Such imagination rises from despair and anxiety he feels in his present state. The figures and shapes in his paintings are deeply rooted due to the work of his senses. He feels and experiences those memories happily while recalling the feeling of longing for the emotions he had in the past.

Bernardi Desandra does something similar. He employs Dadaism style to paint figures and shapes that look playful, childish, and even terrifying for some shapes. By this style, he describes the world he desires to live in. He is treating his disappointment over humans’ bad deeds based on his experiences. He wants to eliminate the dominating human power over the nature by presenting a different reality in the painting. That is the reason for employing Dadaism style. He is scaling down human domination and hands over the power to other entities.

We also have Addy Debil who brings out his two playful and childlike paintings. He paints figures that are closely associated with the imaginary outer space. Just like the three artists mentioned previously, he uses solid colors. By painting his creation of realities, Addy expresses his wish for the utopia.

Unlike Addy Debil who tried to construct new shapes for his utopian space, Tommy Wondra uses his canvas to deconstruct and unshape the established shapes. In his artwork titled De konstruksi, Tommy reverse engineered the established shapes into shapeless colors in a very detailed pattern that appears like going downward.

Iskandar Fauzy also applies a realistic approach to illustrate how an artwork is made within a studio. He reflects on the role of the studio for an artist like him. At the same time, he retells the values circulating around his work in the studio that give him his worth.

Going Beyond the Romanticized Encounter

It is safe to say that the artists participating in this exhibition have different ranges of artistic experiences. Borrowing the institutionalized terms, they can be classified as senior and junior artists.The senior ones are associated with more expertise and maturity compared to their counterparts. Such logic may arise because people tend to regard experience as the hierarchy of knowledge. The more experience one has, the more the public believes that one has much knowledge.One thing to highlight, knowledge is not instantly acquired. It demands a process of internalization. It requires countless trials and errors. 

Experiences will never be transformed into knowledge unless there are adequate chances to reflect on them. Moreover, the different methods in narrating and creating are also affected by our current circumstances. Moelyono, Alfredo, and Ivan Sagita might have lived in certain socio-political circumstances that drive them to create artworks that are noticeably speaking about social issues since the beginning of their career as artists.

Meanwhile nowadays, when issues related to mental health become prominent and the spreading of information is barely controllable, it is difficult for people to look at the grand landscape of society. Consequently, people shift to an alternative route that starts at their personal experience. There grows the move to start every single thing from one’s self, within one’s smallest circle.

This smallest circle is not disconnected from the bigger ones. It is indeed necessary to draw many lines to connect between them. Therefore, the encounter between the senior and junior is no longer a mere celebration or a chance for competition. Instead, it should be a strategic opportunity to connect two different things that should indeed be connected. I hope that the Confluence exhibition can be interpreted as more than just a celebration of an encounter.

References :

• Butler, Judith. (2015). Senses of the Subject. New York: Fordham University Press.

• Mulder, Neils. (1997). Agama, Hidup Sehari-hari, dan Perubahan Budaya. Jakarta: PT Gramedia.