Excerpt from ‘Fadjar Sidik: Expressive Design’
Line into shape: On ‘Dinamika Keruangan’ (Dynamics of Space)
By Ian Tee
Introducing our ‘Excerpts’ series! Over the years, we have republished parts of long-form writing, from catalogue essays to book chapters. This practice will now be formalised in a monthly column. We will continue to be on the lookout for content to share. If you may like to send us texts to consider, please email info@artandmarket.net.
Fadjar Sidik preferred to call his abstract compositions “designs”. Indeed, the artist’s mature phase features a highly graphic style which evolved over time in different series. Each series was an extensive exploration of arranging specific shapes into different compositions and colour variations. They were given loose titles such as ‘Metropole’, ‘Mandala’, ‘Lurik’ and ‘Sangkala’, which seem to point towards associations between the material and urban, and the immaterial and cosmological. Recalling Baxandall’s call to interpretation, how might one infer artistic intention behind these patterns?
“A designer usually designs practical things, whereas the designs I make are meant to be emotional and aesthetic.”
Fadjar Sidik, ‘Large Metropole in Green’, 1993, oil on canvas, 150 x 96cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, S.E.A.
Fadjar Sidik, ‘Ochre’, 1984, oil on canvas, 114 x 90cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, S.E.A.
As evocative as these titles are, one should not invest too much meaning in them. They function more like an index of a particular time period in the artist’s production rather than a description of his concept. Sidik would paint his canvases without any preconceived ideas and only title a painting after it was finished. The transition from one style to another was organic, and Sidik often revisited particular shapes and arrangements at a later time.
To this end, ‘Dinamika Keruangan’ (Dynamics of Space) can be thought of as an overarching body of work which encompasses all of Sidik’s abstract paintings. This perspective accounts for the various formal strains and experimentations at any point in time. What comes through are Sidik’s unique visual language and his insistence on the traditional medium of oil on canvas for 40 years, which is a remarkable fact. Although some may think of this level of dedication and consistency as stagnation, a systematic look at the trajectory of his pictures shows how much of a maverick he was.
“To this end, ‘Dinamika Keruangan’ (Dynamics of Space) can be thought of as an overarching body of work which encompasses all of Sidik’s abstract paintings.”
Fadjar Sidik, ‘Space Dynamics’, oil on canvas, 100×139 cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, S.E.A.
Fadjar Sidik, ‘Dynamics’, 1971, oil on canvas, 65×65 cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, S.E.A.
This chapter aspires to provide a framework to read the aesthetic innovations in Sidik’s paintings against the conceptual underpinning of ‘Dinamika Keruangan’. Close attention is paid to the formal analysis of artworks, retracing the artist’s techniques and creative processes. The approach taken is investigative and privileges evidence established through case studies. It is also an attempt to relate the stylistic developments in ‘Dinamika Keruangan’ within the context of wider cultural influences around him.
Here, we return to the artist’s concept of “expressive design”. As I noted in Chapter 2, Sidik’s turn to abstraction followed his reflection on Indonesia’s changing environment, particularly the encroachment of industry and influx of technology. For him, “expressive design” was both a way of breaking free from representing nature and a new aesthetic proposition in the age of machinery and mass production. Sidik wanted his works to look beautiful when presented in different settings and alongside everyday objects. Of equal importance was the pursuit of harmony between tradition and modernisation.
Fadjar Sidik, ‘Abstraksi’, 1967, oil on canvas, 138×100 cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, S.E.A.
Fadjar Sidik, ‘Komposisi Bentuk’, 1970s, oil on canvas, 65 x 65 cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, S.E.A.
In 1968, Sidik was awarded a government scholarship to study Art Restoration Technique and Conservation in Auckland, New Zealand. Notably, he was the first Indonesian to receive training in this field, though he was unable to pass on these skills when he returned to Yogyakarta in 1969. This is partially due to difficulty in accessing the tools and chemicals necessary for the processes. Upon researching, little information has surfaced about the artist’s time in Auckland beyond a few personal anecdotes from his friend and colleague, S.M. Subroto.
However, one will notice a significant shift in the artist’s approach to painting before and after his time abroad. Abstract paintings executed before 1968 tend to feature biomorphic forms created by joining various shapes on top of each other. The compositions are often dominated by a central form, with an overall impression of being grounded or heavy. There is a clear development of paint layers which correspond with the visual mass of the elements in his paintings. For instance, blocks are outlined with thick impasto strokes which further reinforce their weight.
This sense of gravity and rigidity is broken up in Fadjar Sidik’s paintings from the 1970s. The complex shapes that populated works in the previous period also became dispersed and reduced into individual simple forms. The focus of his compositions shifted from the energetic expansion or build-up of forms, to one that played with the dynamic tension among elements floating in space.
This is an excerpt from Chapter Four of ‘Fadjar Sidik: Expressive Design’.
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