Eddy Susanto

THE RENAISSANCE of PANJI

ArtSociates the gate of art discovery

Eddy Susanto lives and works in Yogyakarta, he is one of ArtSociates’s most important artists. He studied graphic design before embarking in his art career; this was possibly the influence to his prudent, erudite approach in art. His artworks are created by conducting extensive researches on certain points in history, exploring the notions of historical narratives and the development of identity. They portray fragments of local history parallel to the world’s history, interpolating cultural identity of the East into the historical elements of the West.

Eddy’s paintings mostly incorporate Javanese passages in its native hanacaraka script, taken from several important Javanese pieces of literature. His series of Sembilan Mata Hari Centhini (2012), for example, was created around the analogy found between the character of Mata Hari and the dance movements described in Serat Centhini, and his works titled Java of Dürer (2011) – the artwork that earned him the accolade of Bandung Contemporary Art Award #2 in 2012 – replace Albrecht Dürer’s engraved lines with passages from Babad Tanah Jawi.

Eddy has showcased his painting series in various national and international exhibitions. Solo exhibitions worth considering include The Irony of Ruralism, Art Jakarta, Jakarta (2018); Project 10+3, Baik Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2018); Occultism: A Shared Phenomenon, ArtStage Jakarta (2017); Kalatida Toward Capitalism, ArtStage Singapore, Singapore (2017); Java Script, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta (2015); The Passage of Panji: Memory, Journey and Desire, Lawangwangi Creative Space, Bandung (2014); Albrecht Durer and the Old Testament of Java, Galerie Michael Janssen, Singapore (2014); and Matahari Centhini, Lawangwangi Creative Space, Bandung (2012). He also has participated in numerous group exhibitions. To mention a few: JAVA Art Energy, Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, France (2018-2019); Singapore Biennale, Atlas of Mirror, Singapore Art Museum (2016-2017); ArtJog IX, Universal Influence, Yogyakarta (2016); Southeast Asia Platform, ArtStage Singapore, Singapore (2014); Indonesia Art Award 2013, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta (2013); ArtJog: Maritime Culture, Yogykarta (2013); ArtJog: Looking East, Yogyakarta (2012); Bandung Contemporary Art Award #2, Lawangwangi Creative Space, Bandung (2012); and ART/JOG/11, Yogyakarta (2011).

His accolades include Indonesian Presidential Museum Collections, Bogor (2014); finalist of Indonesian Art Award 2013, Jakarta (2013); winner of Dharmawangsa Award, Nyoman Gunarsa Museum, Bali (2012); finalist of UOB Painting #2, Jakarta (2012); and Bandung Contemporary Art Award #2 winner.

Short Biography

Eddy Susanto began his artistic career during the post-Soeharto era- which decided to step down after in control of the Indonesian chair presidency for decades. The transition of power regime from Soeharto to the following elected president has a significant impact on the art world, especially on artists’ creation and creativity because however improbable, freedom in the creative world is fundamental and essential.

As some circles believed, art in the Soeharto era depoliticized since the fall of the Soekarno era. For art is restricted and supervised, the artists felt suppressed to express their ideas and ideologies through art. The opposite happened after Soeharto stepped down. People overflowed with euphoric feelings because freedom had finally penetrated to various aspects of life and also into the world of art. The creation and artwork post- Soeharto era carry a new passion, especially in terms of themes. Through art, artists are not afraid to voice socio-economic injustice, the dirty play of power politics, and violence against humanity. Socio-political themes color almost all art practices and tend to dominate the contemporary fine art.

Nevertheless, various other themes emerged despite the happening paradigm. Not all post-Soeharto art made to accommodate the artist’s socio-political expression; others specifically avoid or deny these themes. Various other themes emerged amid the tug-of-war between political poles versus non-politics. Meanwhile, in the midst of both of them, the digital world offers new challenges as information technology is increasingly developing in Indonesia. This factor affects in dividing new themes of art and strengthening the opportunities of new mediums for fine art. Exclusive restrictions on the scope of art in the post- Soeharto era faded away, as people do not dwell much on the differentiates of art, design, and craft at all. As an artist, Eddy Susanto acknowledged the dynamics of art in the transitional era, which aroused and inspired him to courageously working out an artistic experiment. As someone with a background in design education, he did not hesitate to break through the rigid boundaries between the works of art and design; instead, he intensifies it.

According to Eddy Susanto, art helps him investigating the meaning of life and allow him to be able to understand more about the world and people though a work of art usually offers abstract meaning and complicate ordinary people to furtherly understand. So, how can art be valuable in giving meaning to the lives of artists - let alone for society? Eddy Susanto certainly could not make the correct answer for it, but instead, he chose to answers his question by researching the matter to address the audience efficiently.

The exciting part is; it was evident that he believes a set of studies does not necessarily provide the desired answer. On the contrary, a cultural study alternately raises whole new questions. Despite the challenge, Eddy Susanto enjoyed the process of creating art through research, following his interest in world cultural history. Armed with this belief, Eddy Susanto freely investigated various ideas regarding historical time- space, cultural position, objects, artifacts, and traces of world events to interpret.

Eddy Susanto methodically presents the research outcome by juxtapositioning the past from a different time-space, as well as the past and present from a different context. He found it interesting to exploit the power of texts and iconography of the past, for creating art is a process that will never cease. Artworks will continue to be created by artists through extensive exploration because art in principle accommodates cognition, emotions, social behavior, and no less important: the interaction between science (especially history), society, and culture.

With works that offer a cross-cultural juxtaposition method from various parts of the world history, Eddy Susanto puts forward Javanese cultural heritage amidst the constellation of world culture. Among his works, he has juxtaposed two or three histories at once - some art circles might even consider this method as a deconstruction of the difference between “space” and “place” which is politically constructed or produced in a specified location as historical knowledge. To some extent, it is quite relevant if Eddy Susanto’s works examined from this aspect, though his works do not dwell on radical juxtaposition, which is usually planned to erase the roles and aspects in the course of history.

We can observe that in the art projects of The Passage of Panji (2014) and Albrecht Durer and the Old Testament of Java (2014), for example - which enshrines intercultural positions -, Eddy Susanto’s works tend to create multi-layered story effects that obscure authority boundaries between text and visual. Eddy Susanto additionally wants his work to transmit the balance between knowledge and expression. The narrative inscribed on his works not positioned as an object, but rather a complicated basis from which the spectator begins to understand the meaning of how the layers of civilization are at one particular time - in space and unrelated in terms of place, and establishing hegemonic constructions instead.

Both art projects raise the epic of humanity and are very important in building arguments about civilization negotiations, rather than colliding with them. Naturally, one’s critical manifestations of imperialism occur when one civilization dominates the discourse at the location of other civilizations. However, Eddy Susanto does not want to trapped in the cliché feature that is often used by cultural intellectuals to dictate one’s post-colonial understanding. On the contrary, his works overlap in harmony.

Nevertheless, we can still observe a cavity that holds a gap between two binary oppositions (civilization), interdependent polarity, and how this work tends to sharpen inequality and difference. Eddy Susanto seems to let all that go without wanting to lead people to one conclusion that is winning or cornering one thing against another. Within this framework, aside from questioning the sacred trinity of “identity,” “globalization,” and “modernity,” Eddy Susanto wants to expand the meaning after intercultural alignment through art.

The Renaissance of Panji

For this occasion, Eddy Susanto’s project follows the continuation after the previous art projects. Now he focuses on developing the Panji Story with more explorative and refreshing features. As a collection of classic Javanese stories on the kingdom of Kadiri, the Panji Story combines elements of heroism and romance with the main character Raden Inu Kertapati (or Panji Asmarabangun) and Dewi Sekartaji (or Galuh Candrakirana). In its distribution in several Southeast Asian regions, the Panji Story is believed to have various versions and modifications, which later develops and transforms into various aspects of life and art forms such as dance, literature, theater, puppetry, painting, and sculpture. Besides, many people believe the Panji Story interspersed with an epoch of civilizations from all over the world.

In this transnational Story-based Panji art project, Eddy Susanto juxtaposes the red thread from a different perspective between the Panji Story in Java and the works of European Old Masters, one that carries love mythology. He came to an understanding that the Story of Panji correlated and inseparable and even plays a vital role as the treasures of the great epoch of world civilization. The Eddy Susanto’s Contemporary form of Panji Story adapts scenes from Western Old Masterworks as well as re-presenting the Javanese Beber Wayang style through the Wangbang Wideya song ( Formerly originated in Bali). He strung in the handwriting of Javanese script texts to form the painting to fitted the Panji-style Old Master’s looks.

This work designed to re-present the Javanese- Balinese cultural localities, while also cosmopolite by presenting (and correlating) the similarities of the Panji Story with the Old Masters work of the Renaissance period - furtherly displayed in the metaphor of “a dark room” which relates to the dark ages stigma over the previous century. Fields of paintings attached to the wall of the room are visible because of ultraviolet (UV) lighting so that we can also examine the layered alignment between civilizations and at the same time highlight the works of the European Old Masters delivered with phosphorus media.

If observed from historical aspects of Indonesian art, this project briefly reminds us of the artistic strategies that have been shown by the painter Raden Saleh in the 19th century to Nicolaas Pieneman’s paintings. However, unlike Saleh’s paintings, which appear to be deliberately planned to distort historical perceptions and subvert them, this non-subversive Eddy Susanto art project is more open to the extensive parts of the world cultural heritage. On presenting it in different kinds of medium: painting, silkscreens, objects, and shown in a specially built room, his works overturned the static representation of “us as creatures from the Eastern mainland” due to the conceptualization of “the first world country.”

While from the aesthetic aspect, with an increasingly layered and complicated alignment strategy, this project not only provides an archaic (but new) experience that is enigmatic but also offers a different sensation to the eye of spectators. The project also embeds unexpected messages for those who observe it in detail. In turn, this art project is not only entertaining but also makes us aware that the Nusantara civilization is a civilization that is open and equal, for and with others.

Aminudin TH Siregar 2016-2019

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cover. Renaissance of Panji after Echo and Narcissus-John William Waterhouse

1. Renaissance of Panji after Josephine and Napoleon-Tania and Rouget

2. Renaissance of Panji after Lancelot and Guinevere-Herbert James Draper Web

3. Renaissance of Panji after The Feighned Death of Juliet-Fredric Leighton

4. Renaissance of Panji after The Return of Odyssus-Pinturicchio

5. Renaissance of Panji after Orpheus and Eurydice-Giulio Romano

6. Renaissance of Panji after Psyche Honoured-Luca Giordano

7. Renaissance of Panji after The Abduction of Helen-Gavin Hamilton

8. Renaissance of Panji after The Banquet of Cleopatra-Giovani Batista

9. Renaissance of Panji after Pyramis and Thisle-Francois Alfred Delobe

10. Renaissance of Panji after Samson and Delillah-Anthony van Dyck

11. Renaissance of Panji after The Baptism of Pocahontas-John Gadsby Chapman

12. Renaissance of Panji after The Death of Paolo and Francesca-Alexandre Cabanel

13. Renaissance of Panji after Tristan and Isolde-John Duncan

14. Renaissance of Panji after Venus and Mars-Sandro Boticelli

15. Detail of Renaissance of Panji after Psyche Honoured-Luca Giordano (2)

All of the above. 200x100 cm, Acrylic Phospor on Canvas, 2019

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Direktur Director Andonowati

Kelola Management Adytria Negara Asnaini Aslam Bagus Nugroho Putri Larasati Ayu

Fotografi Photography Kemas Indra Bisma

Teks Text Aminudin TH. Siregar

Desain Design Irfan Hendrian

Produksi Cetak Print Production IH Studio

Penerbit Publisher Lawangwangi Creative Space Jl. Dago Giri No. 99A, Mekarwangi, Lembang, Bandung Jawa Barat 40391

Cetakan pertama, 500 salinan.Dicetak di Bandung, Agustus 2019.Hak Cipta dilindungi oleh Undang-Undang. Dilarang mengutip atau memperbanyak sebagian atau seluruh isi buku ini tanpa izin tertulis dari penerbit.

First edition, 500 copies. Printed in Bandung, August 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the publisher.

1. Venus Mars Sandro Botticelli

2. Romeo Juliet Frederic Lord Leighton

3. Odysseus Penelope Pinturicchio

4. Cleopatra Mark Antony Giovanni Batista Tiepolo

5. Pyramus Thisbe Francois Alfred Delobe

6. Napoleon Josephine David and Rouget

7. Tristan Isolde John Duncan

8. Paolo Francesca Alexandre Cabanel

9. Lancelot Guinevere Herbert James Draper

10. Pocahontas John Smith John Gadsby Chapman

11. Paris Helen Gavin Hamilton

12. Orpheus Eurydice Giulio Romano

13. Samson Delilah Anthony van Dyck

14. Echo Narcissus John William Waterhouse

15. Cupid Psyche Luca Giordano

1-15. 29.5x41.6 cm, drawing pen on paper, 2019