Tisna Sanjaya: Powerful works of passion and compassion

In Indonesia, graphic art has never been at an equal level of appreciation as other genres, such as for instance, painting.

But the works of Tisna Sanjaya, currently on show at the National Gallery in Jakarta, may be a turning point for those who care to take a look. Mostly dark and stirring, sometimes light colored and humorous, his works explore the theme of violence in politics, religion and the environment, within which humanity is all-encompassing.

His empathy for the less fortunate is expressed through the graphic means of drawing, etching, drypint, aquapoint, mixed media, installations and weekly local TV broadcast.

Strongly influenced by the early European classical technique of etching and German expressionists like Kaethe Kollwitz who used her art to change society against all odds, Tisna uses the technique to take a personal viewpoint, creating real meaning from contemporary existence in the Indonesian context.

It is no surprise that the works made during his study and residency in Germany are the most powerful. It is there, in a situation of aloneness -- a foreigner amid the somber weather dominating life in Germany -- that Tisna was able to full and intense concentration.

It was as if he dived into a black hole , he said, where no else but his artistic activity mattered. His etchings of this time reveal profound sadness about repression at home that was killing not only the lives of people , but also creative thinking and cultural development. His etchings in the Theater series carry titles like Teater Absurd, Teater Rhinoceros, Teater Kuda Lumping, featuring intricately drawn images that ridicule the political stage in his homeland.

Other works from this period, like Hentikan Kekerasan (Stop Violence) and Katarsis, feature figures or faces trapped in a mesh of bold lines, revealing his saddening of what was happening to artists.

Of course, his thoughts of what happened in Indonesia, was sharpened by happenings in other countries, and his readings of international events. The large works, a series of 14 panels, titled Amnesia Cultura encompasses all the issues of repression, violence and hardships featuring his body print shaped by ash and pulverized charcoal around it.

The influence of the European classics continues to be seen in his more recent works that make a lot of use of mixed media.

This is particularly true in the series of Wajah Wajah Peradaban (Faces of Civilization), where sickles are used to shape the sad facial expression.

"The sickle", says Tisna,"is a major tool in the work of the lower class people. It is disappearing in our modern society, but what have we got to replace it?"

The depletion of water sources is a concern that is expressed in a showing of works on canvas that were shaped by the stain of polluted water sources in various villages in West Java. The water of these sources was also gathered in small containers that build up a huge figure in the entrance of the gallery, reflecting the power of the issue.

Social issues have always been part of Tisna's work. When one of his works was burnt by city cleaners who supposedly took it for waste, he gathered the ashes, put it in small bottles that later appeared as a new creation, an installation that tells of life that comes after death.

In the same vain, he collected the remains of a fire that amid a major book market in Bandung, to make his mixed media work titled Palasari.

Tisna Sanjaya is a devout Muslim, who is deeply saddened by the manipulation of religion for personal or political purposes. He does not react with anger, but tries to profess his faith as he thinks is the essence of Islam to which he adheres.

He says for him to be a Muslim is to do good things through which correction of impositions should be amended. In one of the villages in West Java, for instance, he has bought a piece of land where he plans to build a school for children.

"The village used to be thoroughly Moslem, but now commercial and political concerns have taken preference. So I would like to provide education and the basic values for the young."

Another social and educative activity is his weekly TV programs in which he twist the Kabayan, a traditional lazy and unattentive figure, to an active observer of social conditions with great wit and humor. He says the program has succeeded in making the local government aware of certain situations that needed to be tackled.

The exhibition of Tisna Sanjaya's works is an important as it encompasses a huge variety of works and mediums, rarely shown. It is therefore regrettable that no thorough attention was given to the catalog, which would have been able to grant the exhibition a longer life after it is closed.

While the curatorial essays omit to enlighten the public with a discussion of one or two specific works, the paper quality of the catalog and the pictures of the works fail to do justice to the greatness of his oeuvre.