I Nyoman Masriadi

Private Collection, Indonesia

T.K. Sabapathy, Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring The Body, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2010, p. 209, Fig. 83

The work is in good condition overall, as is the canvas, which is clear and sound. There is light wear and handling around the edges due to the basic framing process. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no evidence of restoration. Framed.
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Well known for his visual language that is punctuated with satire, oftentimes directed towards Indonesia’s socio-political and economical climates, I Nyoman Masriadi’s oeuvre largely plays out as a social commentary. Inhabited by superheroes and athletes, and where the physical inspires the narratives, the worlds portrayed are solely unique to the artist’s creative vision and intent.

Professional Contemporary Art was created the same year that Masriadi left art school (deliberately leaving before his final assessment), and introduces the motifs that would gain precedence in later pieces. This fascination with the human anatomy would eventually become a common theme throughout Masriadi’s career, with it being said that “[in his paintings] the protagonist [was] the body, the human body [expressing the] make-up, tenor and destination”¹.

Notable artistic influences include Pablo Picasso and Jasper Johns. The former was largely influential on the artist’s break away from Expressionist aesthetics, and deliberate embracement of Cubist-inspired techniques in the paintings. “I think I had been influenced by Picasso all along, who often used dark colors in his paintings. [But] it was not just dark figures. It was [also] an abstract compilation of different inspirations, a bit of Picasso and other sources,” Masriadi said². This creative divorce further highlighted the artist’s disinterest in populist taste within Indonesia during the nineties. Artistic styles such as traditional Balinese art forms and Abstract Expressionism, both championed by local artists and art students alike.

Within this light of artistic influences and principles, it may be said that Professional Contemporary Art is reminiscent of Picasso’s iconic allegorical painting Guernica (Fig. 1), for Masriadi’s work channels the Spanish master’s style of dividing up the composition into miniature vignettes, each scene able to exist in isolation from the greater narrative. Within this painting, women govern the landscape, each one a master of her own universe, independent of her neighbors.

Amidst this setting however, it is curious to note that sensuality has not been used as a plot device. Such is the case with the woman wearing the gas mask. Though her nakedness and red manicure references femininity, within the present context the woman’s charm has been misplaced, for the body is “[shown to be] displaying athleticism, muscularity and [ultimately] maleness”³. Therefore as a male painter, Masriadi may not be inspired by sexuality, but it should be said that it is his gender that fuels the overall artworks.

Paintings like Mr Kapitalis (Mr Capitalist ) (Fig. 2), executed the same year as the present Lot, further emphasizes this fixation with the body, for the artist has transformed his subjects into caricatures of physical greed and waste. Therefore the characters share the responsibility of being both the object of interest, as well as conversely, the object of ridicule in the paintings. However, the audience is not a passive onlooker in these creative relationships. Similar with carnival mirrors, the paintings are exaggerated portrayals of real emotions and behaviors, ultimately reflecting the lives of the public within these self-contained, two-dimensional worlds.

While it was Picasso that had influence upon his painting techniques and styles, it is Jasper Johns who inspired the Indonesian artist’s creative vocabulary. Professional Contemporary Art celebrates the first time in Masriadi’s oeuvre where Superman makes an appearance. Akin with John’s appropriation of the American flag and establishing it as a signature motif in his artworks, Masriadi frequent use of comic book references provides viewers with a set of tools that are universally recognized. Pop Art enabled him to cultivate his interest in commercialism as an art form, and apply this ideology into the paintings. Together with Superman, the later works featured Batman, as well as a bevy of athletes and mobsters, alpha-males who dominated the landscapes with their larger-than-life presence.

Indonesian curator and author Adi Wicaksono once commented upon the artist’s body of works as such: “For me he is special because…Masriadi managed to distance himself from the mythological world [of Bali] that […] seeped into his body and soul to find himself as an individual. He does this by processing visual cues from mass media culture and adding criticism, parody and capitalist irony”⁴. Therefore with this focus on corporeality throughout his career, Masriadi’s paintings as exemplified in Professional Contemporary Art have ultimately transcended the limitations of portraiture as means to analyze the weight of human existence.

 ¹ T.K. Sabapathy, Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring the Body, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2010, pg. 49.

² T.K. Sabapathy, Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring the Body, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2010, pg. 115.

³ T.K. Sabapathy, Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring the Body, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2010, pg. 36.