Sudjana Kerton

Acquired directly from the artist in 1987
Private Collection, USA
Sotheby's Hong Kong, October 6, 2014, Lot 379

The work is in good condition overall. There is evidence of light wear and handling around the edges of the painting. Examination under ultraviolet light shows no sigh of restoration. Framed.
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“Another painting I made titled Public Transport shows an angkutan (minibus) with people packed inside like sardines. No one dares complain. In the background, a policeman is looking for a few thousand rupiahs from a girl: perhaps she does not have proper papers and she is being asked for one or two thousand rupiahs. Writing in the newspaper Kompas in 1984, one critic, Agus Darmawan, claimed that I was ‘exploiting poverty’ but in fact what I did was the opposite because I saw this sort of thing happening almost every day in Indonesia, and my paintings only portray what I see, without anything beingadded.” -- Sudjana Kerton

Sudjana Kerton’s passion for painting is largely inspired by three key phases in his life that had a lasting influence upon his artistic paradigm: his patriotic ideology, the exposure to Western art, and witnessing Indonesia’s embracement of modernization. Like any artist who had firsthand experience with the transition from the colonial era to Independence –his choice of artistic expression is to depict the daily lives of ordinary people and to explore the complexity of social interaction in a humorous and playful manner.

Kerton’s landmark journey to Mexico in 1963 caused a dynamic shift in his artistic expression, as he found affinity to the country’s history of colonialism and the struggle for true independence. “During his visit to Mexico Sudjana’s colours exploded into a tropical intensity and richness, the human figure returned as the most important form to be explored expressively, set against a contrasting background, and the desire to return home to Indonesia which had never left him seemed to increase in intensity.”[i] Completed in 1984, Angkun Umum (Public Transportation) is a vivacious and ironical painting encapsulating the comical spirit of an absurdly crowded minibus, while also showing the policeman’s complete neglection of the urgent situation. The deliberate flattening of the pictorial space is typical of Kerton’s aesthetics. Observing the scene from above, the unique perspective adds to the story-telling quality of this work. Moreover, the jam-packed bus emitting fumes in the air challenges the very idea of modern transportation; while the farmers juxtaposing the citizens in contemporary attire signify the increasing visibility of class differentiation in Indonesia. Perhaps, Kerton is considering the pressing question of technology versus a more simple and idyllic way of life.

¹Astri Wright, Sudjana Kerton: A Pioneer of Transnationalist Identity, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Indonesia, 1966, p. 9

¹Astri Wright, Sudjana Kerton: A Pioneer of Transnationalist Identity, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Indonesia, 1966, p. 9