Hendra Gunawan

The work is in good condition overall. There is evidence of minor wear and handling around the edges of the work, along with media accretion located on the bottom right corner. Upon close observation, there is evidence of scattered craquelures predominantly on the face and limbs of the central figure.The white clouds on the lower right margin appear slightly dirty. There is evidence of a gentle undulation near the center of the canvas. Examination under ultraviolet light shows no sign of restoration.
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Hendra Gunawan’s oeuvre is a vibrant display of local village life that provides a voice for the everyman whose lives were captured in his paintings. The present work Topeng Dancer is a classic piece by the artist. It is a study of a Topeng dance, as well as the artist’s imaginative observation of the human relationships unfolding amidst the performance. Hendra greatly favoured figurative works, and many of his paintings are vivid portrayals of individuals engaging with one another, demonstrating how Gunawan found joy in capturing the essence of village life and realities within compositions.

Topeng Dancer contains all the hallmarks that defined Gunawan’s body of work. The painting is a bold and dynamic depiction of dancers in mid performance, the sheer energy and force of their dancing evident in their poses and facial expressions. The Topeng dance is much revered throughout Indonesia, and there are various forms performed around the archipelago. A single entertainer is tasked with wearing multiple masks, each one a separate character with a part to play. While men and women are able to partake in the dance, it is a curious detail that Hendra has chosen to have the painting feature two women performers.

Gunawan’s style is characterized by his unabashed love of bright colors, using them in copious layers to elevate everyday scenes and figures. This core visual inspiration was said to have come from Gunawan’s appreciation for the outdoors, sparked during several excursions in his youth where he observed fish with multitudinous colors and landscapes that encompassed both brightness and darkness. In Topeng Dancer, Gunawan features a wide ranging palette of iridescent colors, immortalizing the already exaggerated nature of the dance, rendering it fantastical.

As a revolutionary artist, many of his paintings were dedicated to the country of Indonesia, emphasizing his nationalistic ideologies. Inspired by his mother Raden Odah Telangingsih, women are a popular motif throughout his paintings, celebrated for their roles as mothers and wives, as undeniably important parts of Indonesian society. Topeng Dancer follows in this vein, as the women are the full force in the painting, inspiring the artist to render their likeness in the artwork.

Topeng Dancer exemplifies all of Gunawan’s trademark artistic choices and subject matter, glowing with color and subtly boasting about the beauty in daily life on the archipelago of Indonesia. It also celebrates the art of the Topeng dance itself, creating a sense of spectatorship in the viewer, engaging them in a visual experience that is hard to look away from.