City of Angels, Plains of Dust
JENGGALA GALLERY presents an exhibition of photography from the works of Rio Helmi from June 15 through September 7 daily from 9am to 6pm. City of Angels, Plains of Dust is a series of images that came about on an assignment for a book about Thailand called 9 Days in the Kingdom, organized by the publisher Editions Didier Millet. Fifty odd photographers were sent to different parts of Thailand and Rio drew Isaan, one of the poorest parts of Thailand most famous for exporting cheap labor and for people more desperate to better their lot in life than anything else.
The contrast to Bangkok, the city of the angels with all its glitter and chaos, could hardly be more striking. Isaan was dry and arid. The earth was hard, but surprisingly the people were not. The city of Khon Kaen, site of one of Thailand's biggest university campuses, highlighted these contrasts.
Throbbing discos in the town's two lonely "high rises", cartloads of fried insects in the night market, lines of begging monks threading their way silently through the city, an unusually high percentages of foreign men with local wives, brand new Japanese luxury cars, sprawling garbage recycling dumps – all this in the middle of vast fields of dusty crops, skinny cows, unending sugarcane fields, and poor farmers scratching what they could out of the recalcitrant earth.
He then hopped a flight to Angkor, once the biggest city in the world. It had its fair share of history with its southern neighbor - hence the name Siam Reap. Here all the glory and bustle of the past lies in dust and ruins, a reminder of our mortality. Being there put his whirlwind trip through Thailand into perspective.
Born in Europe in 1954 to an Indonesian diplomat father and a Turkish mother, Rio's childhood and youth were spent living in the various countries where his father was posted: Switzerland, Australia, and Germany as well as visiting many countries in Europe and Asia. After finishing school, more voyages lay in store: Rio traveled across Asia on land, and lived in India for a year. After several years in Australia where a childhood interest in photography was rekindled, Rio moved back to Bali, Indonesia in 1978.
Rio has been capturing images of Asia since 1978, constantly adding to a richly textured portfolio that celebrates the region's people and places, contemporary lifestyle and Mahayana Buddhism. Now one of Asia's leading photographers, his work is often seen in books, magazines and documentaries. Shows of Rio's still photography have been held in Bali, Jakarta, Madrid, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Sydney.
From 1978 to 1983, Rio worked as a photographer/writer and associate editor in the Indonesian media (Bali Post, Mutiara, Sinar Harapan). Most of the stories focused on isolated ethnic groups/remote tribes around the Indonesian archipelago.
From 1983, Rio has freelanced for many regional and international magazines (Asiaweek, Geo, Harper's Bazaar, New York Times, Seven Seas, Tempo, Vogue and others) as well as provided commercial material for a wide range of clients (aerials, hotels, fashion, industry, etc.) including the Aman group, Bulgari, Hyatt International, and Ritz Carlton to name but a few.
Since the late '80s, Rio has become involved in book publishing. He has worked as photographer, coordinator and/or publisher on many joint projects throughout Asia including Brunei, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. These include amongst others:
• Borobudur, A Prayer in Stone (Times Ed., Singapore)
• Malaysia, Heart of SouthEast Asia (Ed. Didier Millet, Singapore)
• Offerings, the Ritual Art of Bali (INI, Bali)
• Bali Style [Sole Photographer] (Thames & Hudson, Times Ed., Singapore)
• River of Gems, A Borneo Journal [Sole Photographer] (INI, Bali).
Exhibitions of his personal work have been held in Bali, Jakarta, Madrid, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Sydney, and he has a gallery in Ubud, Bali exhibiting his private work. www.riohelmi.com
Jenggala
Jl. Uluwatu II, Jimbaran, (0361) 703-311
www.jenggala-bali.com |
Terra Incognita
TERRA INCOGNITA, a photography exhibition by Darwis Triadi, is open at Ganesha Gallery of the Four Seasons Resort in Jimbaran, through July 26.
Although Darwis Triadi is better known as one of Indonesia's top fashion photographers, this exhibition reveals he is also a talented artist. Originally trained as a commercial pilot, Triadi's career begin in the early 1980s when he burst onto Jakarta's budding fashion scene. A convinced autodidact, his stubborn self-assurance and new ideas, unfettered by precedent and combined with great energy, quickly saw him rise to the top in the matter of only a few years.
In spite of his enormous success and love of fashion photography, he still needed to explore new creative avenues. These brought him to portraiture, and once again in a matter of only a few years he was in demand as one of the most talented portraitists of his generation and founded his own school of photography in 2002.
In the early 1990s Triadi 'discovered' the black and white photography of early photo artists like Edward Steichen. In particular he was mesmerized by the stark beauty of their female portraits that stood out in contrast against the glamour and artifice of fashion work. Inspired, he began shooting images of female nudes with only the basics – the subject, the camera, the photographer and light. The results were powerful but lyrical images honoring female beauty, not as ethereal goddesses but human beings.
In Terra Incognita Triadi has gone one step further by casting his subjects amidst the natural splendor of Central Java's nature and its ancient Hindu-Buddhist temples. He has also brought a new twist using digital infrared cameras. Although infrared photography has been known and used for many years, until recently it usually brought haphazard results.
The unique side of black and white infrared photography is that while most of the image appears normal, all greens especially foliage, attains a brilliant luminosity as if glowing from within. In Terra Incognita, Triadi experiments with this new world by posing his models among ruins and the impressive roots of a banyan tree. Extraordinarily all elements of his photos, the models, the landscapes and the buildings in this are perfectly at ease and natural. The juxtaposition of real and unreal is thought provoking and meditative. The results also show yet another side of this dynamic artist known for taking chances and winning. Ganesha Gallery
Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay, (0361) 701-010
www.fourseasons.com/jimbaranbay |
Action and Balance
ALILA UBUD GALLERY presents a sculpture exhibition by Antonius Kho through August 10. This time Antonius Kho exhibits his newest sculptures, the results of two recent years of creative effort. Previously his works were dominantly wooden, but the recent years have seen his incorporation of stone.
His sculptures are always brilliantly colored due to his initial artistic life as a painter. The theme of his latest exhibition at Alila Ubud Gallery is 'Action'. The human figures surrounding him, with all the different actions and characters that he humorously, and sometimes satirically, expresses into his works, are in motion and balance.
Balance in life to him is absolute in all aspects, nature, environment, and attitude and spiritual.
Antonius Kho presents 40 of his works in this exhibition. Meanwhile, Wina (Widuri & Sena) Gallery, dedicated to his daughter and son, is situated on Jl. Raya Sanggingan about 200 meters north of Neka Museum. The gallery currently hosts 'artist in residence', a program arranged in collaboration with some other galleries in Java, "If there is chance, I would also like to have foreign artists work together with locals in this residence program," says Antonius Kho.
Alila Ubud
Desa Melinggih Kelod, Payangan, Gianyar, (0361) 975-963
www.alilahotels.com
WINA - Widuri & Sena Gallery
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud, (0361) 978-008
www.antoniuskho.com |
