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Lot Essay
As an artist with a gifted ability to express his spontaneity and energy through his unique artistic style and vision, Affandi is regarded as the founding father of Modern Indonesian Art. Without receiving any formal education in the arts, Affandi taught himself to paint at the age of 27, quickly grasping the fundamentals of painting by observing the rules of anatomical perspective and academic structures, eventually mastering the techniques in depicting lines, shapes and forms. Affandi’s early figurative works in the 1930s and 1940s comprised mostly of self-portraits and portraits of his family, and were stylistically influenced by impressionists such as Edvard Munch and Vincent Van Gogh. Despite this, Affandi developed a distinctive artistic style through his technique of squeezing paint directly from the tube onto the canvas and then smearing the paint with his fingers. This physical, gestural process of painting allowed Affandi to capture the immediacy and spontaneity of emotion felt at the moment of painting.
Affandi’s subsequent body of works became more reflective of his dedication and passion for describing the most rudimentary aspects of everyday life and experiences of the people in Indonesia. In doing so, the artist was particularly fond of depicting these subjects and scenes that enabled him to express the vitality and the significance of life. Naturally, one of the subjects Affandi recurrently painted throughout his artistic career was the traditional Balinese cockfight, also known as tajen.
The Balinese cockfight is an arena of high drama, and one steeped with history and tradition. Despite negative associations of gambling and violence, the ritualised community activity was regarded as a key cornerstone of Balinese life and culture. Understood within local mythology as a ritualistic practice to exorcise evil spirits through the blood sacrifice of the defeated rooster, the cockfight extends itself as a social space where community is disrupted through violence, reformed through camaraderie, and where traditional ideals of Balinese masculinity can be performed. The cockfight was hence the perfect arena for Affandi to explore and capture an instance of heightened emotional and social drama – a unique moment where the true essence of a culture might reveal itself.
The present lot, Man with Cockerel was painted by Affandi in 1964 as part of a decade of great artistic maturity and creativity for the artist. The work captures a contemplative moment of a man holding his rooster in his arms prior to the commencement of the cockfight – where the two sparring roosters will enter into brutal competition. The man’s towering presence is emphasized by Affandi's characteristically deliberate compositional treatment for his single figures, where the figure is framed tightly within the space of the canvas, thereby accentuating his grandeur. The expressive lines surrounding the subject in the background contribute to the full composition of the painting and enhance the emotional quality of the work, enabling the viewer to vicariously experience the tense atmosphere leading up to the competition.
Despite the expectation of physicality and adrenaline of the impending fight, the manner in which the figure stands is remarkably poised and reserved as he emits a calming aura of dignity and pride as he presents his cherished animal. His cockerel mirrors his bold confidence and faith in emerging victorious in the coming fight as its fierce mask, sharp claws, and ostentatious tail feathers show an equal determination and audacity. The bond between man and cockerel can be presumed from the position of the cockerel in relation to the man – where the man holds the rooster closely to his chest, his hands wrapping the body of the cockerel protectively. As a result of Affandi’s signature swirls of paint, the man’s hands and the body of the cockerel are almost indistinguishable from each other, perhaps indicative of inseparable relationship between the two – the cockerel an extension of the man’s self and ego.
Though the thematic subject of the cockfight is constantly revisited when discussing Affandi’s artistic oeuvre , a close meditation of these key actors in the cockfight – man and cockerel – distant from the depiction of the actual fight, is considered rare. Through Man with Cockerel, Affandi offers us an insight into the sophisticated emotions leading up to the competition, and invites the viewer to explore the relationship between man and beast, and the means through which identity and masculinity is perceived and performed in the unique context of Balinese culture.
Affandi’s subsequent body of works became more reflective of his dedication and passion for describing the most rudimentary aspects of everyday life and experiences of the people in Indonesia. In doing so, the artist was particularly fond of depicting these subjects and scenes that enabled him to express the vitality and the significance of life. Naturally, one of the subjects Affandi recurrently painted throughout his artistic career was the traditional Balinese cockfight, also known as tajen.
The Balinese cockfight is an arena of high drama, and one steeped with history and tradition. Despite negative associations of gambling and violence, the ritualised community activity was regarded as a key cornerstone of Balinese life and culture. Understood within local mythology as a ritualistic practice to exorcise evil spirits through the blood sacrifice of the defeated rooster, the cockfight extends itself as a social space where community is disrupted through violence, reformed through camaraderie, and where traditional ideals of Balinese masculinity can be performed. The cockfight was hence the perfect arena for Affandi to explore and capture an instance of heightened emotional and social drama – a unique moment where the true essence of a culture might reveal itself.
The present lot, Man with Cockerel was painted by Affandi in 1964 as part of a decade of great artistic maturity and creativity for the artist. The work captures a contemplative moment of a man holding his rooster in his arms prior to the commencement of the cockfight – where the two sparring roosters will enter into brutal competition. The man’s towering presence is emphasized by Affandi's characteristically deliberate compositional treatment for his single figures, where the figure is framed tightly within the space of the canvas, thereby accentuating his grandeur. The expressive lines surrounding the subject in the background contribute to the full composition of the painting and enhance the emotional quality of the work, enabling the viewer to vicariously experience the tense atmosphere leading up to the competition.
Despite the expectation of physicality and adrenaline of the impending fight, the manner in which the figure stands is remarkably poised and reserved as he emits a calming aura of dignity and pride as he presents his cherished animal. His cockerel mirrors his bold confidence and faith in emerging victorious in the coming fight as its fierce mask, sharp claws, and ostentatious tail feathers show an equal determination and audacity. The bond between man and cockerel can be presumed from the position of the cockerel in relation to the man – where the man holds the rooster closely to his chest, his hands wrapping the body of the cockerel protectively. As a result of Affandi’s signature swirls of paint, the man’s hands and the body of the cockerel are almost indistinguishable from each other, perhaps indicative of inseparable relationship between the two – the cockerel an extension of the man’s self and ego.
Though the thematic subject of the cockfight is constantly revisited when discussing Affandi’s artistic oeuvre , a close meditation of these key actors in the cockfight – man and cockerel – distant from the depiction of the actual fight, is considered rare. Through Man with Cockerel, Affandi offers us an insight into the sophisticated emotions leading up to the competition, and invites the viewer to explore the relationship between man and beast, and the means through which identity and masculinity is perceived and performed in the unique context of Balinese culture.