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Lot Essay
"I am just a village boy, who has grown up surrounded by splendid nature and agrarian life. This land is a community of stunning vistas of undulating green foothills covered with rice paddies, all of which is crystallized in the beauty of my painting: the beauty of the agrarian life" - Hendra Gunawan
What vibrant colours can one’s mind radiate, when one’s body is in prison? In 1965, Gunawan was mired in political conflicts that led to his imprisonment for 12 years. Whilst in jail, he met his future wife Nuraeni Hendra, who inspired Gunawan to incorporate otherworldly colours into his works. Compared with the dark and gloomy hues of his earlier paintings, the imprisoned Gunawan ironically became much freer and bold in his use of colours. With his uncaged imagination and passion for nature and his country folks, Gunawan created some of his most iconic works during this period behind bars.
Panen Padi (Rice Harvest) (Lot 15) , was painted in the tenth year of Gunawan’s imprisonment, and in it he shows off his mastery over composition and the use of colour. In the painting, sapphire mountain ranges contrast against the emerald skies, while the girl’s bright ruby top and dark skin complement the maroon earth; much like the landscape works of Fauvist painter André Derain, viewers can get from these works an impression of how a child’s wide-eyed innocence might conceive of the majesty of nature. However, unlike Derain’s oil paintings where the pigment is thickly layered directly atop the canvas, Gunawan’s vista gives one a better sense of the differing temperatures and textures of the dew drops, morning haze, tropical greenery, and muddy earth as well. By diluting the oil paint, Gunawan gives the faraway mountains an exceptional sense of moisture and clarity, as though one were amidst Indonesia’s tropic climate; foreground details such as the people and trees, on the other hand, are traced with much denser paints. A similar technique was applied in Zhang Daqian’s legendary splash-colour paintings, where mountains and waterfalls were rendered with colourful splashed ink, while nearby subjects were drawn with careful fine strokes, creating a playful rhythm with the varying textures in paint.
From the grand expansive spaces to the nuanced character details, Panen Padi guides the viewers’ eyes to roam across the valley: much like Bruegel’s works, the artist has hidden throughout the canvas countless little details, telling numerous sub-storylines. At first glance, one might be drawn in by the sweeping and vibrant landscape and be immersed in Indonesia’s tranquil terrain; then the eye follows the mountain streams to fall onto the characters in the fore – the woman on the left weighed down by the harvest and a child, her body bent over from the load, yet her steely gaze is fixed towards her goal, and her strong legs propel her forward. Interestingly, Gunawan put the three women on different levels, and drew them with different levels of detail to suggest their different distances, in effect creating a unique and dynamic hiking scene. The woman in the middle seems to be headed upwards, but still turns around towards her companion below. The hardship of trudging on the mountain, the love and care among the villagers, all of that is rendered through the simple interactions between the three subjects. There are further details too: farther to the left, villagers dance and rejoice for the harvest; green papayas ripen on the tree; and in the distant lower right, a procession of villagers carrying the harvest can be seen filing towards the village. Through carefully composing the near, medium, and faraway scenes, the painting captures an array of lively snapshots of rural village life.
Gunawan once said that whenever he paints, he would feel as if he were in heaven, and in his works, viewers can feel that unbridled passion through his swerving brushstrokes. Gunawan is very attached to traditional Indonesian dances and wood puppet play, and the painting’s snaking lines, raucous treetops, or women’s supple bodies all evoke images of the graceful movements of Sundanese dancers. Despite his imprisonment, Gunawan’s deep love for his people and nature never wavered. In that light, Panen Padi is his ode to the Indonesian people and their traditional ways of life.
What vibrant colours can one’s mind radiate, when one’s body is in prison? In 1965, Gunawan was mired in political conflicts that led to his imprisonment for 12 years. Whilst in jail, he met his future wife Nuraeni Hendra, who inspired Gunawan to incorporate otherworldly colours into his works. Compared with the dark and gloomy hues of his earlier paintings, the imprisoned Gunawan ironically became much freer and bold in his use of colours. With his uncaged imagination and passion for nature and his country folks, Gunawan created some of his most iconic works during this period behind bars.
Panen Padi (Rice Harvest) (Lot 15) , was painted in the tenth year of Gunawan’s imprisonment, and in it he shows off his mastery over composition and the use of colour. In the painting, sapphire mountain ranges contrast against the emerald skies, while the girl’s bright ruby top and dark skin complement the maroon earth; much like the landscape works of Fauvist painter André Derain, viewers can get from these works an impression of how a child’s wide-eyed innocence might conceive of the majesty of nature. However, unlike Derain’s oil paintings where the pigment is thickly layered directly atop the canvas, Gunawan’s vista gives one a better sense of the differing temperatures and textures of the dew drops, morning haze, tropical greenery, and muddy earth as well. By diluting the oil paint, Gunawan gives the faraway mountains an exceptional sense of moisture and clarity, as though one were amidst Indonesia’s tropic climate; foreground details such as the people and trees, on the other hand, are traced with much denser paints. A similar technique was applied in Zhang Daqian’s legendary splash-colour paintings, where mountains and waterfalls were rendered with colourful splashed ink, while nearby subjects were drawn with careful fine strokes, creating a playful rhythm with the varying textures in paint.
From the grand expansive spaces to the nuanced character details, Panen Padi guides the viewers’ eyes to roam across the valley: much like Bruegel’s works, the artist has hidden throughout the canvas countless little details, telling numerous sub-storylines. At first glance, one might be drawn in by the sweeping and vibrant landscape and be immersed in Indonesia’s tranquil terrain; then the eye follows the mountain streams to fall onto the characters in the fore – the woman on the left weighed down by the harvest and a child, her body bent over from the load, yet her steely gaze is fixed towards her goal, and her strong legs propel her forward. Interestingly, Gunawan put the three women on different levels, and drew them with different levels of detail to suggest their different distances, in effect creating a unique and dynamic hiking scene. The woman in the middle seems to be headed upwards, but still turns around towards her companion below. The hardship of trudging on the mountain, the love and care among the villagers, all of that is rendered through the simple interactions between the three subjects. There are further details too: farther to the left, villagers dance and rejoice for the harvest; green papayas ripen on the tree; and in the distant lower right, a procession of villagers carrying the harvest can be seen filing towards the village. Through carefully composing the near, medium, and faraway scenes, the painting captures an array of lively snapshots of rural village life.
Gunawan once said that whenever he paints, he would feel as if he were in heaven, and in his works, viewers can feel that unbridled passion through his swerving brushstrokes. Gunawan is very attached to traditional Indonesian dances and wood puppet play, and the painting’s snaking lines, raucous treetops, or women’s supple bodies all evoke images of the graceful movements of Sundanese dancers. Despite his imprisonment, Gunawan’s deep love for his people and nature never wavered. In that light, Panen Padi is his ode to the Indonesian people and their traditional ways of life.