Sidharta FIne Art Auction 27 May 2018 | Arifien's Early Artworks (lots #142 - 145)

Arifien, or Neif (as he is known to his close friends), was born in 1955 in Surabaya. He has developed a keen interest in drawing since he was young and has been winning many art competitions ever since. He moved to Jakarta in 1974 and struggled to make a living through various jobs before becoming an artist, from a construction worker, restaurant waiter, to interior design assistant and advertising worker. With the wages he earned, he bought art supplies and continued his passion in the arts.

As a self-taught painter, Arifien absorbed various artistic influences from international as well as local painters. He admitted being influenced by Picasso, Matisse, and Affandi. To many, Arifien’s style is recognized as Fauvism, with simplified details and distorted subjects. Although he has been compared to many famous Western artists, Arifien managed to develop his own, Indonesian style of painting.

Arifien is an expressive painter. While he is well known for his vibrant, celebrative scenes of modern humans in his later works, his earlier works apparently captured a more emotional (lot #142) and calmer side of life (lots #143-144). He also had a chance to explore other subjects such as animals, in his 3-panel piece that decorated the walls of White Rabbit Restaurant, Pondok Indah Mall in the 1990s (lot #145).

Lot 142, Percayalah

Lot 143, Taman Perawan

Lot 144, Tuti

Lot 145, White Rabbits

Sidharta FIne Art Auction 27 May 2018 | The Versatility of Nyoman Gunarsa (lots #121 - 124)

Nyoman Gunarsa was born in Klungkung, Bali in 1944. He grew up in the Kamasan tradition, an older tradition that flourished in the Klungkung courts in the 17th century, far from the newer Ubud and Batuan traditions which were popular on the island at that time. Instead of developing his artistic style in the region, he left for Yogyakarta after completing junior high school to enroll in the Indonesian Fine Arts Academy (ASRI). There, he studied under Abas Alibasyah, Widayat and Fajar Sidik and became an instructor at the academy after his graduation.

His career skyrocketed ever since. He received Best Painting Award at the National Biennial Exhibition in 1978 and 1980 and participated in numerous international exhibitions in Japan, Europe, and the United States. His paintings are displayed in many museum collections around the world. The prolific painter also established his own museums, The Nyoman Gunarsa Indonesian Contemporary Painting Museum in Yogyakarta and The Classical Balinese Painting Museum in Klungkung, Bali. For his efforts in developing and preserving the visual arts, he received the Dharma Kusuma Award from the Balinese Government in 1995.

Nyoman Gunarsa’s paintings are highly expressive and dynamic. He is well known for his flamboyant, energetic twist on the elements of Balinese iconography, costumes, and ceremonies. His canvas resembles the energy of Balinese gamelan orchestra, where the brushstrokes seem to portray rhythm in the painting, while the colors that he use appear to represent the different types of musical instruments.

Lot 121, Gadis Meniup Seruling

Lot 122, Ngaben

Lot 123, Opening Ceremony

Lot 124, Balinese Offering

Sidharta FIne Art Auction 27 May 2018 | The Other Side of Abas Alibasjah (lots #019 - 022)

Lot 019, Sketsa 

Abas Alibasjah was known as the most senior abstract artist in his generation. He has started drawing while he was studying at Holandsche Inlandsche School. He decided to develop his artistic pursuit as a painter after his encounter with Barli Sasmitawinata, Hendra Gunawan, Sudjana Kerton, and Affandi at Keimin Bunka Sidhoso, a cultural institution formed by the Japanese government in Bandung. He became a student at the Indonesian Fine Arts Academy (ASRI) before he left to study in the Netherlands to become an internationally-acclaimed artist and art educator.

From the 1960s to early 1970s, together with other artists from the Jogja school, Alibasjah applied the modern idea of simplification through geometric and abstraction approach in his paintings, which later became a style he is well known of. Although he is well known for his oil paintings, Alibasjah did explore other media and techniques to express his artistic creation. For example, in Sketsa (lot #019), you will see pencil sketches of his signature surrealistic, distorted figures in forms, dating from the years 1966, 1983, and 2010. You will also find his experimentation with Batik technique in Abstract, Untitled, and The Dragon (lots #020-022), his 1977 fusion works that combine modern surrealist-abstract expression with the timeless beauty of the traditional wax-resist dyeing technique.

Lot 020, Abstract

Lot 021, Untitled

Lot 022, The Dragon