TEMPO NO. 35/XXIX/October 29 - 5 November, 2000

Candid Lust
I. Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih's exhibition
of paintings mocks intellectualism

by Nirwan Dewanto

Extending without proportion, a pair of ocher breasts looks elastic like a rubber toy or taffy. We may feel frightened and horrified upon first seeing this, but then we will smile: upon each breast is a yellow and light-green watch. The title is unusual: Wow, Bologna. A pair of towers she saw in this Italian city must have inspired the artist.

A double association: breasts are the image of towers, hands or just any object. The same is true of genitals, feet, hands and heads in Murniasih's other works exhibited at Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, from October 13 until the end of last week. These parts of the body, which are usually treated seriously, are handled in an innocently playful, almost childish, manner. Murni (her more popular name) diligently records her own sexual fantasies and experiences almost automatically. Her titles are funny, such as Mengertilah About Me (Please Understand Me) or Enjoy di Angkasa (Have Fun in the Sky). She also prints comments on the works, for example Saya Sedang Action Bugil (I'm in Action, Naked), Murni Exien (Murni in Action) or Hidupku Terasa tidak Komplet tanpa Masturbasi (My Life feels Incomplete without Masturbation), Menikmati Sendiri (Enjoying Myself).

Murni has no problem about exposing herself. Mocking her own ego, she differs from other female painters like Frida Kahlo or Lucia Hartini, who are weighed down by seriousness and burdened with psychoanalysis or mysticism of sorts. In Murni Exien, for instance, a naked woman squats on a table, seemingly in the center of a stage before a half-raised curtain. A long lizard-like creature thrusts itself into her vulva or anus from behind. Her vulva is directly exposed, just like a pose in Penthouse magazine. It looks funny instead of arousing lust as her thighs swell and torso turns into an animal of sorts (Antara Benci dan Rindu and Hati yang Sepi 2 = Between Hatred and Longing and a Lonely Heart 2). There are also various scenes of strange masturbation, like licking one's own breast or vulva (Bikin Kesenangan and Hati yang Sepi 1 = Create Fun and a Lonely Heart 1).

Meanwhile, a headless body leads to mixed associations. Looking like a penis with legs, it may scoff at intellectualism. However, it also implies a trauma being overcome: look, her breasts shed tears (Saya Sangat Susah = I’m So Difficult), or scissors almost cut her flat back (My Sepatu = My Shoes).

Several figures that Murni, born in Ubud in 1966, has created resemble cartoons. The face of a naked man ready for sex in Bermimpi 2 (Dreaming 2) looks like that of Bart Simpson. Her own portrait in Murni Exien resembles a half-flat plastic doll.

The only characteristic of Balinese painting left in Murni's works is a strong black sweep squeezed by gray or dark-colored silhouettes. Like her master, I Dewa Putu Mokoh, who deviates from the Pengosekan 'school', Murni spreads bright, almost transparent acrylic on the figures and the background: blue, green, crimson and ocher. Unlike crowded and multi-focused Balinese paintings with endlessly repeated motifs and subjects, Murniís canvases (and also Mokohís) are quiet and empty, allowing the main focus to be noticeable. The two have detached themselves from general themes, such as natural scenery, mythology, rites, flora and fauna, to expose 'whatever we like'.

This emptiness feels deeper as, upon closer observation, Murni's figures look as if they are levitating or floating, or at least stepping without perspective. The significance of 'oneself', free from the bonds of tradition though humor and jokes is stressed and accentuates a rude teasing attitude rather than heroic resistance, against patriarchy, for example. Take a look at a woman masturbating with the tip of her toe (Menikmati Sendiri) or a small jagged dagger thrust into the gap between plump thighs (Trauma 2).

Eroticism, or even sadomasochism, is not new in the treasury of Balinese paintings. We remember, for example, I. Gusti Nyoman Lempad, Ida Bagus Ketut Sunia, I. Made Budi and Mokoh, who portray coitus and even an orgy. These male painters have only secretly explored this theme, but Murni has examined it openly. The youngest of 10 in a farmer's family, with only an elementary school education, the lust of her subjects is outstanding, hitting the politeness of the nobility and bourgeoisie.

And if the sea of Murni's lust weighs you down, there remains a gap allowing you to breathe. Several times, Murni has painted high-heeled shoes with the calves metamorphosing into, for example, the supporting poles of a knocked-down movie screen. Saya Bahagia Sekali Hari Itu ( I Was Very Happy That Day) or the trunk of a banana tree with breasts (Tragedi 11 Maret = The March 11 Tragedy). She has also painted an angry cat, a self-contented heron, levitating house, frog wearing a sarong and a crab dragging a mask -- objects perhaps signifying that eroticism is not always meaningful and liberating. Murni's 100 paintings -- from 1994-2000 -- displayed in this exhibition are indeed rather monotonous but we learn from them that the body is not necessarily tied to anatomy, psychology and gravity. Also, particularly, to sins.