“My greatest fear is to be defined as a certain type of painter”
~ Bayu Utomo Radjikin ~
THE relentless interrogation on the value of art - that philosophical contemplation on how art is valued from different perspectives; its psychological features, whether religious, economic or curative is entirely up to the viewer, to the collector, to the rest of the world.
An artist produces work which value is distinctive, they all possess essence.
One thing is pivotal – you must become acquainted with the work, really interrogate it to determine its worth, not necessarily in monetary terms but the ‘meat’, spirit and nature of it.
It is a personal relationship, akin to a first date, touching someone for the first time, making love afterwards or ditching it entirely if one is inclined to do so.
These thoughts flooded upon walking into HOM (House of Matahati) Art Trans, the gallery owned by Bayu Utomo Radjikin.
Kelopak Rasa comprises 19 works on flowers.
For those who are unfamiliar with Bayu, he is the Prince of figurative paintings. His works are coveted. Every time Bayu presents an exhibition, collectors and fans throng, eager to ‘consume’ his paintings.
The walls are stark, the paintings are done on a much smaller scale than what the artist has previously produced; but anything larger would take away the mood and feeling these works evoke.
Bayu says, “After so much of producing figurative work, I wanted to ‘escape’ a little, find another angle and perspective to my existing repertoire.
“Kelopak Rasa is a kind of anti-thesis. It is not meant to shock people, or maybe it is. There are many sides of me. The idea of Kelopak Rasa came from somewhere so deep in my subconscious.
“A long, long time ago, my friends and I travelled across Europe, mostly by train. Looking outside the window, I was entranced by the amount of flora, that veritable cornucopia of flowers.
“I visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, which fuelled my imagination. I boxed these images and placed them in my head’s library. For years I wanted to take that box out, dust off the lid, open it and re-explore its contents. And so I did.”
This is not the artist’s first attempt at “running away” from figurative works. He did submit a few works on flowers for a fund-raiser group show for Sisters in Islam (SII) at Cult Gallery, Bukit Tunku in 2017. The exhibition did not garner wide publicity, so few have heard of it.
And here is another interesting part: Bayu did three paintings on Hearts: Heart I, II and III in 2000, all displayed side by side on a wall in his office. These works are a part of his personal collection.
These hearts, channeling the reluctant Pop icon Jim Dine are extraordinary. Dine’s repertoire is more subdued, whereas Bayu’s depiction is something out of a science fiction film. His hearts shed blood with corrugated lines, the colours hemorrhage.
There is a sharply-curved xanthous crescent in Heart II, and in Heart I and III, there are rugged hits of scintillating red, sapphire and splotches of ivory – representing a broken world.
Bayu was founder of the Matahati Collective, which he established in 1989 along with Ahmad Fuad Osman, Masnoor Ramli, Hamir Soib@Mohamed, HaKamal Ariffin Kamisan and Soraya Yusof Talisman.
From there, each one made a name for themselves, and Bayu named his gallery in tribute of the group.
Kelopak Rasa is a collection of works which are not particular types of blooms, although they do resemble lilies, dahlias, roses and any kind of flower one can think of.
These depictions are fictional: the exhibition is NOT about flowers, they represent a struggle, the stubbornness to survive despite and in spite of the most extreme of conditions.
The artist muses, “I want to portray the beauty of flowers, but not in the form of still-life. The idea here is to symbolise the cycle of life, that beauty is seen everywhere.
“It is both suggestive and subjective – these are imaginative flowers, though they might resemble actual ones. It is entirely up to the viewer to decide.
“Kelopak Rasa can be interpreted as ‘blooming fields’, they grow and thrive. When their time is up, they do not really perish. They make way for new ones to emerge, and this continuation is a process I find ‘unrivalled’.
“My previous works on abstract were inundated with so much colour, but this time, I want the works to be gestural, to show the actual form without the distraction of colours. I want viewers to focus on movement, the sway of my subject, and that can only be achieved with the use of a single or minimal hue.
“In the beginning, I felt restricted because there is not much to ‘play’ with. After a while, I felt free and everything flowed naturally.
“Red is a bold colour, it has strong connotations. This pandemic, I do not want to be reminded of it all the time. Kelopak Rasa perhaps, is my way of providing relief, of telling people not to forget about hope and faith.”
The paintings are red on black, black on red, white on black, and black on white. They are strangely-erotic, and seriously sensual.
Bayu’s theorisation is quite the eye-opener – and though many may debate this, Kelopak Rasa expresses affliction, sadness, fear, playfulness, merriment, but most of all, the paintings convey a sense of peace of mind.
These statements are contradictory, but for reasons mysterious, they are complementary.
Artists are consumed by their subject matter, and what he perceives can become something completely opposite of what is intended. Loyal collectors of Bayu’s paintings may be in store for a surprise here. A good one. A much needed one.
Kelopak Rasa is a psychotropic trip – it is the transference of the artist’s experience to the audience, and in this particular instance, a deeply compelling one.
Bayu has come to a stage in his life where he does not give a hoot about what anyone thinks: he does what he wants, he does it outrageously, and that fearlessness is what makes Bayu, Bayu.
For those who have missed the exhibition, a virtual version of Kelopak Rasa is in the works, and we hope to see it soon.
In the midst of speaking with Bayu, my mind travelled to a recent time where I was working on a project to collate writings of the late Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim. This work takes place in his home. Puan Sri Rathi Khoo recently celebrated a birthday, and the table was filled with blooms, gifts from family and friends.
She looked at them intently, and quietly said, "They die so quickly."
Kelopak Rasa highlights one of the greatest engagements of Bayu Utomo Radjikin’s colossal and fertile career, with a bewitching abandonment of the norm that implores us to look beyond the familiar. – The Vibes, January 17, 2021
HOM Art Trans
6A Jalan Cempaka 16,
Taman Cempaka,
68000 Ampang Selangor,
Malaysia
+6 012 373 6004 (Mobile)
Gallery Hours:
Mon - Fri 11am - 6pm
By appointment on Saturday
Closed on Sundays & Public Holidays
