Development of Indonesian Art in 20th Century

Epic Poem of Malaya is painted during the decolonisation period whereby the “Malayan culture” was developing to gain independence from the colonial rule. To my understanding of Chua, his conviction as an artist to paint realistically is because he believes that art should reflect life and not just documenting what an artist sees but to convey through the canvas to bring out the beauty to their audiences.

In this painting, Chua painted a scenery of an open field with people gathering around a man who was reading a book of poem. I believe that it is a way to unite the society by sharing poems, making art more accessible to people by bringing it to them. Taking a closer look, I noticed that a man sitting at the back, covering his face with his hand and some looking shocked, I believe that they realised the heightened sense of political and social awareness in the Malaya. I also noticed that a fly stopped on the arm of the man sitting on the bottom right of the painting and he didn’t seem to mind that the fly on his arm. I believe that he was being so absorbed into listening and was not aware that the fly stopped on his arm. In conclusion, I feel like Chua have successfully send the message of bringing people together to change the society through art with the exceptional details of his painting, showing the living conditions of everyday life back then.

The New Order of President Suharto between 1965 to 19981 forced artists to stop producing any artworks based on any political issues. Working with everyday objects, FX Harsono hope to send the message across to people about the social issues in Indonesia and challenged the arts institutions of using a different medium which was.

Despite the fact that Arts in Indonesia was being depoliticized by President Suharto, FX Harsono went on and made a risky endeavour to put political issues in his artwork and proved that art has to be engaged with social and political issues frequently. As the artwork showed that the rifle is being stored in the wooden crate and sealed with the wire mesh on the outside, it is to show the power that the indonesian military had, at all walks of life and to show domination over their citizens with the weapon. In my opinion, FX Harsono artwork on Paling Top reminded us about the history of Indonesia through his artwork and as much as it is like other more popular art medium used, it is also a good way of documenting history through objects that can be found in the military though they might not be exactly the same like the rifle.

The New Order of President Suharto between 1965 to 1998” (Jessop). “challenged the arts institutions of using a different medium which was considered less conventional so as to not restrict an artist from their artistic needs and abilities. ”

Wu Guanzhong’s art is influenced by many great artists, to name a few, Paul Cezanne, Maurice Utrillo and Vincent Van Gogh. 2Looking at the artwork, unlike traditional Chinese art work which was more poetic than a aesthetic visual element, it gives me an impression that Wu Guanzhong has a painting style of Post-Impressionism. Similar to leading artists such as Paul Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh, who believed that they should explore from the Impressionism style and allow preoccupations with technique and the effects of natural light to over overshadow the importance of subject matter, using more artificial colour palette to make it more symbolic and create emotional and aesthetical bearer of meaning. 3In conclusion, Wu Guanzhong’s artwork on Bamboo is a work of impression of bamboos he saw and with a variety of mediums used to create a less poetic subject imagination like traditional Chinese art form and made it into an aesthetic visual artwork.