Tri Vivi Suryani- Inanimate materials are the usual media used by artists to portray their ideas, but fine artist I Gede Merta chooses living organisms for his artistic expressions and for that he has made a name for himself among Indonesia's fine art enthusiasts.
Merta is highly skilled in transforming a unique tropical plant, adenium, into art pieces of high value. In his hand the desert-rose species is sculpted into works of creation.
It was impressive to see the modest and hospitable artist at work at Paras Bali. His nursery is located in the Hayam Wuruk area, Denpasar, where his art pieces are also on display.
Born in Karangasem, eastern Bali, Merta recalled the first time he had seen adenium, locally known as kamboja jepang, at an exhibition in Situbondo, East Java, in 2006.
Out of amazement and affection for its stem's exotic shapes, Pakde, as this painter, woodcarver and sculptor is commonly called, began to entertain his desire to use this plant as an artistic medium. For this purpose, the sturdy man set off to all parts of Bali to hunt for adenium and to gather its unique trunks. His efforts have been rewarded, as he has a wide range of phenomenal pieces in human, animal and other forms.
The 42-year-old uses the subspecies adenium obesum for his creations because of its bigger, swollen trunk sizes and abundant supply. The plant stems must be healthy and have the necessary elements for them to be crafted into the desired figures. For example, if the image of a man is to be created, the base of the chosen desert-rose should be complete with its body, head, arm and leg forms.
Pakde categorized adenium into several classes. The first group has bulging stems that offer a lifelike character for artistic expression. The second is incomplete in anatomical structure, giving the impression of an object, such as a monkey figure with only one arm. The third is anatomically beyond representation.
"The difficulty in processing adenium stems into objects of art involves not only the cutting but also the sorting of trunks to find the shapes required. Once I sorted over 300 desert-rose trunks and none of them met the criteria for human images," Padke said, who is also a law graduate of Saraswati University, Denpasar.
It takes quite some time to turn unique adenium stems into exquisite figures. The problem is that after cutting, sufficient time must be allowed for the plant's recovery. A hasty process bears the risk of the plant rotting, which Pakde experienced when he was crafting a lizard. As the time he allowed between the first cutting and the next was too short, his adenium died. In fact, he had already spent seven months on what he calls the plant's training period.
As a natural artist, Pakde is highly talented, creating valuable works of art. However, while before he only used inanimate materials such as wood, canvas or stone to portray his ideas, he is now dealing with a living medium and like other beings, it involves some emotional handling.
To prevent shaped adenium stems from decaying, Pakde grows desert-roses in a blend of goat dung, volcanic sand, burnt straw and garden soil in equal proportions, with their first watering only after three days of its planting. As of today he has turned out more than 200 adenium creations in intriguing forms, including humans, animals, legendary figures and other images.
At present there are about 90 pieces in his collection and he hopes to one day hold a solo exhibition.
Meanwhile, Pakde also travels as far as Banyuwangi, East Java, and Surakarta, Central Java, in his search for adenium bases. While most people are seeking plants with well-formed stems, he sees weird and even flawed ones as his best sources of inspiration. In addition, adeniums with unattractive stems are less expensive to buy, ranging in price from Rp 100,000 (US$11) to Rp 500,000.
With some cigarettes and a cup of coffee, Pakde spends quiet nights letting loose his imagination. It doesn't take long for him to transform the bulging trunks into diverse figures. People regard his craftsmanship as superb in being able to treat objects with accuracy, thus making them look animate. A lion image, for instance, appears to be ferocious rather than merely decorative.
Those interested in following in his footsteps are welcome to come to Pakde's Paras Bali nursery for training. At present, 15 people are developing their artistic skills, learning how to shape adenium stems into their own creations.
"I want to impart my knowledge and skills. By mastering the techniques needed to create unique adenium pieces, they are able to produce objects of different designs. Everybody has an individual sense of art, which makes the difference."
by:jakartapost
