Jendela: A Play of The Ordinary
Consisting of graduates of Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) in Yogyakarta, Kelompok Seni Rupa Jendela (Jendela Art Group) is now one of Indonesia’s most prominent contemporary art collective. The meteoric rise of Jendela that began in the mid-1990s is both fascinating and confounding. Paintings, sculptures and installations produced by these artists that included Handiwirman Saputra, Jumaldi Alfi, Yusra Martunus, Rudi Mantofani and Yunizar (See Annex 1), are seemingly detached from the politically charged practices that typify Yogyakarta art. Based on observations of the everyday or mundane, the artists produce works that are visually arresting, seductive, astutely crafted, yet cool, ambiguous, distanced from such conventional gestures and themes. Contrasted against the stridency of activism, the works of Jendela also appear to some as abstract, formal, void of discernable text and empty. Should the works be regarded as a departure.
