Besides sculpting in line with his core focus of study, Feri also paints. A number of his ideas and concepts have been set forth in concrete form in his sculptures, while others, quite a few in fact, have been put forth in paintings. His experience with having to make choices concerning which ideas and concepts could best be presented through the techniques and materials of either sculpture or painting have shaped a flexible attitude in this artist toward the many possibilities inherent in creating art (materials, techniques, and approaches to the final execution of a piece).

In last year, Feri has been doing a lot more painting because he feels that this allows him to more productively set forth his concepts in a viable artistic form. "Creating art, including painting, is, to me, a way of teaching myself about life," Feri explains. What does this mean? "Yeah, for example, I often make accusations, or even more frequently, make assumptions about my friends, or toward other people. Through painting, I rethink the negative tendencies like that, and I try to reach a balance," Feri clarified further.

So that it is, Feri's works tend to express extensive narratives concerning the problems encountered in life through the utilization of modest, often explicit, metaphors. Feri does not burden himself, for example, with making his metaphors more sophisticated, nor does he bother with the complexity of the language of expression. He seems to just jump into the middle of the telling of a story through images. Concerning good and evil, Feri expresses these concepts through the metaphor of goats, the white goat symbolizing a person who perceives himself as always good and right, and the black goat representing a person who is always accused of being bad or evil. "Sometimes it seems as if everything bad is attributed to me. White goat, no matter how you behave, you are still a goat like me," Feri stated in his notes on his work titled "Kambing Hitam Putih" (Black/ White Goat) (2002).

In another work, Makhluk Besar di Puncak (Big Beasts on a Hill ) (2003): six boars appear on a hilltop. On of these pigs is very large, the largest in the group, and his color is a strong, bright white. The other five are darker colors, almost blending into the landscape of the hillside around them. Feri explains this work in this way: "Based on our philosophy, there are six criteria for becoming the biggest beast on the hill, those being wisdom, spirituality, firmness, integrity, honesty, and awareness ... and the big beast is well aware that at any time he could be brought down, suddenly, without warning".

Feri's notes become important in light of the above explanation that he paints to teach himself about life and living. Feri Eka Candra has achieved the awareness that painting, or creating any kind of art is not just for the sake of being persistent in the area of manipulating form and issues. Painting, and making art in general, can also be a medium toward achieving awareness, at the very least, for oneself.

Suwarno Wisetrotomo

Born on December 15, 1978 in Batusangkar .
Studies at Indonesia Institute of The Arts (ISI), Yogyakarta (1998).

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 Pameran Sketsa, Fine Art Faculty Building, ISI, Yogyakarta.
1999 Group Exhibition of the SAKATO III, Vredeburg Fortress Museum, Yogyakarta.
2000 Group Exhibition of the GESPER, Gallery of ISI, Yogyakarta; Group Exhibition of the SAKATO, Ismail Marzuki Park (TIM), Jakarta; Group Exhibition of REALITAS, Sheraton Hotel, Yogyakarta; Pameran Islami Gedung DPRD (Parliament Building ) Yogyakarta.
2001 Group Exhibition of the SAKATO IV, Purna Budaya Arts Centre, Yogyakarta; Dies Natalis XVII ISI, Gallery of ISI, Yogyakarta.
2002 Group Exhibition, Vredeburg Fortress, Yogyakarta; Pameran Dies Natalis XVIII ISI, Gallery of ISI, Yogyakarta.
2003 Group Exhibition, Langgeng Gallery, Magelang.

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