Surrealism was once regnant in 1980s, with Yogyakarta being its center. Aside from the fact that the town had the Indonesian Fine Arts Institute or ISI, Yogyakarta was indeed the place most hospitable for the emergence and growth of such genre. According to M Dwi Marianto, the works that made their appearance during this time in Yogyakarta did have few resemblances with the works of some great surrealist masters, whose paintings were familiar for the Yogyakartan artists thanks to reproductions and the written information found in art history books and monographs. The artists of Yogyakarta, however, have "taken over" the information and visual sources of surrealism, giving them their own characteristic, local colors.

In such atmosphere, Hening Purnamawati started her life as a painter in mid eighties. She admitted that the world of visual art at the time was dominated by surrealism, within and without the academic circles. Unconsciously, she was also drawn into it. She did not merely follow the stream, however, as she had been enthralled by this genre since the beginning. "I feel that the surrealistic style fits my imaginations that often find themselves in the fantasy world. The world often exists in my subconscious, and I find it hard to explain. But I don't quite know whether my paintings are actually surrealistic or not," Hening once said.

Hening receives her knowledge about surrealism by reading books on art history or studying the monographs of surrealistic painters before her. Ideologically and practically, however, she does not actually follow the principles of surrealism. Her paintings have no direct relations with the development of the surrealism in the other part of the world, the surrealism that exists as one of the mainstream genres in the world's visual art. Nevertheless, Hening admits that visually her paintings do bear some surrealistic characters.

Take, for example, the painting Pesta Demokrasi (Party of Democracy, 2003). Thematically, the social background of the painting is the current situations of the Indonesian democracy. But Hening does not wish to capture the surface of the democratic euphoria. She wants exactly to pierce the surface and talks about democracy universally. She wants to convey how people seem to be free to demand anything they desire, without for once thinking about others. The result of all this is, naturally, a chaos. People forget that in a true democratic land, we should actually build on our tolerance, and in the end uphold the wisdom we commonly agree on.

In this painting, we can feel the strength of Hening's fantasy. Many human traits and natural icons that we commonly see in the real world are present in a surreal atmosphere. The "nature" Hening creates is the nature of fantasy. But in this nature, she builds a meaning that has been stimulated by the restlessness of her soul and social environment.

What is ultimately special about Hening's paintings are her unique visual idioms. Shapes, lines, colors, planes, and spaces are built within a universal image. Everything is manifested organically and dynamically. Each of her painting betrays an intricate visual images and an atmosphere of profound mystery.

Djuli Jati Prambudi

Born on September 3, 1960 in Cimahi.
Studied at Indonesia Institute of The Arts (ISI), Yogyakarta (BFA; 1987).

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 Philip Morris Indonesia Art Awards, ASEAN Building, Jakarta.
1999 "Jakarta's Painters", Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta.
2000-2004 "Text & Subtext", International Contemporary Asian Woman Artist Travelling Exhibitions by Lasalle-SIA, Earl Lu Gallery to Lasalle - SIA College of the Singapore - Sculpture Park, Singapore - Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, Australia - Ostasiatiska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden - Stersenmuseet, Oslo, Norway - Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark - He Xiangning Art Gallery, Shenzhen, China.
2001 "International Arts Exchange III", Indonesia - Japan in Koichi, Hiroshima and Kobe, Japan.
2002 "KILAS BALIK", Edwin Gallery, Jakarta.
2003 Havana Biennial, Cuba.

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