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Three ‘sculptures' of Yuli Prayitno's that are being displayed in this open biennale look uncommon. The works do not suit the general tendencies found in sculptural works; they do not appear monolithic, but neither do they form installation works. It is more precise to say that Yuli Prayitno's works belong to the genre of art ‘objects'. Surely, paintings, sculptures, and other art works in general can be called art objects, but with Yuli Prayitno's works, the category of art ‘objects' refers to the tendency presents in three-dimensional works that is outside the discourses and the history of sculptural arts, especially modern sculptures. In the Western art discourses, the works categorized and called as art ‘objects' are mostly produced by craft-artists such as ceramic artists, or artists who work with wood, metal, fibers, or glass. The term ‘object' is adopted to avoid calling as crafts the non-functional works made of such materials.

Yuli Prayitno mostly works with wood. His early works were monolithic, serious, composed of organic characters, and tended to be formalistic. His new works appear very differently, and are composed of wooden components that he has worked on, plus several found objects. Certain parts of the wooden components are inscribed with texts - sometimes they are readable, other times they simply are not. As a whole, the new works appear light, playful, and show surrealistic tendencies. Although these latter works are smaller than his previous works, the new ones appear richer and stronger. Visually, the works are not only captivating, but also betray several layers of interpretations.

When we look at the works closely, it is clear that there are several things in Yuli Prayitno's works that seem to give a fresh breath to the art world. Yuli Prayitno is able to show his mastery and control in handling the wood; he does not overdo it, he works on the wood and stops as soon as he arrives at the characters and the form intended. Such approach results in forms that seem to appear naturally, and that appear to leave no trace of human handling. Even in the works that use found objects, such as " ...5pm," the metallic mug and the teapot seem to exist exactly for the work, instead of being the found objects that Yuli Prayitno employs for his works.

Although Yuli Prayitno's new works clearly do not support the formalist principles - in the sense that they are not born out of the effort to compose forms - one must admit that the works are visually captivating. The visual attractions of his works are present not in their decorative sense, but almost in their essential meaning. Such paradox results from the playful and free attitude of the artist as he creates his new works. He seems to posses neither fear nor doubts. Such confidence is apparently born from his efforts to create an interpretative realm, which the artist intentionally plays on. This results in the seemingly surrealistic works, which the audience is then free to interpret.

Asmudjo Jono Irianto


Born on 1974 in Bandung.
Study at Indonesia Institute of The Arts (ISI), Yogyakarta (2001).

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 "Indonesia Contemporary Sculpture" , Jakarta; Sculpture Triennale II, Cipta Gallery, Ismail Marzuki Park (TIM), Jakarta; Seven Sculptors, National Gallery, Jakarta.
1999 Group Exhibition, Cultural Centre, Yogyakarta; " Art Forum '99" , Titian Gallery, Bandung.
2000 Indonesia Sculptures 2000, Purna Budaya Art Centre, Yogyakarta.