Page 25 - 57 X 76 - Hanafi • Goenawan Mohamad
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As for GM, 57 x 76 is the project that marked his gives shape to his work as a whole. Mostly realized
first collaboration with other painters. The career with pencils, brushes, ink, and sometimes pens,
of GM as an artist is indeed not as long as Hanafi. the strokes of GM’s lines have a spontaneous and
But that does not mean collaboration is completely sensitive character. We can immediately call GM’s
new in his creative work. As a writer, GM certainly images ‘figurative’. Although not completely ‘realistic’,
has worked a lot with translators and editors. As a animals, humans, and everyday objects such as
magazine editor, he knows the fulfilment of editing teapots and shadow puppets can appear through the
the writings of journalists. Critic Bambang Bujono contour or outline. We will rarely find images with a
once identified a strong connection between the lines solid background there. GM’s lines never present an
in GM’s drawings and the habit of writing by hand.11 illusion of solidity or depth connoting perspective,
When taking notes or editing text on a piece of paper, only impressions of the shape or structure of objects.
GM often puts notes between lines or paragraphs.
Although it often looks irregular, GM’s handwriting Unlike Hanafi, GM rarely talks much through brush
not only fills the blank spaces on typed sheets of strokes or areas of color. Shading, the light and
paper, but changes the whole paper into a kind of dark of the image, is worked on by stacking lines—
‘picture’ with its own composition. Bujono concluded moving or straight, thick or thin, rough or soft, firm or
that GM’s work as an editor precipitated an aesthetic nebulous. The work Sirkus Sebuah Mimpi (Circus A
experience that eventually “rose to the surface” when Dream, 2017) is an example of how GM’s play of light
drawing.12 and dark implies sensitivity to the overall balance of
the composition. Lines are made with at least three
Even though he works only with relatively small- different media (pencil, charcoal, and pen), which
sized papers, GM is very serious about the particular ultimately result not only in a rhythmic quality of thick
language of images that rely on lines. Indeed the and thin lines, but also in the crisp tonal grayscale
line becomes the most powerful element that spectrum. In other images such as Z (2017), GM’s
11 Bambang Bujono, Dari Badut, Kuda Chairil hingga Raja Lear, handwritten scribbles appear to be closely linked
dalam Melampaui Citra dan Ingatan, Bunga Rampai Tulisan Seni to the depiction of trains, dark skies and the moon.
Rupa 1968-2017, Jakarta, Yayasan Jakarta Biennale, 2017, p. 413.
12 Ibid. The placement of objects and writing becomes a
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