SOVA block test 2

Looking Ahead by Ng Eng Teng, 1987

Growth by Han Sai Por, 1985

a) Describe the subject matter of both works.

For Looking Ahead by Ng Eng Teng, it depicts truncated parts of body. The form is simplified and abstract, but the general shape of the hands and the facial expression could still be identified. The sculpture shows knee and part of thigh act as the base supporting the whole sculpture. The two forearms with hands could be easily identified. The absence of arm and body brings viewers’ attention to the forearm, the hands, and the head which is hold within the hand. The sculpture suggests a optimistic outlook as suggested in the artwork’s name. The expression on the face shows a rather relax and comfortable mood. The sculpture is supported by one forearm thus makes the sculpture looks rather unstable. This might due to the fact that the artist wants to convey that even though life might be hard but we must still look forward to the bright future ahead.

For Growth by Han Sai Por, it consists of 5 unique sculptures, each have different shapes. All these sculpture have smooth curve line, organic and naturalistic shapes. Also the texture is very smooth and the lines bring a sense of fluidity to the sculptures. Each of the five sculptures has different protrusions pointed at different angle. They seem to be struggling to survive and grow. There is like an unseen internal force exert on the sculptures. These five sculptures seem represent different stages of growing. As the forms are abstract and organic, it is hard to identify what the objects actually representing. However, it looks like different stages of plant growing from seed to young plant. As first stage, the first sculptures at the bottom left hand corner, the protrusion is bended at a low angle and the body seems like curl together. These might suggest that the seeds have felt the external force exert on it in the soil, which restrict its growing. However, as time passes, the seed start to grow and struggle to break free from the difficulties and unpleasant environment. This is depicted by the one of the sculptures at the left side and two at the right side of the series. Here, the protrusion are more and more round in shape and it is pointing more and more towards a higher angle which symbolize that the plant are growing taller and stronger. Finally, as depicted in the last sculpture at the top, the sculpture is standing up right with smooth curve and rounded angle. This shows that the seed has become a young adult plant which has been through growing period from a “baby” to an “adult”.

b) Discuss similarities and differences that exist in their treatment of forms and use of materials.

For Looking Ahead by Ng Eng Teng, the form is reduced to its simplest form. Different part of the body is been examined individually and reorganized to put it into composition. Most of the body part is been reduced to its basic shape or been removed from the composition – such as the torso, the arm and the legs. However, the elements of the sculpture still can be easily identified as the essences of the elements are still kept, such as the hands and the expression of the face.

However, for Growth by Han Sai Por, the forms are been abstracted and highly reduced to its basic organic shapes. The objects depicted by the sculptures could not be told by the viewers. The five sculptures exist individually yet they coincide with each other due to resemblance in their forms.

Both the artworks depict the form using smooth curve, which gives the artworks a sense of fluidity. Also, both of the artworks appear to be more of less rounded as the forms are reduced to simplest form.

For the use of material, Looking Ahead is made of bronze. It thus gives the artwork a more textured surface and metallic feeling. The texture of bronze could still be seen and touched in the sculpture. This might further suggest that even the life might be hard, which show by the texture of the bronze left from sculpture, we still must look ahead to the future.

In terms of the material complement to the message the artist wants to convey, Han Sai Por did the same thing as well. Instead of using bronze, she uses marble. Han Sai Por uses marble to carve out smooth textured surface and fluid line. This might suggest to the tenderness of a baby, or a young plant.

c) In your opinion, which work would you choose to be displayed in Nanyang Girls' High Schoo as part of our permanent art collection and where will the chosen work be exhibited? Discuss with consideration given to the artist's background, repertoire of works, approaches to art etc.

In my opinion, Growth by Han Sai Por should be displayed in school. This is because that Han Sai Por concerns about the balance between nature and urban life. Through her artwork, she wishes to advocate people to stay away from war and conflict, and find back the purity and emotion we used to have when we lived as part of nature. To her, due to the high-technology we have today, we have forgotten about the importance of nature, the environment. She hopes that through her artwork, people will stop and ponder the correct way to live with. This value is what we need to teach the student in school as well. The students need to know the importance of environment and not to be over-relying on the technology. This habit should be instilled since young so that the students will learn to appreciate the beauty of nature and not be controlled by the hurry life in urban city.

Also, the sculpture depicts the different growing stages. As secondary student, they are at their most crucial stage of growth. They will start to face a lot of challenges and start to struggle with the life and school’s workload. Thus, with Growth displayed in school, the students will learn how to struggle with inner forces, inner belief and problems in life during their growing stages. Also, as the students most likely to have puberty at this stage, they will face a lot of physical, psychological and emotional changes, just like the different shape in the sculpture. Therefore, the Growth can represent the students and make the student more relate to the artwork.

However, Ng Eng Teng’s sculpture may seem to be more disturbing to the students and the students may feel uneasy about it. As Ng Eng Teng’s main theme is human condition, he experiment on moving around different body parts, recombination and make the sculpture appear in an unusual way. However, even though in Looking Ahead the sculpture contains a positive meaning, but the distortion in form make the sculpture less appealing to the students. Also, the subject matter might be too difficult for the students to understand as they are not mature enough yet.

SOVA block test 1

Spying Eyes by Lucia Hartini, 1989

a) Discuss the use of colour and brushwork.

In the painting, Spying Eyes, Lucia Hartini had used strong contrasting colour of orange red and shades of bright blue. The brick wall, which extend from the foreground all the way to the background, is getting smaller and smaller creating a sense of depth. It is painted with orange-red and occupied almost three-quarter of the painting. In contrast, the drapery that is worn by the female figure at the foreground of the painting is painted with different shades of blue. The orange-red, which is the main background colour, creates a strong contrast with the blue drapery thus allow the viewer’s eyes to focus on the female figures, which brings out the importance of the female figure despite the fact that it has only occupied a relative small proportion of the painting.

Moreover, the background of the painting is painted with turbulent sky with thick layers of clouds. The general dark tone of the background also set contrast with the foreground where the colours used are much brighter. Thus, the bright colours with highlights in the foreground caught viewers’ attention first. The viewers will then notice the significance of the female figure and the cracking zigzag brick walls. The female figure is painted in golden brown, which represent a healthy skin tone. The colour might have easily blended in with the brick wall with the absence of the blue drapery. However, the blue drapery that wrapped around the female figures provides contrast with the skin tone thus highlights its importance instead. Hence the viewers’ eyes will travel from the female figure along the brick wall towards the background of the painting.

As for the brushwork, the artist has adopted a high academic accuracy and traditional painting technique. Every brushstroke are well-blended, no trace of brushstrokes could be seen. In this manner, the form of the figure will be well rendered and clearly defined. Thus, it will provide a realistic form that is highly resemblance to real life. This corroborate with artist’s intention of painting in surrealistic style, where the objects that are taken from real life are combine in an illogical way to form a dream-like world. The realistic figure yet in a fantasy setting will thus bewilder the viewers.

Secondly, the brushwork for the blue drapery has highlighted the contrast between the shadows and the smooth curve of the fabric. Thus it gives the drapery a sense of fluidity and realistic form. However, as for the brick wall, the hard edges are clearly defined. This provides a contrast between the drapery and the wall which can shock the viewers.

b) What social concerns are intended in Lucia Hartini’s work? Discuss with reference to “Spying Eyes” and another named work by Lucia Hartini.

Lucia Hartini’s works are intended to engage critically the inherited gender norms and social expectation of women in Indonesia. This could be seen both in “Spying Eyes” and “Srikandi” 1993.

Lucia Hartini’s art is inseparable from the social-political condition in Indonesia. Here, the women are perceive as subordinate to men and is seen to be obedient to man’s order. Women are been looked down and especially so for female artists. Due to the society, there are very few female artists and usually their voice could not be heard. The social and political judgments also constantly criticize them. Lucia Hartini once said, “my obsession with eyes, especially human (spying) eyes, frightened me very much. They follow me wherever I go and watch my business.” Thus, human eyes have appeared in both of her artwork “Spying Eyes” and “Srikandi”. In “Spying Eyes”, the female figure is drawn cradle together which suggest lack of security due to the eyes from the public keeps on scrutinizing her. While in “Srikandi”, the female figure stared back at the glaze confidently. This shows that the public often criticize the female artist due to the existing gender norm.

Also, it is also shown in the brick wall found in both paintings. In “Spying Eyes”, the zigzagged wall may represent the social prejudice that trapped the female figure. This wall seems extended all the way to the sky signified that the social norms had existed for a very long time. The brick wall is also painted in orange-red which may represent Hartini’s angers and frustration towards such system. The brick wall is in zigzag may also indicate the difficulties the female in Indonesia had to go through while trying to fight back against the system. While in “Srikandi”, though one side of the brick wall is in zigzag form. The other side is straightened. It might represent her will of fighting back the rigid social prejudice. In addition, both paintings shoe that there are cracks on the wall and the smooth drapery are covering the wall, this might represent that this sexism are slowly eroding in modern days.

c) Lucia Hartini has explored dreams and imagination as she sought to discover herself through her works. Why did she create dream-like imagery and do you think she has been effective in using dreams as part of her work? Discuss with reference to her named works.

Lucia Hartini lived in a society where straight forward critical and confession discourse are not accepted. Thus she is forced to adopt allegorical and symbolic style to express her thoughts and ideas. As she had been engage critically with inherited gender norms and social expectation, she addresses the issues in an open, honest and advocating ways with the use of dream-like imagery. I think she had been effective in using dreams as art of her work, due to her use of symbolical figures in the painting such as in “Srikandi”, 1993.

In “Srikandi”, Lucia Hartini painted a female figure, which represents srikandi, a well-know “women warrior” in the legend of Indonesia. Srikandi fight courageously in the battle and won the recognition of Prince Arjunza. It is dressed in the blue clothes which were worn by the members of women armies who fought to protect the Sultan. Srikandi, the female figure, stand confidently and looks back at the doubting gazes from the public. Due to this famous and well-known heroic female figure, Lucia Hartini can thus effectively convey her message to the viewers, which is to fight back the doubting and scrutinizing eyes of the society and break the social gender norms. Though due to the social-political condition, she was unable to paint openly on the canvas of her hidden message, her used of dream-like imagery did provoke a sense of confusion at the viewers and shock them.

Furthermore, the use of vibrant yet contrasting colour, the zigzagged cracking walls and the turbulent sky did mention to the viewers her hidden message. The orange-red suggest her anger at such social issue of sexism. The fantasy setting yet realistic figure advocate the viewers. It bewilders the viewers with such contrasting elements and thus makes them think of the environment around them. Though dream-like imagery is not realistic, but it is highly resemblance to the real life and it is easier to engage powerful emotion and allow the viewers to understand the art piece clearly. Such as the cracking brick wall did suggest Hartini’s desire to break through the cage of gender prejudice.

T. Venkanna with the Two Fridas

In January 2011, a stark naked man has attracted attention from over 350 people so far at the Art Stage Singapore exhibition. The man, who is the artist himself, seated in a booth in front of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's The Two Fridas - dressed only in his "birthday suit". This artist is no other than T. Venkanna from Hyberabad, India.

This installation has attracted much of the public's attention and it is highly controversial. It seems to challenge the public's perception of art, as in this is a whole new medium which the art are conveyed to Singaporean. Some newspapers had gone to town with the artist's act, questioning whether it could be considered art. A lawyer was quoted as saying the show could be against the law as it is an offense to appear nude in public. The art fair, which opened to the public, is considered a public event.

To begin with, why would T. Venkanna would like to pose in front of the artwork, The Two Fridas in nudity? To answer this, we must first understand the context of the artwork.

There are two different characters as portrayed in her work. The traditional Frida (left), with an intention to hide the bruise of her past life experiences, wears a tattered and blood-stained Mexican dress with her broken heart seen. This may indicate a person’s response when she is trapped in a life designated according to her status of living. The traditional Frida is the reflection of a person held out by the life she was expected to live. As soon as she realized the need to adjust, she reinvents herself in a more positive way, unearthing in her the strong Frida at the right side.

Just like tabula rasa, one empty-minded person acquires knowledge from experience and perception in life. Frida’s response to the circumstances of failure lead to the ongoing strength of her evolved character, the right Frida – the epitome of strong will and determination in spite of hindrances which came along the way. She is the embodiment of the person who wisely decides for herself whom she wants to be, and not live accordingly with the influx of society’s culture and traditions. The artery connecting both Fridas and the holding of hands may signify the connection between the socially relying human and the independent fighting one – a strategy used by Kahlo to escape from reality and heal internally. Traditional Frida’s exposed, shattered heart may represent her longing – the bleeding love, which is still shared by both Fridas through the linking artery. The surgical scissors/pincers stop the blood from dripping out, which may indicate that she still knows her passions. The stain of blood in her white dress may convey the physical aspects of pain, reminding her of the unwanted incident of miscarriages, of abortions, of surgeries, of her life. The small pendant, displaying a miniature picture of Diego, is connected to her by a cord.

Thus, we could see that The Two Fridas is less about a fantay than an exploration of artist’s own personal reality; it is a quest for self-identity. This somehow corroborate with T.Venkanna’s artistic intention of "removing the trappings of identity” and thus discover the self-identity.

I think one of the reasons T.Venkanna would like to pose in front of The Two Fridas naked is because he wants the people to throw away the perception and stereotype the society has on them and discovers their true inner self. It is also possible that through his nudity, T.Venkanna is trying to convey the message that stripped off all the misinterpretations, one is only left with the pure essential part of human which has been buried and hidden all the way inside the human body.

Also, he appears in nude might also suggest that the clothes represent the different identity we have in society, as we are often been classified according to what we wear. We have our uniform and working clothes which suggest our occupations, our statues. Thus, nudity allows us to remove all the social identities and return to the state when we just born. And eventually, people will realize that we are all essentially the same.

Another reason is because T.Venkanna would like to be like Kahlor, who has the strong will and determination in spite of all the difficulties, and someone who would have the power to decide for herself whom she wants to be, and “not live accordingly with the influx of society’s culture and traditions.” In this context, as T.Venkanna challenges the traditional perception of art, he is determine to present who he is, his art and not been influence by the social norms.

So, since there is an artistic intention behind T. Venkanna's act, the artist has instils the life and meanings into his installation and making it his art, then why does this art work create so much controversial? When have seen different degree of nudity exist in paintings and sculptures for decades, yet why is it that majority of people are unable to accept a bare human body as a work of art when it is in the environment of an art gallery?

The reason for this might be because when an artist chooses to place his own body in an art gallery, he is challenging the society what constitute art. Formerly, the Dadaists challenged the preconceptions about art in choosing ready-mades to be their definition of art. And now, instead of choose ready-made materials, but choose human body as a platform expressing art, can it still be considered art?

Also, the work also comes with a price tag as every photo taken with the artist was charged $250.

This thus cause people to question the original intentions of the artist. For me, I could not understand why would any people willing to spend $250 to take a photo with Venkanna in his birthday suit against the background of The Two Fridas. Thought the photos help to record the performance, but this does not corroborate with T.Venkanna’s artistic intention. If he sees his body as part of a artwork, I don’t see why he wants the viewers to pay to take a photo with an “artwork”.

Although T.Venkanna has generates interest and question the accepted societal norms and public expectations of art, however I do questioned whether his artistic purpose has been fulfilled, as hen most viewers do not understand his work. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, he exhibits in a public setting, it means that people of all ages could come across with the work can cause unnecessary disturbance to the viewers. Also, he should have take note that Singapore is quite a conservative society, as compared most of the western countries. Thus, most of the viewers might have seen such artworks/performance before would find it rather unaccepted and thus create such a big commotion. Hence, the artist could have considered having exhibition in a more open country such as France then he might have succeeded.

In conclusion, I think that if the artist would like to freely expressed his artistic intention in a more bizarre way, he should consider the social context and level of acceptance of the people in order to meet his expected outcome of the work.

AEP Assignment: Art Interpretation

1) A valid interpretation of an artwork is dependent on an understanding of the artist’s intent and the context in which it was created.

I do not agree to the statement that a valid interpretation of an artwork is dependent on an understanding of the artist's intent and the context in which it was created. Interpretation is about what the viewers perceive from the artwork. At the same time, artist's intent and the context in which the artwork was created determines the way that the artist hopes to convey his or her interpretation. A work of art is “a closed form” because it is a “balanced organic whole,” writes Umberto Eco. At the same time, an artwork is open “on account of its susceptibility to countless different interpretations.” Thus, a valid interpretation does not necessarily have to dependent on artist's intent and the context in which it was created. In every reception the work takes on a fresh perspective for itself, thus there might have numerous valid interpretation different from the artist' intentional message.

Isamu Noguchi. Sun at Noon (1969). Red French and pink Spanish marble.

A fifteen-year-old girl has been standing in front of Isamu Noguchi’s Sun at Noon (1969) for some time. When she was asked what’s on her mind.

It is some type of porthole or something. Maybe there’s a whole world in there [that] you can go inside. It’s at the beginning of the [exhibition], so it’s kind of like if we go through this we’re going into this new world.

The circle is important. I see it like, it never really ends...It’s infinite...it keeps on going. If you look at the shape it has no flaws...it’s so controlled. It is like “the civilized”...because stone is rough but the artist smoothed it out, like society [smoothes out] the person. Oh, that also gives me the idea that it’s like “the ideal.” It is illusionary, like it cannot be real...

The girl is not the first person to interpret Sun at Noon. When Noguchi was still alive, one interpreter associated Sun at Noon with Italian Renaissance architecture. Stressing that Noguchi had worked in Italy around the time he made Sun at Noon. However, to the artist, Sun at Noon was nothing more than a feat of engineering. The only thing Noguchi publicly associated the sculpture with was the sun—a reference that transcends cultures, which was absent from Jessica’s response.

The girl was aware of the nature of the object she was looking at: an artwork. She also knew that artworks are meant “to be looked at” and interpreted. In fact, she interacted with the sculpture in accordance to these conventions. Still, there are differences between the original meaning of the work—as articulated by Noguchi—and her interpretation.

It is true that yet in spite of the openness of a work, not every interpretation of an object is valid. For an interpretation to be tenable, the features of the work must support it. For example, Sun at Noon can become a porthole because it frames a round void and because it is placed like a doorway at the beginning of an exhibition. The sculpture can be about “the ideal” because it is a perfect circle, because it has a flawless, smooth surface, and because it is held up in a way that appears to defeat earthly gravity. But to consider if someone interprets that Sun at Noon in relation to, say, uncontained chaos is untenable as there is little in the work’s features to support such an interpretation.

When an artwork is created, the artist knows that he or she will be interpreted not according to his or her intentions but according to the interactions between the artwork and the viewers. These interactions involve the features of the work, the viewers and their environment. An important distinction thus arises between the intentions of the artist—the ideas in an artist’s mind about his or her work—and the “intention of the artwork”—the messages that the object actually conveys as a result of the artist’s choices and actions. These qualities may offer many different interpretation possibilities that the artist did not foresee. In that sense, a work contains its own independent “intent” or set of suggestive experiences.

Thus, the potential meanings of an object derive from the work itself, and are not controlled or limited by the artist’s intention and the context in which it was created. Therefore the viewer “is not obliged to speculate about what happened in the head of the artist”. From this perspective, the girl has no responsibility to make conjectures about what Noguchi might have meant. Her commitment is to the sculpture in its current context (at the beginning of an exhibition), not to the artist. Moreover, the girl is not getting it wrong as she makes sense of the sculpture, even if her ideas differ from Noguchi’s. She is simply bringing new insights to Sun at Noon.

write up on Lang Kacang by Bayu Utomo Radjikin

this is the assignment i did last year, it is to describe the subject matter of this self portrait – Lang Kacang by Bayu Utomo Radjikin.

Lang Kacang shows a sculpture of an armless tribal warrior screaming into the void. The expression on face is contorted by his roar of frustration and anger. Warrior is the symbol of the spirit who becomes a source of protection and support throughout his life’s journey. However, in the sculpture the warrior seemly caught in the midst of confusion and seeking direction. Through the expression of the face, the sculpture may describe the emasculation of the modern man, who are soulless and empty within. The armless warrior is useless, appearing as something weakened and unable to fight back. It may hint on the impracticality of culture and tradition beside the rise of modernity. However, elaborated headdress symbolizes rich culture and tradition. The upright tilt of the head suggests a sense of defiance and pride and resolve.

Also, his head is thrown back with the force of his roar of frustration and anger. The facial expression is contorted in emotion and yet the torso stands stiff and rigid, bound by bandages of metal. In contrast to the constricting armour of metal, the feathers of the headdress stand defiant and proud, symbolic of rich traditional culture and evocative of traditions past that are slowly being abandoned.

Though the body of the warrior is slightly bent to the front while the torso stay stiff to the ground, it seems as there is a force pulling the warrior forward and the warrior is trying to resist it with all his might. And the metal armour and chains may symbolize suffering and the misery that the warrior is going under.

AEP assignment: Lucia Hartini

this is the write-up i wrote for the SOVA assignment on Lucia Hartini. it is based the the artwork, srikandi.

a) Describe the use of space, colour and brushwork

In the foreground, the painting’s main focus is on a female figure of Srikandi, a Javanese shadow puppet of the Mahabharata epic, is a brave and bold female figure who characteristically holds her head upward. At the mean time, the figure is of perfect likeness to the painter herself. It occupied almost half of the space, showing the importance and superiority that captured the attention of the viewers. The figure is standing with hands at the waist, chin high and eyes stared directly back to the glaze. In comparison, the eyes that the artist is staring at appear to be rather small. This might suggest that those eyes, with represents the opinions of the public on her, are insignificant to herself and she takes them lightly.The figure is standing upright and rooted to the ground. She seems to fill with confidence and courage, ready to fight against the opposition.

The background it divided into two parts, half of it depicts the maze-like brick wall that tends to be smaller when it stretched to the top right hand corner which creates the depth in the painting, while the other half is painted with natural elements, such as the moon and the clouds, where the larger clouds nearer to the viewers and smaller clouds further away, hence this makes the sky seem endless. Thus due to the contrasting size of the subject matter on the canvas, Lucia Hartini create a clear sense of depth on the viewers which allows the viewers’ eyes to travel from foreground to background. This also serves as a tool that magnified the importance of the female figure. The wall nearer to the left side is straight, which probably symbolize her now determination and ready to reach the goal. Whereas the wall nearer to the right is painted in a zigzag manner, it might represent her previous sense of terror as she struggle to be herself and escape away from the public eyes and criticism.

As the she stands in amidst of the brick walls, she might want to suggest that there are a lot of difficulties and social stereotype that kept her in the cage and repress her power. However the cracks on the walls also represent her will to break through the boundaries that trapped her inside. Hence, by showing her power and strong will to success, she takes up most of the space of the painting. Here the natural elements also play a part. As the sky is calm and peaceful, she might want to imply that even though her surrounding is tough, there is still a better world that she is looking forward to and want to achieve. This probably represent her will of been able to fly freely in the artistic field as an artist in the limitless sky.

Lucia Hartini had used contrasting colours in this painting. Srikandi is draped in a dark blue flowy cloth, which also drapes around the brick-red maze-like walls. The dark blue create a strong contrast to the brick walls. As blue is a cool colour, which is usually associated with cool, calm emotions ,while brick-red usually represents more lively and vibrant feelings. This contrast in colour produces a mixed emotion in the viewer. Furthermore, the blue used here also has a hidden meaning. As Srikandi was dressed in blue cloth worn by members of the women’s armies who historically protect the Sultans of feudal Central Java, Lucia Hartini thus depicting herself ready to fight back all the negative stereotype the society had on women. The contrast in colours also allow Srikandi to stand out, complementing her spirit and body posture, suggesting her importance and authority. The skin tone of the figure also appears to be in a very healthy colour of golden brown. This makes the artist looks very strong and superior and confident woman.

Meanwhile the background is painted in a contrasted mood whereby part of the sky is painted a blue grey colour, while the other part is painted a orangey-yellow colour as if there is sunshine after a heavy thunderstorm. It gives a calm and peaceful feeling. In contrast, the foreground that contains numerous pairs of tiny eyes seems to be rather moody. The sky nearer to the brick wall seemed more unstable as if poses a greater danger.

This artwork is painted realistically, adopted academic and traditional painting techniques. Her brushstrokes are well-blended and no track of brushstrokes can be seen. Her painting is very detailed, highly resembled to real life. Lucia Hartini keeps the drapery a soft texture by emphasizing the contrast between the shadow and the cloth while giving the cloth curved edges. The hard edges for the brick wall and the cracks in the wall and creates a contrast with the dress by her use of brushworks as well. Lucia Hartini sculpts herself as a fit and strong woman, smoothing out her brushstrokes while emphasizing the highlights and shadows of her muscles and veins. This further depicts Lucia Hartini as a strong and determined figure.

b) Comment on the influences behind this work

Lucia Hartini’s art is a reflection of herself and the way in which she interprets her environment. Indeed, her art is inseparable from socio-political conditions in Indonesia, where woman is regarded as an obedient subject to male order and admonition. In this respect, up to 1992 Hartini’s subjects seemed to reflect these traditional cultural expectations under which women obediently and patiently placed themselves, victims of sexism. From the beginning of her career in the late 1970s until 1993, Hartini often depicted female figures which can be read as reflections of her own situation. These figures mostly look powerless, passive, vulnerable, obedient and sweet due to the woman’s social status. The time between 1983 to 1992 was a period when Hartini depicted a sense of terror as she struggled to be herself. Of this period, she says: “it tells of my obsession with eyes, especially human (spying) eyes, which frighten me very much. They follow me wherever I go and they always want to watch my business.” This is because female artists like herself are being looked down at as woman has low social status as compared to men. Female artists thus have little or no say in the art field and are often criticized. Many of the female artists cannot stand such strict cultural expectations and turned into the housewife that they are expected to be. This influenced the ray of eyes that is painted in “Srikandi”

Her 1993 work is radically different. Hartini no longer represents a soft and passive figure, instead, she depicts an authoritative, challenging and strong one. In this painting, she projects the daring, strong and powerful character of Srikandi, a daring female knight character of the Javanese shadow theatre, dressed in blue cloth worn by members of the women’s armies who historically protected the sultans of feudal central Java as herself. The figure clenches her fists with muscled hands, her head up, with wide-open staring eyes, constituting a strong, challenging gesture against the spying eyes before her. Here she portrays herself as a female warrior, who fights back sex discrimination in Indonesia. As the whole society discriminated her and do not recognize her as an artist. Thus in the painting Lucia Hatini repelled the critical and doubting eyes of society, which has formerly rendered many women prisoners of tradition. She concluded that women should represent themselves as autonomous subjects having potential which is different but no less capable than that of their male counterparts in this shared her. Hence, the depiction of herself as Srikandi shows the determination and the courage to stand up against the public (spying eyes), fighting for her own rights, as well as women’s rights.

She spent her childhood living, walking around and playing in a natural, quiet and peaceful environment that is different from the neighbourhood where she now lives in a rented house with her children. To her longing for a free and peaceful natural environment, Hartini likes depicting her imagination natural elements, such as in the painting “Srikandi” ---- clouds and moon. All of these are depicted rhythmically by fine lines. . In repeatedly putting fine lines on canvas, Lucia Hartini lets herself be carried away by a personal rhythm, a kind of meditation. Her repeating of lines is like a reciting mantra over and over again, and also by doing so, one can go into a micro-cosmos or transcendental experience where the gap between the real and unreal becomes blurred. The colours Lucia Hartini used are influenced by her mood, for example orangery red may represent anger. This is a kind of psychological catharsis to release stress and boredom as well as fulfilling her aesthetic needs.

The hard, edgy brick walls may represent the social prejudice and the strict cultural expectations society has on her, which like a maze which she trapped in. However, the cracks on the wall symbolize this social hierarchy are slowly eroding. By depicting the cloth covering parts of the wall may suggest that females in Indonesia are slowly becoming more important, and that women are slowly gaining their rights in modern Java.