Wimo Ambala
Bayang Maarten Schepers Ellen Rodenberg
2008 Weblog:
http://rodenberg3schepers.wordpress.com
Following a
Trail, Creating Texture
A. Sujud Dartanto
I don’t
think Ellen Rodenberg is just
playing
with the dozens of objects she
collected
during her residency in Jogja,
after I
observed the way how she arranges
the various
plastic toys, such as toy soldiers,
tanks,
cars, motorcycles, trees, flags, etc.,
on her
worktable. Her methods recall the
joys of a
child in selecting whatever she
likes and
placing them into positions. This,
collecting various
objects that caught her
fancy, was
the first thing Ellen did upon
arriving in
Jogja.
It was
interesting when Ellen, an artist
born in
worktable
with her children. It is probable
that we,
adults, would be annoyed with
sharing the
space, because the objects
Ellen
collected were similar to her children’s
toys.
However, Ellen partitioned the table,
drawing a
clear boundary between her
children’s
playing area and her own art
space. This
proves she was not just playing,
as she was
busy arranging and rearranging,
repositioning
the various objects, while
trying to
identify them and understand
their
symbols and meanings. Ellen is
currently
conducting historical research on
these
objects that she will present as
footnotes.
There is a
deep conviction to follow the
history of
these objects. For instance,
the
swastika is a Nazi symbol associated
with the
terrifying and oppressive Hitler
regime.
However, this is not the symbol’s
meaning for
which Ellen is searching;
rather, she
is focusing on the other meanings
and
relevancies that developed and are
used in
other contexts. The swastika is also
a
devotional symbol for the Hindus. These
contrasting
and contradictory meanings
become the base
for Ellen’s research. She
focuses her
attention on the diverse
perspectives
of a symbol. In essence, she
wants to
prove that any one symbol does
not belong
to any specific group, language,
or
discourse, but rather a symbol can have
different
meanings, uses and rites in
different
contexts.
Ellen’s
background in painting explains
how she
views these objects in two and
three
dimensions. At this point, I see
Ellen’s
unique artistic language. I think her
experience
in conducting this unusual
exploration
provides a valuable opportunity
to witness
the process behind a final
product.
The stability of painting
conventions
that represent two dimensions
on a canvas
seem to be shattered by Ellen’s
exploration
process. For her, process
represents
the basic foundation of the
final
product. She demonstrates how a
miniature
landscape of flags must be seen
from two
visual aspects, i.e., flat and
three-dimensional.
Ellen’s
artworks are explorations of
thought and
intuition, a balance
between
mind and soul. Sometimes, she
intuitively
seizes objects she finds
without
needing any previous intense
contemplation.
The final result of this
process is
an installation in the Cemeti Art
House
exhibition space. This is Ellen’s
painting.
Not a two-dimensional painting,
but one
with volume that fills the space.
Various
compositions of objects are spread
out; some
in miniature form, others that
have been
magnified. Dragon Ball, as a
hero from a
Japanese comic series, is
present in
life-size form, in the four corners
of the
simulation arena. The Dragon Ball
character
and a number of other objects
were chosen
because they are cartoon
figures and
are associated with strength
or can be
perceived as metaphors of
authority.
This
Landing Soon #7 project has
enticed
Ellen to become familiar with,
understand,
or, to be more specific, play,
with the
similarities and differences of
cultural
symbols. Three months is too short
to understand
the cultural milieu of
kingdom,
which has a long history in the
crossroads
of Javanese traditions, diverse
religions
and the formation of a modern
society. Of
course, one of the unique
features is how the colonial Dutch presence
in the past
remains in buildings, language
and various
cultural practices. Ellen is
aware of
this past from the
European
country that has complex
history.
Differences, similarities and
various
relationships in the past form a
kind of
collective memory that can be
recalled,
forgotten, or become a symbol
ready to be
deconstructed. These symbols
may at one
time have been sacred signs of
reverence
and nobility, but now have
assumed
totally opposite meanings.
Symbols are
the most articulate signs of
a
perspective or ideology. The use of
symbols in
society represents a kind of
undivided
bond. The presence of these
symbols is a way of identifying and marking
an
existence. The need for the presence of
these
symbols is as old as humanity, homo
symbolicum.
During the period of her
residency
in Jogja, Ellen became aware
that
following the trails of symbols was
one way to
get to know a new place, space
and culture
– both universal symbols, such
as the
popular Dragon Ball, who everyone
knows,
regardless of territorial boundaries
and
national ideologies, as well as symbols
used
actively in local contexts in
This can be
seen in the documentary
photos and
videos Ellen recorded of various
monuments,
landscapes, plants, animals,
and people
that she felt were potentially
both
similar and different. This recording
process
took place not only in
but also when she visited and made
presentations
in Solo and
Symbols, in
the context of Ellen’s search,
are like a
spider’s web. The symbols
exist in a
structure and are experienced
culturally.
One symbol is like a footnote
for a
supra-structure. I think Ellen stops
here. She
guides us to the face of this
symbolic
structure. Perhaps “symbolic
texture” is
more accurate. As texture, it
becomes a
composition. We can see this in
a number of
two-dimensional painting
fields,
where colors and lines form specific
symbolic
contours.
What is Ellen
searching for through
this long
process that involves
interpretation
and duplication of various
signs? I
think Ellen is one who ponders.
Beneath her
methods in learning about a
new place
and culture, there is another
underlying
process, as if she wants to
redefine
herself as a “new symbol” in
various
forms of language play that are
constantly
in the process of evolving .
The
house of eggs (Maarten Schepers) in front and Imagine
(Ellen Rodenberg) in
the background.
Photo’s
Belanda Suda Dekat! / Wimo Ambala Bayang, Indonesian
Table / Maarten Schepers
The
preparations
Preparing the exhibition