I Nyoman Masriadi

T.K. Sabapathy, Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring The Body, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2010, P. 211, Fig. 104

This work is in good condition overall, as is the canvas, which is clear and sound. There is light wear and handling around the edges of the painting. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no evidence of restoration. Framed.
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Undoubtedly, I Nyoman Masriadi attains a conceptual and exclusive style of painting, a style which is immediately identifiable and is art that people can easily relate to. Highly influenced by his birthplace, Masriadi had a great connection with Bali’s cultures and traditions. By incorporating political, religious and other cultural issues in a majority of his work, this has highly contributed to his distinctive style of painting.

A classic ‘Masriadi’ painting is consistent of rich visual narrations paired with profound observations on human and behavioral traits. Through the playful and spirited facial expressions he creates, Masriadi typically contrasts this with an over exaggerated figure from which we have pervasively seen in his work. With wit and a sense of humor, Masriadi’s ingenious images do not fail to provide some elusive comic relief for his viewers.

As a reflection of his critical thought process, Masriadi consistently produces paintings with extremely powerful imagery. His creative scenes juxtapose against one another showing his absolute fascination with the different characters he creates within his paintings. In Aerobik (Aerobic), Masriadi depicts three women with obscenely large muscles stood in three different positions stretching. Through his use of light, he is able to control the shadows cast on the figures, giving these women masculine qualities. Creating three-dimensional figures on a flat, two-dimensional plane is a technique Masriadi has mastered to such a high standard in all his paintings. This skill has significantly denoted him as one of the most exciting artists of the 21^st century.

With large shimmers of light reflecting across the surface of the bodies, Masriadi gives the painting an instant sculptural quality. As if they have been sculpted from stone or some dense, solid material the artist leaves us with a sturdy statue-like figure.

Throughout Masriadi’s paintings, we have seen how his affinity for Bali corresponds into his artwork, the physique of these ‘superhuman’ characters could be seen to be originally derived from the Balinese Hindu stone statues displayed all around the island. These traditional stone sculptures have a combination of exaggerated and fanatical facial expressions with disproportionate figures, having strong correlations with Masriadi’s work.

Growing up in a world with rapid technological advances and developments of the ‘computer culture’ had a great impact on Masriadi. Watching animated and computerized films definitely had an effect on the way he depicted people’s facial expressions within his work. As seen in Aerobik (Aerobic), he places a larger emphasis on the women’s faces by painting them a brighter colour. This stresses their facial expressions, making them far more prominent, allowing their bright crimson colored lips to jump right out of the canvas. With a touch of Surrealism, his viewers are left faced with his characters, each with painfully happy faces.

Often referred to as one of Bali’s first contemporary artists, Masriadi creates visually fresh images through his use of conceptual techniques and culturally relevant themes. In this painting, he traces women’s movements with thin slivers of underdrawn lines. Through this, he creates another dimension, he does this with purpose to lay out the inceptive stages in the creation of form. This is done in order to show the developments of his paintings in terms of composition, allowing the viewer into his process of thought.

Masriadi encompasses a variety of different concepts and ideas within one piece. Through the different motifs he uses, he is able to evoke different interpretations from his audience and attaches it with a sense of humor. Aerobik (Aerobic) could be a reference into our distorted society, looking at the obsessive fascinations that are associated with identity and image. Through these different sources of visual vocabulary he reinforces upon us, Nyoman Masriadi is able to attain a very appreciative and positive response from the art world.