Hendra Gunawan

Private Collection, Indonesia (acquired from Neka Gallery, Bali, and sold: Christie's Singapore, 28 March 1999, Lot 121)

Private Asian Collection (acquired directly from the above sale) 

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私人收藏，印度尼西亞（直接購自内卡画廊，並售於：新加坡，佳士得, 1999年3月28日， 拍品編號121）

亞洲私人收藏（直接購自上述拍賣）

"I am just a village boy, who has grown up surrounded by splendid nature and agrarian life. This land is a community of stunning vistas of undulating green foothills covered with rice paddies, all of which is crystallized in the beauty of my painting: the beauty of the agrarian life"

HENDRA GUNAWAN

Teeming with chromatic synergy and hopeful imagination, Hendra Gunawan’s Fish market on the beach exemplifies the artist’s signature style, characterized by his radiant fusion of colour and the exaggerated stylization of his figures. Within the exceptional arena of this large-scale canvas, Gunawan forges a new artistic language and ultimately achieves a visual poetry that is beyond sublime. 

Spanning an impressive size, the present lot is a magnificent panorama depicting a group of women and children, including a fish vendor and her customers. Gunawan juxtaposes the close nook where the figures assemble in the foreground with the expansive shoreline behind it. As the seller brandishes the daily catch for her visitors, her child is perched on her shoulder and leans on her head. As the only child of a single mother, Gunawan was inspired by strong and nurturing women, and devoted himself to capturing a well-rounded view of their femininity and motherhood throughout his opus. 

The present work was painted during the final chapter of his life, when he was finally free from his incarceration and was recovering in Bali, with the support of some of his patrons. Gunawan’s mature works from the early 1980s bear his signature hallmarks, simultaneously carrying an inherent assuredness as he plays with various visual motifs he established over the course of his career: bold, dazzling colours in his iconic shades of turquoise, purple, emerald and bubblegum pink. During this time, the artist experienced a newfound sense of vitality, joy and artistic rejuvenation, expressed through his use of a more vivid and kaleidoscopic palette.

The intricately-patterned batik sarongs draped around the women serve as another visual motif that was a favourite of the artist, as he often used it to represent traditional Indonesian culture and indigenous pride. Gunawan’s lively and flowing brushstrokes applied from a lively color palette provide the scene with a vibrating sense of movement. The charming expressions, colorful figures and rural elements found in his paintings present a somewhat theatrical vision of Indonesia.

「我只是個鄉村男孩，在美麗的自然環境和農耕生活中長大。這片土地的景觀令人驚嘆，起伏的青綠山麓上盡是稻田，我的繪畫就是這美好的農家生活的結晶。」

——亨德拉·古拿溫

《沙灘上的魚市場》色彩豐沛艷麗，風格化的人物形象和姿態鮮明生動，畫面洋溢生命的活力和希望，展現出古拿溫的獨門美學。他以這幅大型作品為舞台，打造全新的藝術語言，成就絕美的視覺詩篇。

本作尺幅宏大，畫面近景是一個女漁販帶著孩子，向幾個聚在她身邊的婦女兜售漁獲，遠處是延綿的海岸線和天空。古拿溫是單親媽媽帶大的獨生子，經常從堅強養育子女的女性形象獲得靈感，致力透過畫作展示他對女性特質和母親的看法。

古拿溫在人生最後階段創作了這幅作品，那時他已從十三年的政治牢獄生涯中獲釋，在藝術贊助人的支持下，在峇里島享受晚年的自由時光，此時的他用色更亮麗繽紛，以表達他新發現的生命力、喜悅和重拾創作的幹勁。古拿溫的藝術風格在1980年代的作品中表露無遺；這個時期的作品不僅滿載他數十年來積累創作的各種視覺符號和圖案，孔雀綠、鮮紫、綠寶石和鮮粉紅色互相為光影，交織出一幕幕詭艷耀目的人間煙火，展現這位年邁而壯心未已的藝術大師從容自若的風度。

蠟染紗籠是古拿溫最喜愛的題材元素之一，對他而言代表著印尼傳統文化之美和民族情懷。本作中婦女們身上圖案富麗的蠟染紗籠長裙曳地，除了給觀眾豐富的色彩視覺享受，亦展現出流暢自然的人物動感。古拿溫喜愛以繽紛熱鬧的人物互動和農村元素為主題，在本作中，他亦一如以往地運用戲劇化的方式將印尼本土風情呈現給世人欣賞。