One day in February 2000, my friend Sabi from France told me we were going to Yogyakarta (Yogya), which is in central Java, Indonesia. With not much more information I was off to Yogya. We went to Joglo Jago, which is home, and studio of Gono, who is the youngest child of the respected senior artist Bapak Sudarso. Sukarno has an important place in the artistic history of Indonesia. He was one of the founders of Institute Seni Indonesia in Yogyakarta, and also founded a group called "The Peoples' Painters", back in the sixties. This included many now legendary artists. Bapak Sudarso's paintings are included in the Sukarno Collection, part of which is currently being exhibited in Jakarta. Sudarso is famous for his portraits of women and his eight children are all painters.
Gono or Sudargono is a tremendous painter in his own right. He was classically trained and studied portraits and landscape and experimented with surreal as well as abstract painting. What he does now is his own brand of super energized surrealism.
During my stay he had a show in town and I was able to view lots of his paintings and subsequently his many moods. Also, I was on national television in Indonesia talking with his wife Tuti about one of his paintings. Unfortunately I never saw it and don't know if they translated my critique into Indonesian. To make a long story short this is how I came to purchase 'Dance' 1999 Gono, which is the painting in this blog. More to come on Gono in the future...