Wayan Suastama. Farmer series expresses a sentimental nostalgia about the artists’ childhood memories in an agricultural village.
As a son of a farmer, I miss the simplicity of that environment. These memories play a large part in who we become. Everyday things and routines are typical in the life of a farmer like helping our parents in the fields after we finish school. These memories are the theme of these works. It comes from missing my childhood. Coming from Tabanan,. an area that is known for ‘lumbung beras’ rice agriculture.
Wayan Suastama
Was there a conscious decision to use the cubist style with Farmer Series?
It was a natural progression.. to make things more beautiful.. to reach a certain vision that is satisfying to us. It is an introspective exercise so this happens without conscious deliberation but according to feeling.
Wayan Suastama
Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to representing reality invented in around 1907–08 by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They brought different views of subjects (usually objects or figures) together in the same picture, resulting in paintings that appear fragmented and abstracted. ref Tate.org.uk
The ‘Farmer’ Series by Wayan Suastama is a dedication to memories. Coming from an agricultural village, the routine that may seem too quiet and ordinary in the city has taken root within memory as something very powerful. The choice of the cubist style though not employed consciously however, itis a perfect reflection of the artists’ quiet analytical nature.
Cubism is the perception of form, from many perspectives. Here in some pieces, it is positioned side by side with a flat two-dimensional decorative adornment of flowers that is highly ornamental. Whilst the cubist visual reinforces the process of looking at a distant memory through different perspectives. The linear flatness of the flower garlands suggests a certain one-dimensional framing of our memories. Perhaps this speaks of one’s idealism that is less complicated.
Explore Original Artworks by Wayan Suastama.
