Southeast Asian Art: Affandi and Ventura

This assignment examines the works of two prominent Southeast Asian artists: Affandi and Ronald Ventura. It delves into their distinct styles, comparing Affandi's realistic approach using expressive brushstrokes with Ventura's use of graffiti and layered art. The analysis highlights how both artists have significantly influenced global art culture and showcase the evolution of Southeast Asian contemporary art.

Running head: ARTIST INFLUENCES
Artist Influences
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The South East Asian people were once considered by the world to be lacking
inventiveness, long from the prehistoric times, and they were receptive instead of just being
creative in their contacts with people from foreign civilizations. From there to the 1990s, the
Asian art forms shifted to an explosion of biennials and triennials, showing a shift to the pluralist
world. The Asian megacities of Taipei, Fukuoka, Yokohama, and Singapore were key in
introducing Asian audiences to foreign art and that motivated them into pushing their own
regions’ figures to the international forefront (Bruun & Kalland, 2014).
Discussion
In the history of modern art in Indonesia, Affandi has been referred as being a towering
figure. His paintings have often been seen displaying his different emotional responses towards
the lives of the people who struggle moving out of poverty towards dignity. He was a self-taught
artist, and his early works majorly included representations of animals, people, sun and even
several self-portraits. He was often quoted as stating that the motif he knows and likes the best is
that of his own face, even if it's ugly and reminds of the dwarf Sukrasana. He became affiliated
with the artist group of Lima Bandung. He was working with the likes of Hendra Gunawan,
Barli, Sudarso, and Wahdi. The group later went on to become hugely significant in the
development of Indonesian modern art. After independence, he became completely involved in
making different types of posters that were key in evoking the struggle of the Indonesian people
in opposition to the Dutch colonialism (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017). In his early 1950s, his
works saw a breakthrough and he started squeezing paint directly from the tube. The resultant
paintings showed affinity with the works of Van Gogh and were noticeably expressionistic and
expressively resonant. His spontaneous squeezing paint method very soon became an essential

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part of his signature style. He never learned the use of brushes and palettes, instead of smearing
paint around the canvas. He spent weeks studying a subject, but the real painting hardly takes
any time more than one and a half hour. He has mentioned that after an hour of working on any
painting he feels his emotions declining and he stops then (Affandi.org, 2017). Affandi’s art
changed radically, abandonment of strong linear brush strokes with a high level of realism and a
higher level of individual expression. This mastering of the technique by Affandi was seen in his
works “Self-portrait” (1944), which used watercolor having traces of impressionist style, like the
oil painting “Learning Anatomy” (1948). In this specific painting, he poured all his emotions
with the objects he painted. He was not just merely showing his mastery in the visual impression
of the object, but the aesthetic and emotional mastery started to be reflected in his works
(Sothebys.com, 2017).
“Self-portrait”
As per him, the history of art depends solely on the painter himself, on what he actually
wants. It is hard to know the actual motivations for him, but he believes all depends on the
people. In today’s modern world, Indonesian artists do now wish to be included and they make

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no failure or want to miss out on the expanding of their artistic ideals. There are many
arguments, rivalry, wars, suffering and people who are in need of the most basic things in life.
Affandi was doing the art not because he was attempting to be rich but because he had to. His
artworks show that his paintings are like a photographic realist, which implies that his paintings
are mostly like a picture taken by a camera. Because he uses pastel paint mediums, the signs of
psychological factors do not get revealed clearly. An example of his artwork in pastel medium is
“Kartika” (1939) (Herbiga et al., 2017).
“Kartika”
Another famous South East Asian artist, Ronald Ventura is noted majorly for his
paintings that feature complicated layering, combined images, and styles that range from
hyperrealism to cartoons and graffiti, even for a large body of sculptural work. He takes the
layering procedure in his artwork like a metaphor for the multi-layered national identity of
Philippines, his home country. Across the centuries, the huge influence of different occupying
powers like Japan, Spain, and the United States, besides the primary indigenous culture, have
been able to generate a complicated and sometimes uncomfortable sense of identity (Tan, 2013).

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Ventura is famous for exploring this psychic and historical phenomenon via a dialogue of
pictures that evoke East and West, old and young, high and low, evident in allusions to Old
Master paintings or American and Japanese cartoons. He is successful in drawing the
consideration to the “second skin” of cultural signifiers which is carried by every individual,
however unsuspectingly. Ventura sees skin as a kind of expressive surface, that can be written on
with a tattoo, or explode outwards for revealing an inner world of fantasy and conflict or even a
hidden under layers of imagery. His oeuvre contains a broad and complicated diverse range of
forms, styles, and imagery, seen majorly in forms like graffiti, cartoons, hyperrealism,
surrealism, pop art. One such example of an artwork can be his “The Strong and the Beautiful”
(2009) (Asiacontemporaryart.com, 2017).
“The Strong and the Beautiful”
In his layers of meaning concept, first of all, he is representing the particular situation of
the Asian Filipino culture that is a specific fusion of the native culture and the regional
landscapes and heritage, and on the other hand the huge influence of the occupying culture of

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Japan, Spain, and the United States. This kind of cross-cultural complex relationships bring
about a particular unease and Ventura is seeking to expose all the phenomenon with the help of
dialogue of imagery from the East and West. Therefore, it is evident that he is completely
interested in the notions of borders, transgression, fusions, and struggles. Ventura is more
interested in the concept of second skin as that is an expressive surface for different cultural
signifiers, whether that is revealed, concealed or written over with tattoos (Artsy.net, 2017). He
even makes attempts at broadening the range of his motivations, making use of the universal
possibilities of traveling and internet. Ventura’s paintings are mostly a regular fusion of
experienced cultures, across his direct will or control. The Filipino artist even manages for
archiving these aesthetic qualities in different sculptures he makes, amalgamating vivid and pale,
high and low, beautiful and ugly, and joy and sorrow. This kind of technique can be seen in his
work “Forest” (2015) (Artnet.com, 2017).
“Forest”

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Conclusion
Discussing both the styles and thinking of Affandi and Robert Ventura, it can be seen that
South East Asian art has truly moved ahead a lot. The shift to the pluralist world has shown the
rapid growth of the South East Asian art. Southeast Asian contemporary art has managed to draw
ample amount of attention on the world stage by holding the hands of Affandi and now Robert
Ventura. On one hand, Affandi took a realistic approach to art, using his hands and fingers to
express his emotions. Ventura makes use of graffiti and layers of art to express his. Both of them
have significantly contributed to the global art culture.

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References
Affandi.org. (2017). Affandi’s Paintings » Museum Affandi. Affandi.org. Retrieved 19 November
2017, from http://www.affandi.org/collection/affandis
Artnet.com. (2017). Ronald Ventura | artnet. Artnet.com. Retrieved 19 November 2017, from
http://www.artnet.com/artists/ronald-ventura/
Artsy.net. (2017). Ronald Ventura - 25 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy. Artsy.net. Retrieved 19
November 2017, from https://www.artsy.net/artist/ronald-ventura
Asiacontemporaryart.com. (2017). ASIA CONTEMPORARY ART | Ronald
Ventura. Asiacontemporaryart.com. Retrieved 19 November 2017, from
http://www.asiacontemporaryart.com/artists/artist/Ronald_Ventura/en/
Bruun, O., & Kalland, A. (2014). Asian perceptions of nature: a critical approach. Routledge.
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2017). Affandi | Javanese artist. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved
19 November 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Affandi
Herbiga, U., Styhler-Aydın, G., Grandits, D., Stampfer, L., Pontb, U., & Mayer, I. (2017).
Digital Workflows For Restoration And Management Of The Museum Affandi-A Case
Study In Challenging Circumstances. International Archives of the Photogrammetry,
Remote Sensing & Spatial Information Sciences, 42.
Sothebys.com. (2017). Affandi and His Portrayal of Life. Sothebys.com. Retrieved 19 November
2017, from http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/eye-on-asia/
2016/09/affandi.html
Tan, B. H. (2013). Three trends in contemporary art from Southeast Asia. Artlink, 33(1), 37.