Rich creative fodder
Whereas classical art emphasizes beauty and harmony, contemporary art often aims to make the viewer think. The economies, political systems, and societies of Southeast Asia have seen dramatic changes over the last 40 years. Contemporary art’s embrace of social issues means that it too has experienced explosive development. Artists have processed this simmering cultural fodder into Southeast Asia’s freewheeling contemporary art.
Sunshower (2017), by Thai artist and filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and artist Chai Siris, is a case in point. A four-ton manmade elephant suspended in midair, it is a shocking piece of art. Apichatpong excels at using light, and placed a round light source in front of the elephant to symbolize the moon. A close look at the sculpture reveals details such as the hair and the wrinkles in the skin. As the color of the “moon” changes, so too does the elephant’s expression, its half-closed eyes seeming both asleep and awake and giving it a lifelike appearance.
The piece was exhibited in the section of the show entitled “Between Development and Inheritance.” A sacred symbol in Thailand, the elephant has in modern times been reduced to a mere tool for attracting tourists. The artists seem to be asking viewers: “How should modern humanity coexist with the environment?” Lee says that the struggles birthed by modernity aren’t unique to Southeast Asia, but are faced by all postcolonial nations. The colonizers brought modernity, along with values such as democracy, the rule of law, freedom and convenience, but other things of value were undeniably sacrificed or discarded in the process.
In Heri Dono’s Badman (1991), nine Indonesian shadow puppets point guns at a tenth puppet, also with a gun, leaving the viewer to guess which side is in the right.