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Lot Essay
From my balcony is a delightful display of Affandi's expressionistic style in its most whimsical and spontaneous. His signature technique of smearing and daubing on the canvas is curiously, seemingly contained with clear outlines for his subjects such as the thatched roof on the upper right corner of the composition, the sculpture on the balcony itself, the trees and the cloud which gives a sense of caricature to the present lot. The composition is superbly balanced for the present lot, placing the triangle frame of the balcony in the forefront, Affandi creates a sense of perspective with the placement of the tree trunk just beyond the balcony that creates a sense of diagonal positioning. A sense of drama and theatre is suggested with the clear division of the space within and outside of the balcony, the one within is a spectator's space that is still and tranquil while the world beyond passes by before the onlooker in a fluff.
There we are, as onlookers we have a sense of being dashed off as if in the front row of the stalls. The scene before us has an uninhibited linear energy, combined with an element of ruthless intuition about how routines in daily lives occur, which makes them at once startling and irresistibly droll, hence in parts beautiful and endearing.
Clearly the present lot attains a plein air quality less commonly seen in the artist's darker and somber works exemplified by the typical cockfighting scene or the boisterous scene of Drinking Tuak. However to Affandi, the fluidity of the composition or the emotion of his subjects is often more important than the depiction of the effect of light on his canvas.
"He was more like van Gogh - a man of strong emotion, which in turn gave rise to works of art; the stylistic similarity between himself and van Gogh that people always point to was a matter of emotional affinity." (Astri Wright, Soul, Spirit, and Mountain: Preoccupations of Contemporary Indonesian Painters, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1994, p. 112).
It is therefore circumstantial that the present lot contains the impressionistic element where the effervescent light of the tropics bounces off from the canvas. The artist is not concerned with the representation of the variations of colours due to the effect of light and he painted outdoor mainly to capture the fleeting and spontaneous moment of activity which to the artist is very telling of the nature of life, and of him as an artist.
Similar effect is also created in Brooklyn bridge where the bustling activity on the bridge is immersed in brisk morning sun. Nevertheless, Affandi is more preoccupied in documenting the constant change of scenes that one is almost breathless in catching up with the 'business' presented before us. An artist with strong emotions who offers an interpretation, an opinion to his subjects, the style requires a more relaxed and hedonistic manner in painting, when the artist strips of all self-consciousness and let his most primitive senses reign.
There we are, as onlookers we have a sense of being dashed off as if in the front row of the stalls. The scene before us has an uninhibited linear energy, combined with an element of ruthless intuition about how routines in daily lives occur, which makes them at once startling and irresistibly droll, hence in parts beautiful and endearing.
Clearly the present lot attains a plein air quality less commonly seen in the artist's darker and somber works exemplified by the typical cockfighting scene or the boisterous scene of Drinking Tuak. However to Affandi, the fluidity of the composition or the emotion of his subjects is often more important than the depiction of the effect of light on his canvas.
"He was more like van Gogh - a man of strong emotion, which in turn gave rise to works of art; the stylistic similarity between himself and van Gogh that people always point to was a matter of emotional affinity." (Astri Wright, Soul, Spirit, and Mountain: Preoccupations of Contemporary Indonesian Painters, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1994, p. 112).
It is therefore circumstantial that the present lot contains the impressionistic element where the effervescent light of the tropics bounces off from the canvas. The artist is not concerned with the representation of the variations of colours due to the effect of light and he painted outdoor mainly to capture the fleeting and spontaneous moment of activity which to the artist is very telling of the nature of life, and of him as an artist.
Similar effect is also created in Brooklyn bridge where the bustling activity on the bridge is immersed in brisk morning sun. Nevertheless, Affandi is more preoccupied in documenting the constant change of scenes that one is almost breathless in catching up with the 'business' presented before us. An artist with strong emotions who offers an interpretation, an opinion to his subjects, the style requires a more relaxed and hedonistic manner in painting, when the artist strips of all self-consciousness and let his most primitive senses reign.