"Affandi's paintings reveal an individual with a zest for life, one who marvelled at sunflowers growing in the wild, who was caught up with the drama of stormy seas and Balinese cockfights. His wanderlust propelled his many excursions overseas where the tourist in him could not but be seduced to capture the Eiffel Tower and St Mark's Cathedral in Venice. When he was not overseas, Affandi would make frequent painting excursions through the length and breadth of Java and Bali in his cherished Mitsubishi which he had painted yellow, crimson and black, the colours that appear most frequently in his paintings. Although he was by nature restless, he did not seem to tire of the usual stock of themes - the perahu and the sea, fighting cocks, the barong, lusty pot-bellied Balinese pigs, the beggars he regularly engaged to model for him. These he visited frequently in his paintings, releasing with each revisit a fresh vigor and urgency that came from a need to satisfy what Affandi himself described as "a hunger to paint". (Joanna Lee, "Affandi - A Hunger to Paint" in 12 ASEAN ARTISTS, Balai Seni Lukis Negara 2000, the artists and authors, Kuala Lumpur, 2000, p. 12).
With the present lot, it is not a repeated subject as those mentioned in the quotation although the scene certainly allows the play of the familiar swirling cloud, the water and the boats etc. Nevertheless the freshness of the subject offers an opportunity to play with his composites. More often than not, Affandi presents his subjects in a 'right in your face' manner which implies a single perspective with a direct gaze from the artist on his subject. Interestingly, the present composition offers 1 perspective which is 'embellished' with the structure of the bridge that creates an effect of multi-perspectives, enriching the view with multiple possibilities.
"Commentors have remarked on Affandi's free-spirited eccentricities in his approach to art making and to life. His eccentricities have indeed amused and intrigued many an observer; those who know him well concede to his ways with doting indulgence 'Affandi will always be Affandi' ". (Joanna Lee, "Affandi - A Hunger to Paint" in 12 ASEAN ARTISTS, Balai Seni Lukis Negara 2000, the artists and authors, Kuala Lumpur, 2000, p. 15).