selected articles on  ~flight~ :  THE JAKARTA POST Daily  |  Thursday, 24 February 2005

LIE FHUNG'S VISIONS TAKE WING
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

Ceramics, as a form of art in Indonesia, dates back to the 1970s when the late Hilda Soemantri broke new ground while smashing a ceramic work to pieces and rearranging it as an installation that was the first of its kind in Indonesia.

Lie Fhung's installations of translucent porcelain wings in her current solo exhibition at CP Artspace may not carry that groundbreaking element, but there is a delicate subtlety that reminds one that she is among Indonesia's foremost ceramic artists, and is dubbed "the Mother of Ceramic Art".

Delicate wings made of white translucent porcelain are grouped in different sizes and variations to express her frustration at the obstacles in her flight toward wide, endless skies.

itled Invisible Cages, the installation of 27 cages, each 9 by 9 by 13 centimeters, hanging on thin wires from the ceiling, gives an impression of playful mobiles.

In fact, the pair of white translucent wings that are tied to the cages represent the artist's feelings at being shackled by her own situation: a Chinese-Indonesian who is considered neither Chinese nor Indonesian -- and a woman at that.

The notion of being "caged" is also palpable in an installation titled Self-Exiled, consisting of a row of upside-down wine bottles suspended from the ceiling.

Flight and freedom are two issues that dominate Lee Fhung's creative powers. She uses these with subtlety and a refined sense of esthetics, evoking in the viewer feelings of exaltation.

This is particularly clear from the installations titled Soaring 1.05, 106, 107, 108. Like delicate flowers blowing in the wind of a surrealistic landscape, or butterflies in a barren setting, the weathered stoneware pedestals from which the wings might depart reveal the artist's sense of the hampering realities of everyday life.

Her husband, philosopher Timothy O'Leary, sees symbolism in the way the artist has placed the stoneware pedestal standing on a black metal base that is finished in matt paint.

It draws no attention to itself, almost disappearing beyond the fringe of gallery lights. It is like the cultural context from which the artist creates -- against which she creates, and over which she wishes to soar, he states.

In the same vein, Lee Fhung symbolizes her "journey" in Wandering Souls. The hearts anchored to the stoneware bases are housed in boxes implying both a sense of mobility and her attachment to where she comes from, a kind of memory box. "People often carry with them the treasures of childhood," she explains.

Struggle is the only installation using canvas. Consisting of three pieces with overall dimensions of approximately 63 by 55 by 3 centimeters, the vagina linked to a fetus, the wings and a door marked by a pair of wings (or hearts?) with a coating of copper wire, the work is an expression of her struggle before deciding not to have children.

As the artist unfolds her powers of creativity and visualizes the dreams of a woman who imagines herself flying with widespread wings, it seems she is now well on her way to soaring high through the freedom of her art. Soaring 2.02, 30 by 30 by 30 centimeters, may look like a butterfly trapped in a mesh of curled wires, but the openings within this mesh clearly denote she is paving her way.

Born in Jakarta in 1969, Lee Fhung was considered to have artistic blood early in her young life, but only recently has she decided that ceramics should be her creative field, even though she is a graduate of the Fine Arts Department of ITB (1994). This does not mean that she has restricted herself to working exclusively with ceramics, for she likes to explore other materials and techniques, as evident from this exhibition.

As the debate on art and craft continues to engage the art world in Indonesia, there is no doubt that this has not had much impact on the artists themselves. Lee Fhung, for one, has made a firm choice of ceramics.

Her innovative explorations in combining this with other media and techniques represents an enriching element within the wider spectrum of the arts.
2005©Carla Bianpoen

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