The success of Art Dubai, which staged its sixteenth edition last month, can be attributed in part to its inherent policy of championing artists who are broadly underrepresented in the wider art world. Often these artists showcase skills, practices and traditions that are dying out, lost to technology's rapid advancement across the globe. In some cases, they'll use these skills to highlight whole communities that are suffering the same fate, where the blame lies not with technology but with humankind.
Impassioned Indonesian artist Maryanto, who utilises a scratching technique similar to etching to bring his canvases to life, used his display space at Art Dubai to highlight an environmental and social issue dear to his heart and homeland. "My primary concern revolves around individuals in South Kalimantan who have lost their land and forests," he explains.
Maryanto reveals the tensions that lie within these lands through a tedious method of layering and scratching. "I start with a linen canvas and apply white gesso, before covering the entire canvas with black acrylic paint. I then scratch away lines on the black surface to reach the white underlayer and reveal my paintings."
"I find black and white to be a powerful and direct medium that captures the essence of my artistic vision," outlines Maryanto. "My inspiration comes from the Indonesian Mooi Indie paintings popularised during the Dutch colonial era, which depicted Indonesia as a tropical paradise, full of exotic beauty. However, my work seeks to contradict these once idyllic spaces that have been corrupted by systems of power and instead depicts the hearsh reality of the exploited landscape and the destructive capitalist scene that has resulted in a dystopia.
