Andrew Wellman

I drove slowly to limit spine damage from the mass of bumps and potholes shaking and rattling the ubiquitous Bali rental car; the Jimmy; the shocks were of course dead and the seats worn thoroughly such that the points of the springs would poke slightly and then not so slightly off the bigger bumps. I crept past Seminyak and then slowly through Kerobokan then took the turn off after Global eXtreme internet café where the bottleneck of traffic begins to subside and gives way to the hilly roads, less bumpy but still occasionally potholed, which then opens up to the lush green padi fields of Canggu. It’s in this part of Bali that Andrew has home & studio and what is the official residence of Stella; a dark brown Dane (as in Great and a quadruped) and perhaps the biggest dog in Canggu if not all of Bali.

We arrived at the residence of Mr. Wellman to be welcomed by Stella and a healthy portion of doggy drool. Andrew peered through the front door and came down to greet us, leading us through his garden and through his domicile.

Buddha pop

Walking through his home studio I gazed at some of his ever familiar Buddha (POP) icons and then at his surf paintings of giant waves and bright red boards. We moved through the airy and well lit studio and settled at the back of the house to a view of the padi fields surrounding and a tiny banana plantation that divided Andrew’s home from the next residence down.

We drank cool refreshing lemonade, sucked in some fresh air and delved into Andrew Wellman the Pop Artist. Born and, as he puts it, ‘bred’ in Melbourne, 1966 he waited till 1989 when he ‘escaped from completing an uninspiring degree and commenced traveling the globe.’

In 1998 he settled in Ubud to work and learn art world tactics with Symon, one of Bali’s most established artists, at his Art Zoo. This is where Andrew commenced painting and gave up being just a voyeur in galleries.

Andrew’s art is inspired by his excitement for such artists as Magritte, Whiteley, Matisse, and Warhol and he is also holds fervor with the 50’s, highways and BIG bold advertising. This jumps back out in his art, with paintings of Vespas and Cadillacs as well as a recent piece I saw of giant INDOMILK cartons and a Cow.

Andrew uses a variety of media in his art, from acrylics, dirty charcoals and sensual oils to print on canvas, tin, mirrors, rice bags and more. He has exhibited from Melbourne to Bali, Jakarta to Singapore and his art can be found at Randelli Gallery Bali, Seminyak (+62361) 73 1488 as well as Krane Art Gallery Ubud, Bali, (+62361) 97 5440. In Jakarta you can find his pieces at the JICC, Tamarind (+6221) 718 0031 and at Toi Moi in Kemang.

He describes himself as an autobiographical artist inspired by objects of beauty and loved ones. The man and his art are bold, straightforward, amusing and fun. He paints what he loves and that’s why you’ll find canvases of Stella chasing a ball at the beach leaning against the studio wall, a string of vespas scooting across a skinny canvas, surfers riding down ultramarine waves. Andrew paints what he does and does what he paints; a gentle soul with a permanent smile on his face, most definitely induced by his lifestyle. He enjoys art and living in Bali and he comes across as a man who is doing what he wants, loving it and ready to share his sense of good clean fun and beautiful things with the world. With Andrew what you see is what you get. Wellman’s art is direct, strong & vivid ‘like those classic pop songs that you love the first time you hear them…’

From KABAR October 2005

Share on Facebook

At the end of March 2006 my husband Alexander’s contract with an NGO based in Tobelo, North Maluku, came to an end and he received an offer of a new position with the same organisation in Meulaboh, Aceh. I was delighted to hear this news and began to imagine that I would repeat in Meulaboh what I had done in North Maluku, supporting the local arts scene and setting up strong networks and grass-roots arts organisations.

This was to remain a dream, as it turned out that Alexander’s position was an “unaccompanied” post. We decided that our daughter Rachel and I would be based in Medan, while Alexander would commute from Medan to Meulaboh each week. None of us were really happy with this new arrangement as this would be the first time that the family would be split between two locations and, basically, we enjoy each other’s company! However, it seemed the best balance that we could find within this new reality.

During the week leading up to our departure from Tobelo, Rachel cried almost every day as the reality hit of how much she would miss all her friends, her teachers and Efi-Efi primary school just outside Tobelo, all of which she loved so dearly. The incredible Halmahera landscape, too, we knew would tug on our heartstrings: the beaches, the myriad little islands and the magnificent views of ocean and volcanoes that had already become a part of our daily lives. Alexander and I took turns reassuring Rachel that we would definitely come back to North Maluku so that she could play with her friends again and visit her school. In reality, we both felt exactly the same as her and were not looking forward to wrenching ourselves loose of all the friends and colleagues or of the work we had both done for the wonderful two years and three months we had spent in Ternate and Tobelo.

As we landed in Medan’s Polonia Airport, my heart was beating fast. Medan, capital city of my home province, North Sumatra. Aside from passing through as a baby when my parents moved from Samosir to Bangka Island, where I grew up, I had only spent two years there between the age of 7 and 9 living with my maternal grandfather. For me it was still a mystery and it tantalised me with all the secrets I had yet to uncover. Medan greeted us with a hearty “Horas!”

A Medan street corner.

During the first few days the city succeeded in constantly surprising me. Medan, whether by design or accident, still contains a lot of great Dutch colonial buildings. ‘Old money’ neighbourhoods like Jalan Sudirman and Polonia with their decaying Dutch villas; Kampung Keling with its strong Indian flavour; Medan Baru with its long straight streets full of East Indies civil servants’ houses, and the formerly elite shopping street of Kesawan, have all been there since Medan’s heyday as the Dutch rubber capital. What made me quickly lose my heart to Medan was its diversity. I love Kampung Keling with its wonderful Indian food, multi-coloured Hindu temple and multi-ethnic population, dominated by the Tamils who have lived their as long as anyone can remember.

South Indian ladies of Medan.

Alongside those descended from one of South India’s largest ethnicities, live Bataks, Malays, Minangs, Hokkien Chinese, Javanese, Acehnese, Nias and many others. To my constant amusement, the population of Medan, regardless of ethnic background, speaks Indonesian with a strong Batak accent. I still can’t quite get over the experience of seeing Indians, Javanese and Chinese alike engaged in animated conversations in what I have always thought of as a dialect specific to my own ethnic group. Then, from the local dialect, to the multitude of languages to be heard on the streets and around every corner: Hakka and Hokkien, Tamil, Sindhi and Punjabi, the Toba, Karo, Simalungun,and Dairi variants of the Batak language, as well as the Malays speaking the Deli Malay on which Bahasa Indonesia was built.

There is also a miscellany of religions to add to the mix: Christianity (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox), Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Confucianism. All varieties of places of worship: for instance a Lutheran HKBP church, a Mosque, and the Gunung Timur Buddhist temple all amicably rub shoulders on Jalan Cik Di Tiro in Madras Hulu neighbourhood close to Kampung Keling. The smell of Confucianist, Buddhist, Catholic, Orthodox and Hindu incense mingles with the alluring aromas of dosai, naan and samosas from the Indian restaurants.

I had already been told by friends that Medan offered a food bonanza and they weren’t wrong! So far I have enjoyed Toba and Karo Batak lapo (eating houses), as well as Chinese, Indian, Minang Kabouw, Malay and Acehnese delicacies. Medan is a city where you can tour the world and its cuisines on a daily rotation!

Hints of Hinduism.

This is just the beginning of my adventure, but I am sure that there will be many more treats. My most recent discovery is the Annai Venkannai Hindu temple-style Catholic shrine! Who knows what’s around the next corner…

Grace Siregar is an artist based in Medan, Sumatra, where she runs Tondi Gallery, an art space for fresh and innovative contemporary arts.

Share on Facebook

gedungDUA8

The space evolved from a project in which two existing buildings were connected, to create a most delightful and varied architectural experience. Architect Andra Matin juxtaposes the primitive with the modern, using clean lines and elegant edges with rough unfinished surfaces to create a fresh and important edifice in today’s Indonesian architecture.

Dea Sudarman, documentary filmmaker and traveller, conceptualized geduangDUA8 as a place to share the experiences of various indigenous populations from parts of eastern Indonesia, whose lives she had witnessed through her work. Through her travels, Dea has amassed a diverse collection of hundreds of everyday artifacts from about 20 different indigenous populations, and has dedicated three levels of gedungDUA8 to present these pieces and allow the visitor a glimpse into their culture and way of life. The building offers a guided tour (in English) of the galleries housing these artifacts, which is accompanied by a viewing of one of Dea’s documentaries. You can get more details on booking this tour, and on the documentaries, from www.gedungdua8.com.

Gallery at gedungDUA8.

The galleries represent an important aspect of the spaces in gedungDUA8, as does the amphitheatre. However, the variety of spaces available extends to two rooftop terraces dubbed teras Mimpi (dream terrace) and teras Mandang (contemplation terrace) as well as host of elegant multipurpose rooms and more galleries with lots of fresh light as well as a public library, galeriMandu , which carries more than 1,500 titles on Indonesian arts and culture in Bahasa Indonesia, English, Dutch, German, French and Japanese.

The many spaces of gedungDUA8 must be experienced first hand, whether through a guided tour of the various galleries or mid-afternoon contemplation at one of the terrace spaces. The structure serves a multitude of purposes and is an edifice with an energy that is set to transcend time and grow in significance.

gedungDUA8 is located at JL KEMANG UTARA 28, Jakarta Selatan.
To book a guided tour or to rent a space at the building :
t. +62 21 71702049/52
f. +62 21 71791419
For more information
e. gedungdua8@cbn.net.id
w. www.gedungdua8.com

Share on Facebook