Title : Sign Fiction :The Art Of Nano Warsono
Author : Nano Warsono
Publisher : Langgeng Gallery
Edition : Pertama, April 2009 (500 exp)
Dimensions : 25cm x 21 cm
Pages : 203 + xxviii
Genre : Visual Book
KOMPAS.com - Sign Fiction: The Art of Nano Warsono, that's the title of this monograph. Nano Warsono, a visual artist from Gandul city, Wonogiri, who now resides in Yogyakarta, not only created an album of his works or a chronicle of his career in art, but also he translated his galleries of displayed works into a smaller medium: a book.
Through a book, Nano will transport his readers to linger in each of his work, to enjoy and contemplate each one. The book can be read over and over without the closing time of a gallery. Once the book is opened, the exhibition starts and is ready to be savored with different atmospheres.
With a book, Nano is expanding the opportunity for more people to 'read' his visual arts. It also means more opportunities for the messages in Nano's works to spread. And as usual for art, the messages are not explicit but hidden behind unreal symbols, fiction.
The fiction signs are presented by Nano in a series of chapters, which are dubbed by Hendro Wiyanto in the introduction as "single-panel-historic-fiction with pictures". Thus Nano draws readers to hunt the symbols by observing his journey in the world of visual art through Drawing & Comic, Painting, Mural, and Sculpture.
Though he employed various media for drawings, murals, sculptures, installations, and even paintings, but there is a thread that unites his works. And that thread can only by enjoyed if the book is read in sequence. Of course it's possible to enjoy this book in random order, - just as the works displayed in a gallery can be enjoyed in any which way, it's not necessary to start from a certain spot and end at another.
In the Drawing & Comic chapter that makes up two-third of the Sign Fiction book, it can be seen that the themes selected by Nano in his works are a kind of anxiety and rebellion against reality that he observed around 1990 till a little after 2000. It was a period during which he was still a student at the Indonesian Institute of Art (ISI), in Yogyakarta, and also the time of Indonesia's national leadership transition and economic chaos. This period seems gloomy and depressing in Nano's works. There is such anxiety and rebellion expressed through dark lines, spooky characters, and satyrical quotes.
Various aspects are presented by Nano in this chapter. Nano seems eager to show that the searching period that he went through with his drawings and comics is not only complicated by also heavy. There is a paradox to what he read and saw. The discrepancy between west and east. Nano saw the social effects after the western culture and globalization pervaded all aspects of life in Indonesia.
Nano saw that when humans bow to technology, when information is ruled by technology, when machines defeat humans and even urge humans to be more machine-like and to give up their humanity, Nano saw that all that was a reality whose meaning needs to be questioned.
Nano also questioned the meaning of being a hero in the onslaught of sophisticated technology. Then emerged superhero characters like Batman that turned into Badman. Or Osama bin Laden on top of all the superheroes like Superman, Spiderman, He-Man, and so on. There are superheroes who turn evil, and villains who became protagonists.
The Drawing & Comic chapter also shows how Nano was processed by experiences and reality, internally or externally. By highlighting objects such as a bottle, a body, and a tree, Nano could discern his personal turmoil regarding friends, family, lover, and self-identity. All the materials that he found mixed in his brain and came out looking for new meanings.
The unease in the book are also apparent from works that highlight objects like a book, religious symbols, names of philosophers, and patterns with mind-mapping characters. And also from quotes that he put on his images, such as "and rebelling is one effective way to survive against stability," or "I need something new, not ancient dogmas".
After enjoying a wave of worry and rebellion with nuances of gloomy black and white, readers will be come to enjoy Nano's paintings. In this part, Nano seemed to have recovered happiness and joy. Eye catching and dashing colors make cartoon characters look stronger and willful on his paintings. Here Nano starts to merge his works in a single cartoon character that he borrowed to deliver his rebellious messages against the reality of urban life around him.
The seven pages regarding Nano's murals give insight to readers to the depth and width of Nano's view that turned out to have high estethics as well as a clear message if expressed on a free medium like a wall turned. Nano's mural is located in Jepara, Yogyakarta, and in Sanfransisco.
Though few, Nano also sculpted. The sculptures he made around 2001 shows detailed ornaments. This is due to his Jepara heritage, which is famous for wood carvings. After 2006 the sculpture he made followed his drawings: comical with daring colors. In each of his works, Nano implores viewers to stop a while, think and find the symbols of messages that he's trying to convey.
His visual book ends with a discussion regarding Nano and his works. The interview transcript, which was done by Rain Rosidi (a visual art curator), shows how Nano sees the visual art. It also reveals Nano's philosophy in art. Nano's choice to be in the world of visual art, and the evolution of his works are also revealed here, along with a little of his profile. Here we can understand why and how Nano's works are so comical and detailed.
A minor shortcoming in Sign Fiction is that the Profile section and chapter titles are in English and without Indonesian translation. It's not a big deal, but just inconsistent. A bilingual setting might make Sign Fiction more acceptable for the visual art community in general. This book is recommended for those who love the visual arts and require extra visual references. But it can also be an alternative for fiction lovers.
As usual for a book, Sign Fiction also has a Prologue, or in this case a number of them. FX Widyatmoko Koskow (now a cover designer, a lecturer at ISI, and the visual editor of Sign Fiction) writes 'Wonderline' and 'Negotiative Lines'. Hendro Wiyanto (Curator) writes 'Post-Colonial Pop'. Arahmaiani writes 'The World of Comics in Nano Warsono's Works'.
The introductions are helpful for readers to gain a wholesome impression of the messages in Nano's works, however just like any work of art/literature it's more enjoyable to be consumed without the commentaries of other viewers. Ignoring the prologues is just like ignoring the endorsements on the back of a best-selling book.
Just open the book, and find the signs in fiction images that Nano conveys. Because after the ideas are put into a book, they are ready for the readers' critics. (Diana AV Sasa- writer of “Monumen Ingatan: 100 Seniman Indonesia Membaca Baca Bacaan”/C17-09)
