In the opening scene of ‘Superman’ (1978), Krypton’s sun explodes, destroying the planet. The cave of crystals that the Superfamily calls home shatters, the planet is blown to smithereens. It’s not far off what’s happening in Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo’s big abstract works here. The Indonesian artist makes them by combining resin and Javanese volcanic ash, creating oozing grey works that are at once clear and murky, the ashes of destruction hanging frozen in time over vistas of cracked crystalline forms.
Some works combine photo imagery with the poured ash, but they’re the weaker ones. Your eye keeps trying to differentiate between photo and material, between the constructed image and the destruction implied by the ash. Much better are the works of pure ash and resin. These are dark images, unctuous with greys, blacks and browns. Written into every swirl and swoop is the history of the people who live in the shadow of impending destruction.
Downstairs, a video of dripping ash-flecked resin drags you even further in. It starts to feel oppressive, overwhelming.
With his one simple trick of painting with the material of obliteration, Sunaryo tells a million stories of his country, of nature, of creation and destruction. Just like Superman emerged from the shattered remains of Krypton, so these paintings emerged from the ashes of volcanoes.
