ORGANIC MIND by MANTRA
“ORGANIC MIND”
Oleh : MANTRA
Pembukaan : Senin, 10 Januari 2011, Jam 19.00 wib
Pameran akan di buka oleh : Bpk. Dewa Budjana
Pameran di tulis oleh : Sugi Lanus, Luki Prang, Wahyudin
ORGANIC MIND music perform : Kamis, 13 Januari 2011, Jam 19.00
Music perform oleh : Mantra, Yonas, Wukir, NO’ART (Lombok)
Pameran berlangsung : 10 – 28 Januari 2010
Membaca Mantra Organic
*Sugi Lanus
‘Organic’ thinking is thinking based on the perception of wholeness of people, relationships, and of the earth itself. It is thinking that seeks to join together and to unify, rather than to break things down into discrete parts. ‘Organic’ thinking looks at life as a series of smaller wholes within larger wholes. It forms the foundation for a life in which nothing is separate. – Julie Redstone, ORGANIC MIND AND BINARY MIND
Mantra adalah produk garis panjang tradisi manusia Bali yang menekuni jalan seni sebagai pilihan hidup. Ayahnya pelukis ternama Bapak Pengsong, seorang pelukis Bali di Lombok yang ternama. Dari garis ayahnya ia punya silsilah panjang, yang bisa dirunut sampai abad ke abad 16, ketika para bangsawan Kerajaan Gelgel dan Amlapura, beserta bala tentara dan seniman, bermigrasi ke Lombok Barat. Dari komunitas Bali di Lombok, Mantra menyerap nuasa estetik Bali, di tengah kecenderung ekslusif masyarakat Balok (Bali-Lombok) untuk untuk mempertahankan garis tradisi dan agama.
Dari kecil Mantra menyerap secara visual kehidupan ayahnya, seorang pelukis dan sekaligus guru seni. Ayahnya adalah guru gambarnya yang pertama. Karena ibunya yang berasal dari Ubud, salah satu desa seni di Bali, Mantra juga memiliki kanal untuk bersentuhan dengan dunia kesenian tradisi di Ubud, baik musik dan visual. Di masa liburan sekolah, Mantra sering ke Bali.
Dari rumah yang memberinya akar kesenian tradisi Hindu Bali, dan dari dunia lukis semi-tradisional yang disuguhkan ayahnya itu, Mantra melanjutkan ke sekolah seni di Batu Bulan, Gianyar-Bali, bersama sepupunya (dari garis ibu) Pande Ketut Taman, seorang pelukis muda Indonesia yang kini namanya sangat dipertimbangkan dalam peta dunia lukis Indonesia.
Mantra menguasai teknik lukisan klasik dan drawingnya dengan mahir. Sebelum masuk sekolah seni formal, kelas 4 SD ia telah memenangkan lomba gambar dan mewakili NTB untuk berlomba di tingkat nasional. Disana ia mendapat mengakuan nasional. Karya-karya awal mantra ketika masih siswa di sekolah seni, dengan mengekplorasi teknik lukisan klasik Bali dan tema-tema tradisi seperti Legong dan Barong, terlihat sangat kuat. Namun ia tak berhenti di sana, ia bergerak dari kemampuan teknik lukis tradisional dan drawing ini ke cara ekspresi personal yang dia terus rumuskan.
Dari segi akustikal, Mantra berkemampuan memainkan instrumen gambelan klasik Bali. Ia bahkan punya seperangkat gambelan di studio musiknya. Tapi ia, sekali lagi, tidak berhenti di sana. Ia beralih memainkan gitar elektronik, synthesizer , dan musik yang diaransemen sendiri dengan komputer. Main gitar, merekam dan mementaskan musik perpaduan instrumen klasik dan modern, adalah pekerjaan sehari-harinya di studio musik di rumahnya. Rumahnya telah berubah menjadi salah satu tempat mangkal para pemusik, dari kalangan pelajar hingga pemusik tua.
Seperti rumah mantra yang terbelah menjadi dua, di bagian depan studio lukis dan belakang studio musik; dalam diri mantra, gairah akustikal dan visual ini berebut-rebutan. Saling berbagi ruang dan menjadi dua pintu energi kreatif mantra.
Mantra mengemari perangkat solfware dan website. Ia mendesign website dan seni grafis yang berbasis kemampuan memahami dan mengoprasikan komputer, plus memerlukan selera estetik. Ratusan bahkan mungkin ribuan karya grafis di laptopnya memenuhi sudut memori komputernya. Ia banyak membantu kenalannya merancang website dan poster, spanduk, baliho, hingga kartu undangan pernikahan. Ia “mempaten diri†dalam nama domain website-nya: www.mantradigital.com Dari sini tampak jelas “nafsu kreatifâ€-nya untuk merambah dunia digital.
Kalau ia tidak awas membagi waktu antara melukis, main musik (recording), dan “bermain komputerâ€, kemampuan dan pencapaian estetiknya yang telah ia raih bisa terancam mengalami selisih waktu (time conflicting). Ketakhadirannya beberapa tahun terakhir dalam dunia seni rupa Indonesia bisa jadi karena kesibukannya melayani banyaknya bakat dan kemampuan yang ia kuasai.
Dua tahun terakhir tampaknya Mantra berhasil mengurai dan mendamaikan semua muara dan pintu-pintu kreatif  itu menuju sebuah “perumusan estetikâ€: ORGANIC!
Warisan dari tradisi Bali – mitos dan ritual, agama dan tradisi – ia  telusuri secara filosofi dan rumuskan, dan Mantra pada titik kesadaran bahwa YOGA mewakili aspek visual garis tradisi itu. Energi akustikal yang dia serap, ia temukan “perwakilan figuratifâ€-nya pada sosok JIMMY HENDRIX. Yoga adalah trend yang berakar pada teknologi ruhani (“pengetahuan tradisionalâ€) ribuan tahun ke belakang di tanah India. Jimi Hendrix di satu sisi menjadi icon “pengetahuan urbanâ€, ia merayap di tengah pencarian dirinya yang “urban†(untuk pengganti kata “modernâ€), mempelajari dan mengasah skill-nya secara otodikak. Ia simbol pencapaian anak kota Amerika. Ia urban dan mampu mengkristalkan dirinya menjadi “sesuatu†dan “seseorangâ€. “Pengetahuan urban†dan “pengetahuan tradisional†adalah dua sayap yang bisa dipersatukan secara Organic. Ia bukan sayap kiri atau kanan yang harus beroposisi, Mantra mendamaikan yang akustikal-urban (Jimi Hendrix) dengan yang visual-tradisional (Yoga) dengan cara mengeluarkannya dari dua kotak itu dengan “cara pikir organicâ€.
Mantra lewat pengalian ini, pertama-tama berdamai dengan seluruh energi dan bakat kreatifnya (visual-akustikal, tradisional-urban, yoga-hendrix), untuk dipersatukan dalam cara pikir yang tak terbelah (non-dichotomic). Ia keluar dari kerja kreatif yang berbasis binary mind (kiri-kanan dan dikotomi pikiran), menuju pembebasan diri ke proses kreatif dengan organic mind. Ia dengan gigih mempertemukan semua energi kreatifnya secara cohesif dan membebasakan diri dari terinterupsi dikotomi.
Mantra, lewat karya-karyanya di phase ini, seperti bandulan jam di keheningan malam, menggelayut kiri-kanan, tidak membentur tapi berhitung dengan dirinya.
*Sugi LANUS adalah peneliti budaya Bali yang secara intense mengikuti proses kreatif Mantra selama 5 tahun terakhir.
Reading Organic Mantra
By Sugi Lanus
‘Organic’ thinking is thinking based on the perception of wholeness of people, relationships, and of the earth itself. It is thinking that seeks to join together and to unify, rather than to break things down into discrete parts. ‘Organic’ thinking looks at life as a series of smaller wholes within larger wholes. It forms the foundation for a life in which nothing is separate. – Julie Redstone, ORGANIC MIND AND BINARY MIND
Mantra is a product of the old Balinese tradition, in which art becomes way of life. His father, Bapak Pengsong, is a famous painter and an art teacher. From his father’s line he has a long pedigree that can be traced to the 16th century, when the nobles of Gelgel and Amlapura kingdoms and their armed forces and artists migrated to West Lombok. From the Balinese community in Lombok, Mantra has absorbed the aesthetics of Bali, amid the Balok (Bali and Lombok) society that tends to be exclusive in keeping their traditions and religions.
In childhood Mantra absorbed visually the life of his father, from whom he for the first time learnt drawing. His mother came from Ubud, one of art villages in Bali so that he also had interaction with the traditions of Ubud, both its music and visual art. During school holiday he often went to Bali.
Bringing the roots of Balinese-Hindu traditions and the semi-traditional paintings of his father, Mantra continued his study in an art school in Batu Bulan, Gianyar – Bali, with his cousin (from his mother’s line), Pande Ketut Taman, a young painter who is now highly regarded in the world of painting in Indonesia.
Mantra masters classical painting techniques and very advanced drawing skill. Before attending art school, at 4 grade of elementary school, he often won awards in drawing competitions and represented West Nusa Tenggara to compete at national level, resulting in national appreciation. His earlier works during his study in art school show strong influence of Balinese classical painting techniques and traditional themes like Legong and Barong. However, his works do not end at this level, his personal expressions then enrich his following works.
In music, Mantra is able to play traditional Balinese gamelan instruments. In fact, he has a set of gamelan instruments in his music studio. But again he does not end with it. He also plays electric guitar and synthesizer. He composes his own music with computer. Playing guitar, recording and playing music composed of combination modern and traditional music are his daily works in studio at his home. His house has been converted into a hangout place for students and musicians.
Like the house, his studio is split into two parts; the front part for painting studio and the back part for music studio. In his soul, musical and visual drives keep competing to each other. However, they share room and make two doors for his creative energy.
Mantra is good in mastering computer software, especially graphic design applications. He is able to design websites. Perhaps, there are thousands of his graphic design works stored in his computers. He often helps his friends to design websites, posters, banners, business cards wedding invitations, etc. He patents his name on his official website www.mantradigital.com. Here, it is clear that his creative drive wants to explore digital world as well.
If not clever in allocating his time for painting, music and computer, his ability and aesthetic achievements can be threatened as he undergoes time crash. His absence within the last few years in the world of Indonesian visual art could be due to his time of serving his other talents and abilities.
The last two years it seems that Mantra has successfully unlocked and reconciled all his creative doors and entered into an “aesthetic conception†of ORGANIC.
He explores the legacy of Balinese culture – myths and rituals, religions and traditions – in philosophical way. Mantra realizes that YOGA represents the line of visual tradition. In the musical energy he finds his “figurative representation†in Jimmy Hendrix. Yoga is rooted from spiritual technology (traditional knowledge) dating back to thousand years ago in India. Jimmy Hendrix has become an icon of “urban knowledgeâ€, representing a struggle for self-identity through learning and sharpening his skills in a self-taught way. He is the symbol of achievement of American urban youngster. He was so urban and able to crystallize himself into “something†and “someone†of high value. “Urban knowledge†and “traditional knowledge†are two wings that can be united organically. Each is neither the left wing nor the right one that competes to each other. Mantra reconciles the musical-urban (as represented by Jimmy Hendrix) and the visual-traditional (Yoga) by putting them out of their boxes through “organic way of thinkingâ€.
Through this exploration, Mantra first makes peace with all his energy and creative talents – visual art and music, traditional and modern arts, yoga – and integrate them into an indissoluble way of thinking. He gets out of creative work that is based on binary mind (left-right and dichotomy of mind), to self-free for creative process with organic mind. He strongly meets all creative energy cohesively and frees himself from interruption of dichotomy.
Mantra with his works in this phase, like pendulum of a clock in the silent night, swinging left and right but not colliding the clock’s walls, it thoroughly considers it own move.
*Sugi Lanus is a researcher of Balinese culture, who intensively follows Mantra’s creative process in the last five years.
‘Organic’ thinking is thinking based on the perception of wholeness of people, relationships, and of the earth itself. It is thinking that seeks to join together and to unify, rather than to break things down into discrete parts. ‘Organic’ thinking looks at life as a series of smaller wholes within larger wholes. It forms the foundation for a life in which nothing is separate. – Julie Redstone, ORGANIC MIND AND BINARY MIND
Karya ORGANIC MIND by MANTRA
Display ORGANIC MIND
Pembukaan ORGANIC MIND
Organic Mind music performance
