Save the Land 1998

Nyoman Masriadi’s “Save the Land” is a large, square artwork teeming with activity; images and words hover in a space of layered marks and erasures. Can you imagine the artist in the act of painting this? Building it up, scraping it back, and starting again, I can really relate to that process! The colour palette is muted, like faded earth and bleached skies. There's a directness to the application of paint, especially in the raw, scribbled lines. Look at the repetition of the words; "Save the Land, Save the Live", these are clearly not casual afterthoughts. The artist is making a point and it is powerful. I'm thinking about Twombly and his own looping gestures and poetic graffiti. You can see a conversation happening across time, a community of artists building upon one another’s ideas. I wonder what Masriadi will make next. I'm intrigued!