On Tuesday May 28th Readytex Art Gallery and visual artist Sri Irodikromo welcome guests at the opening of her second solo exhibition named Sri@, at De Hal.
Sri Irodikromo, an artist well known for her large batik pieces and mixed media paintings in which she often incorporates Surinamese women in traditional clothing as well as symbols from the various Surinamese cultures, treats her public to a surprising new collection. In Sri@ she once again focuses mostly on women, but not in the same way as before. She chooses to concentrate on the faces of the women. “In my previous works I also paid attention to the faces of the women I painted, but lately I’ve had the urge to work with only the faces.” For this exhibition she gives in to that urge. On large canvases she paints, predominantly in profile, beautiful faces of Surinamese women, their heads adorned with elaborate headscarves or coverings.
Aside from the focus on faces, another feature that stands out in this new collection is the daring use of color. Whereas the artist previously used one or two main colors in her work, she now, especially in one of the series with faces, boldly combines several bright colors, creating a visually striking and captivating collection. On and around the faces, the compositions are artfully completed with circular shapes inspired by the Amerindian maluana, colorful square brush strokes and as usual, countless cultural signs and symbols as well as gracefully added details in batik, embroidery and stencils. These are after all characteristic to the signature of Sri Irodikromo and throughout the entire collection, however different, they remain a strong identifying presence.
In yet another eye-catching series, red, black and white are the dominant colors. Although not a conscious choice, the three paintings in this series, mainly because of the white -as though covered with pemba- faces and the dramatic blood-red surrounding them, have a strong ‘Winti-vibe’ to them. Add to this the mysterious expression on the women’s faces and the dripping paint, and the work breathes a mystical atmosphere and an elementary force, which as a viewer is impossible to ignore. And whether consciously or subconsciously, Sri Irodikromo admits that she has always been fascinated by the Winti culture.
The biggest surprise however may be the long and narrow monochromatic canvases with a semi-abstract composition of black lines. The inspiration for these was obtained from the sketchpads in which Sri draws her ideas and the initial concepts of her paintings. Since people are generally intrigued by the beauty of those sketches themselves, she decides to take this basic concept and transfers it onto canvas on a much larger scale. She creates a diptych with a simple yet graceful composition of stylized flowers and a four-part series depicting a combination of symbols from the various local cultures. The collection in Sri@ furthermore consists of several beautiful wajang inspired paintings, a series of more abstractly executed paintings of kotomisis and a number of smaller works. As always, Sri Irodikromo succeeds in flawlessly turning her artistic ideas and inspiration into a rich, powerful and fascinating art collection!
Sri@, the solo exhibition of Sri Irodikromo is open to the public from Wednesday the 29th of May until Sunday June 2nd, from 19:00-21:00 hrs, at De Hal, Grote Combéweg 45.
For more information and/or visual material please contact Readytex Art Gallery by telephone on +597 421750 or e-mail at [email protected]
Sri Irodikromo