Papuan artist Dicky Takndare, known for his realistic and beautiful paintings, has gone in a new direction with his current work. Dicky’s wood bark paintings are now on display at the “Indonesia: The Land of Art” exhibition at The Apurva Kempinski Bali in Nusa Dua. His use of the naturally dark bark from beringin or melinjo trees gives his artistic expression a unique slant.
A Striking Creative Move by Dicky Takndare
The ambition to experiment with new forms of expression led Dicky Takndare to choose wood bark as his medium of choice. He aspires to provide audiences a new way of looking at paintings. Dicky, a Papuan who grew up in Sentani and whose family is from Maluku, discusses his interest in the use of wood bark as an artistic medium.
He emphasises the unique features of wood bark as opposed to the more commonplace canvas. “Wood bark boasts a rugged, porous texture and arrives with its inherent, earthy brown hue, effectively functioning as an inbuilt canvas foundation,” Dicky says.
Dicky Takndare, The Revealing of Sacred Symbolism
Dicky’s newest works have an iconographic quality, but also a deep spiritual undercurrent. In a spiritual setting, “I want to investigate iconography,” he says. Dicky’s goal in creating art is to get people to look at familiar symbols in new ways. Moreover, he hopes that people will use his art as a springboard for a deeper introspective and spiritual exploration of iconography.
An Eternal Passion for Creativity
At an early age, Dicky Takndare began his career as an artist and quickly rose to prominence. His career corpus of work has been included in dozens of major museum exhibits throughout the world. Dicky, thinking back on his childhood. “I began my artistic journey in Papua during my elementary school years, motivated by a personal aspiration.” Later on, I was taught by a number of masters and mentors.
Dicky stresses that wood bark, his medium of choice, is easily accessible and not only in Papua but elsewhere as well. The bark of the beringin and melinjo trees are his favourites to use. He also claims that almost any kind of tree may be used as a blank slate for his creativity.
Dicky, however, is aware of the significant distinctions between painting on wood bark and canvas. These variations are most noticeable in terms of texture and the natural, earthy brown colour of the wood bark, which emanates a certain historic charm.
A Successful Quest for Creativity
National and international shows have been milestones in Dicky Takndare’s creative career. In 2021, he nominated for the Sovereign Asian Art Award. And then, in 2022, he nominated for the Afield Network Peer award.
Dicky, humbly, does not put a monetary value on his extensive corpus of work. His ultimate goal, though, is quite clear: he wants to see Indonesian art thrive and grow. I can’t even begin to count how many pieces of art I’ve created. A large corpus of work; I won’t say hundreds or thousands. Maintaining our inventiveness is of paramount importance. Finally, for the sake of all Indonesian artists, I pray that they are able to stay healthy and productive for as long as their work is meaningful to them.