In his rather cramped studio in Kampung Baru, West Jakarta, large canvases are on display, and Saptoadi is chatting in a relaxed and open way with the writer in their office that also serves as his painting studio. "In the Tujuh Bintang ArtSpace launching this August, I was inspired once more by the final project," Sapto says.All these experiences embedded themselves in the contemporary painter's memory. He like anatomical painting using virtual models, he won many local painting competitions in and around Jogja and Jakarta. He also enjoys going on long journeys on foot, taking his sketchbook to capture the objects he encounters – usually humans.
The exhibition is very exotic: We are invited to explore the imagination of women with erotic bodies. Bright colors and pop motifs compete for our eye's attention. Sapto cleverly distorts the dimensions of the human body, stretched and supple, as if weightless, in zero gravity. Bodies that are minimally clothed in flesh suddenly soar, flying and glancing off lines they pass by. We are entranced, gazing at silhouettes and the dimensions of fabric that extends, wraps and resembles human bodies or is it the reverse?
Here is a beauty, the flyingman holding woman behind. The two are united, forming a certain configuration with their bodies that suddenly changes them like a wave, ready to drown them. This painting is truly enchanting. Sapto loves harmony and composition that please the eye; see how carefully he places the bodies and divides up the space.
Many of the works are quite similar: cute faces bathed in bright colors. But some are a bit different. Sapto gives us a bit of symbolism. Vague, softblue shadowy figures in the background of the "perfect" body of a woman, naked and squirming. Sapto admits, "I enjoy presenting the beauty of women's bodies, these figures; I guess I, and other men, like to explore, or maybe to exploit, women's bodies." Tells us about women and their courage in facing the obstacles of the "social walls" that trap them. The main object is a woman being protect from behind by the flyingman.
