Soloevent.id – “Seeing, Loving and Cultivating” is a theme raised by the combined students of the Art, Batik, and Kris Study Program of the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Surakarta in the annual exhibition entitled Metaphor.

The exhibition that entered the 4th year was held at the Keris Nusantara Museum, for three days, Thursday-Saturday (3-5 / 5/2018).

Chairman of Metafora #4, Eka Wahyu Prasetya, revealed that the works displayed were very different from the previous year. “The difference last year is more contemporary and pop. This time it is more back to tradition, back to Java and ethnicity. It [His work] is very different,” he told Soloevent on Friday.

Although more laden with tradition, Metafora #4 is not limited to the realm of traditional arts, but also combines modern craft. In total there are 70 hand-crafted works of art on display such as batik, wood, glass paintings, clothing, and keris.

Besides being aesthetically and functionally, the works on display also use materials that are quite foreign to the general public. Examples are rocking flower lamps from mahogany and makrame (pineapple fiber and cotton); and also fashion items made of vinyl sungkai wood, vegetable tanned leather or chrome leather.

In line with the theme, through these works Metafora #4wants to convey three important aspects of the work, which is looking to find sources of ideas, familiar tools and materials to achieve craftworks, and animating every manufacturing process to achieve craftworks aesthetic.

Aside from being a benchmark for Kriya ISI students in their work, Eka also said Metafora #4 wanted to answer people who wondered what craft was.

“Craft is craft, whatever we make cannot be separated from handmade (hand skills),” he concluded.