My mural "Lajering Kembang Sinesep Peksi" is part of the Mural Festival Kampung Taman and located in the neighborhood of Taman Sari or Water Castle, the royal garden of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. The title comes from a javanese chronogram devoting the Javanese year of 1691, when Taman Sari builded : lajering, "core" for 1; kembang, "flower" for 9; sinesep, "suck" or "drink" for 6; peksi, "bird" for 1; the sentence can be read as "birds gathering nectar of the flower".
The artwork is deeply inspired by the mystical/mixed dutch-javanese architecture of Taman Sari, the famous Water Castle of Yogyakarta.
I had the idea to use exclusively charcoal directly on the wall to create the main figure... I usually work a lot with that media, but this was my first time I drew with charcoal on an exterior wall and actually it applied really well, the result is more than I expected!
I started by creating layers of charcoal and protecting them daily with a varnish. The whole process lasted 2 week. It gives this sense of "sketch", which makes the artwork on the wall really interesting and alive.
I started by creating layers of charcoal and protecting them daily with a varnish. The whole process lasted 2 week. It gives this sense of "sketch", which makes the artwork on the wall really interesting and alive.
Materials: charcoal, acrylic, silver leaf.
Size: 230 x 230 cm
*The artwork is highlighted by details of silver leafing
