Balance & Relative Truth

In the Balance & Relative Truth series, Widi Wardani Purnama seeks to visualize the concept of “balance” through his paintings. The initial idea emerged from his empirical experience of appreciating various artworks encountered at different art events. This idea gradually evolved and crystallized through his spiritual experience of contemplating Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 216. One translation of the verse reads: “You may dislike something, even though it is good for you, and you may like something, even though it is bad for you.” The verse highlights the notion of balance between positive and negative aspects across various dimensions of life.

For Widi, balance is not merely a matter of equality or equal weight. Rather, it also embodies justice and wisdom in placing everything in its proper proportion. The concept of balance explored in this series invites us to approach various issues from a comprehensive perspective, free from excessive prejudice, and to refrain from making hasty judgments about what is good or bad. Ultimately, the notion of balance proposed by Widi can be understood as a practice of genuine appreciation in everyday life.

In developing this series, Widi employs a strategy of quasi-appropriation, in which he selects small fragments from the overall compositions of artworks he appreciates and enlarges them until they occupy the entire picture plane, creating a close-up perspective. In this exploration, Widi draws references from Vincent van Gogh's Vista De Paris Desde Montmartre and Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant), as well as Mark Rothko's painting Dark over Light/Earth/Violet and Yellow in Rose.

Through this approach, Widi appropriates the vivid colors, dynamic objects, and expressive visual qualities found in Van Gogh's works, bringing them into dialogue with the flat, minimalist, and restrained visual elements characteristic of Rothko's paintings. Rather than simply extracting and enlarging fragments from these works, Widi reinterprets and transforms them to construct new compositions and visual impressions. The encounter between the contrasting visual characteristics of these two artists creates a dialogue between dynamism and stillness, complexity and simplicity, ultimately giving rise to a new visual experience of balance and harmony.