Jakarta’s National Gallery of Indonesia is currently presenting Oesman Effendi through both artworks and archival material. I like exhibitions that refuse to separate the finished object from the traces surrounding its creation. A painting may appear self-contained once it reaches a museum wall, but sketches, letters, photographs and documents can reveal a much less orderly process. Archives remind us that an artistic career is not a straight line of masterpieces. It is made from experiments, discarded directions, friendships, arguments and unfinished thoughts.
