Biblical images rendered in intricate Javanese script

AT the Michael Janssen gallery in Gillman Barracks, you'll find 22 large paintings - 1.55m wide and 2.5m tall; almost the height of an average Singapore apartment - which bear the iconic Christian images created by Albrecht Durer (1471 - 1528). They include images of Last Supper, the crucifixion of Christ, the birth of Mary and the encounter of Joachim, Mary's father, with the angels.

But look closely at these paintings and you'll realise the images are not composed of ordinary lines and strokes. Instead, they comprise loops and curls which are the letters of the pallava script, a pre-colonial script used to write Javanese and several other native languages of Indonesia. Each canvas not only illustrates visually an episode of the Old Testament, it also narrates the episode in Javanese language using the pallava script.

Durer was one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance period and a contemporary of Raphael, Michaelangelo and da Vinci. The paintings at Gillman Barracks are near-exact replicas made by award-winning 39-year-old Indonesian artist Eddy Susanto. He says that he was "inspired by Durer who made a breakthrough in disseminating art and information throughout Europe before the arrival of the Gutenberg's printing press".