Amri Yahya, a batik trailblazer<\/p>\n
Ridlo Aryanto, Contributor, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Of the countless letters that Amri Yahya has received, the most
\nmemorable was the one from Fuad Hassan, then Indonesia's
\nambassador to Egypt.<\/p>\n
In his very poetic letter dated June 1976, Fuad offered
\ngenerous praise for Amri's batik works exhibited at the embassy's
\ngallery in Cairo.<\/p>\n
"It is obvious from your paintings that you were a child of
\nthe river and the steep mountain slopes, of the sun and the moon,
\nthe plants and grasses. You welcome life from the banks of the
\nMusi River and now even in the valley of the Nile, people are
\nliving witnesses of your life-filled works." Fuad wrote in his
\nletter.<\/p>\n
"Indeed I love very much my home village in Ogan Ilir. My
\nhouse is close to the lowlands, rivers and swamps. That's why
\nmost of my paintings, especially batik, have nature as a theme,"
\nsaid Amri, who was born in Sukaraja, Ogan Ilir, southern Sumatra,
\non Sept. 29, 1939.<\/p>\n
He studied art at the Indonesian Arts Academy (ASRI, now
\nrenamed ISI) in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Amri aspired to be a painter as a child. In 1956 he went to
\nYogyakarta after telling his mother, Zaenab, that he would like
\nto study the art of batik.<\/p>\n
It has gone down in the history of Indonesian art that Amri,
\nout of his deep love for traditional batik art, produced in the
\n1960s and 1970s, large-sized paintings in the batik medium.<\/p>\n
His experiments with batik, which he calls the "black and
\nwhite" technique won recognition as his original characteristic
\nstyle, particularly in the perspective of contemporary batik
\npainting.<\/p>\n
His black and white batik paintings were first exhibited in
\nthe Nong Gallery, San Francisco in 1974. To boost the level of
\nIndonesia's batik, Amri sold his paintings at Rp 5 million a
\npiece and found buyers.<\/p>\n
Affandi, one of Indonesia's painting maestros, once commented
\non Amri's achievement with his batik art.<\/p>\n
"Now Amri has successfully placed himself as one of
\nIndonesia's contemporary artists. Amri has become the pioneer for
\nthe development of Indonesia' batik painting art," Kompas daily
\nquoted Affandi as saying in its Aug. 10, 1976 edition.<\/p>\n
Even in the 1970s, the history of Indonesia's art noted that
\nbatik paintings with a thematic tendency influenced by Amri's
\nstyle experienced a boom. Many Indonesian artists, well reputed
\nor just novices, copied his style.<\/p>\n
Many of them signed their paintings with different versions of
\nAmri's name, such as Amrin Yahya or Amir Yahya.<\/p>\n
If you visit the art village at Taman Sari or Prawirotaman,
\nYogyakarta, we can see some paintings showing Amri's style in a
\nnumber of galleries.<\/p>\n
In fact, the painter made a switch in his art principle
\nwithout reason. "Apart from my curiosity, I always cherished my
\nambition to innovate batik... after I realized every time I
\npainted something realist, I felt that I was always repeating
\nthings and got bored. I often painted series of works under the
\ntitle of Lebak or Lebung," said Amri, who is also a visiting
\nprofessor at Iowa University in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, apart from being established in the batik
\npainting world, Amri is also a very dedicated teacher. In
\nYogyakarta, he has been teaching since 1967 at Yogyakarta State
\nUniversity (formerly Teachers' Training Institute), ISI and the
\nIndonesian Islamic University as well as Sunan Kalijaga State
\nInstitute for Islamic Studies.<\/p>\n
He also taught batik art at Oklahoma State University (1974)
\nand became a visiting professor at Iowa University in 1986. In
\nrecognition for his strong dedication to teaching over a span of
\n35 years, Amri was endowed with a honorary doctorate degree, a
\ndegree rarely earned by other artists in Indonesia, from the
\nYogyakarta State University in May 2001.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 2, 2002, Amri was named professor of art education at
\nthe School of Language and Art at Yogyakarta State University.<\/p>\n
"Really, I have never imagined that finally I will become
\nprofessor. For me, painting and teaching are both a manifestation
\nof religious services and a dedication to humanity," said Amri,
\nwho has four children from his marriage with Sud Sri Susamti.<\/p>\n
With an outstanding reputation and his work as a professor,
\nwhat other hobbies or goals might Amri still aspire to?<\/p>\n
"I long to see Indonesia with a proper national gallery. My
\ndream is that each provincial capital has an art gallery. The
\nNational Gallery in Jakarta, like a mirror reflecting the face of
\nthe Indonesian art, shows only one eye, instead of the whole
\nface," he said.<\/p>",
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