Ardiyanto's hobby boosts sales of glass paintings
Ardiyanto's hobby boosts sales of glass paintings
Text and photos by R. Fadjri
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The residence of a batik entrepreneur,
Ardiyanto Pranata, is looking older than usual. He now has 50
antique glass paintings hanging along his upstairs hallway. They
are just part of his collection of 400 rare and master works,
many are a century old.
Like other folk art, glass painting is simple. One painting
depicts a train crossing in front of a Javanese-style mosque,
with a passenger's head poking out a window.
"The pictures look funny and naive, that's why I collect
them," says Ardiyanto.
His collection is made up of several series of pictures with
similar themes. He collects wayang images, Javanese-style
mosques, Javanese brides and bridegrooms, the bouraq bird
mentioned in Islamic history, and also Arabic calligraphy.
The quality differs: the mosques are done with rigid lines and
look like blue prints. Others are very figurative and reflect the
rich Javanese colors of green, yellow and black.
The pictures of mosques and the barong were done by coastal
people, like those in Cirebon, West Java and Gresik, East Java,
while wayang pictures are done by inhabitants of the Javanese
hinterland.
The paintings from the north coast express a more serious and
strong figurative style, while the colors in those from the
hinterland are raw.
Ardiyanto started his collection in 1974, after he saw many
glass paintings at the house of the Kompas daily cartoonist, GM
Sudharta. At that time, Ardiyanto states, villagers had one or
two of these paintings on their walls. Gradually, they began to
prefer calender pictures, and put the glass paintings under their
beds or in their cupboards.
Ardiyanto grabbed this opportunity. Once abundant, glass
paintings have vanished from markets because the painters are
disappearing. Ardiyanto found that he could buy paintings for as
little as Rp 500.
Half the paintings are damaged because of lack of care or
storage space. The paint has chipped off or faded on other glass
paintings. Ardiyanto has kept their original frames because "I
want to retain the paintings' rural character," he said.
Glass paintings don't last long. Ardiyanto explained that the
paint, usually made from stone dust, fades due to the high
acidity in the air. This also causes the paint to crack until it
finally peels off the glass. Other glass paintings have gold leaf
that after a while peels off.
At first, Ardiyanto acquired paintings easily because he was
known as an antique and art collector. People used to offer him
glass paintings, "but to get the really rare items I look in
remote villages," he revealed.
Ardiyanto searches throughout the Srandakan and Mayongan areas
in the Bantul regency of Yogyakarta.
Ardiyanto doesn't buy his glass paintings directly from the
artists but from villagers who bring them to markets. Traders
used to tote them around with their other merchandise on their
shoulders.
Glass paintings used to be highly valued and added to a house
owner's prestige, until the more sophisticated pictures came
along.
"Folk art generally doesn't bring prestige to people," said
Ardiyanto.
But, when he was interviewed on local television in 1978, many
people became interested and prices leaped from Rp 1,000 to Rp
40,000.
To meet the demand, traditional artists returned to their
work. Waged, 70, and Maryono from Muntilan in Central Java come
from a noted local circle of glass painters, Sastro Gambar, and
still use the block technique.
Many Japanese tourists like Waged's works, which can be bought
at the Sutanto Gallery in Mendut, also in Central Java. Prices
have adjusted to the tourist standard, and, depending on size and
complexity, range from Rp 25,000 to Rp 500,000.
Sulasno, a painter in Yogyakarta, likes to be innovative and
employs his sponge technique. After coloring the glass with oil
paints, he dabs his work with a sponge. Details of legends,
fables, animals, plants and wayang figures come alive in his
work.
Sulasno has also perfected an aging technique. He covers the
glass with a special substance before painting on it to make the
painting look old. His works have found a place among the real
antiques in Ardiyanto's collection. He also receives orders from
Australia, Holland and America.
Glass paintings are no longer toted on shoulders of the
sellers in the markets but are now sold at exhibitions and
galleries. Sulasno and Maryono last displayed their works at the
Bentara Budaya Jakarta building in 1992. Together with Waged,
Maryono also held an exhibition at the former Yogyakarta office
of the banned Tempo magazine.
"This is my livelihood," says Sulasno. As long as there are
collectors like Ardiyanto, the painters won't go hungry.