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.