Arifien tells whimsical tales in art

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): One of the Kurawa brothers attempts to undress Dewi Drupadi by pulling her translucent selendang cloth, causing the vase on a nearby table to almost tip over. In fact, the entire table is also about to tip over. On the edge of the painting's canvas, another figure stands frozen, hopelessly scared, biting his fingernails, watching it all happen. This is the painter Arifien's interpretation of an episode from the Mahabarata epic. According to the epic, Drupadi's selendang becomes never ending foiling the Kurawa's attempt.

Dewi Drupadi is characteristic of Arifien's whimsical paintings, which are being exhibited at the Santi Gallery, South Jakarta, from Aug. 1 to Aug. 14. The witty anecdotes in his paintings are typically set within a conservative historical district. Hence, even though he depicts contemporary scenes, they have a certain touch of historicism.

The painter's ability to present fantasy, memory, and humor in his artworks is most likely the reason why his paintings are popular among collectors, both in Indonesia and abroad. Today, Arifien enjoys the representation of a bona fide gallery and the patronage of many prominent collectors.

The luxury he enjoys today has been a result of his hard work and dedication as an artist. But life has not always been so easy and enjoyable for Arifien. Born in Surabaya in 1955, Arifien moved to Jakarta in the 1970s. He was faced with a hard life in the city working as a mason.

"After sundown, I would retire from a hard day of work and paint," he said. Painting provided him with a refreshing retreat, rejuvenating his mental health and physical vigor. Therefore, his career as a mason advanced rapidly. From working on coarse masonry work, he soon became in charge of finer construction which relied on his craftmanship.

Arifien's eye for aesthetics was noticed by interior designer Budiman Sumanang who later made him responsible for arranging interior elements. Arifien became involved in an erudite circle of architects, interior designers, historians, and cultural literati.

It was Adji Damais, a historian and present director of the Jakarta History Museum at Taman Fatahilah, who introduced the young painter to books which included photographs of old Jakarta. These reminded him of the buildings around the Jembatan Merah area of his home town, Surabaya. The scenes sparked his interest in old colonial architecture. He started to study these buildings meticulously and before long they appeared as part of the scenes he painted. "My paintings have strong relations to the built environment, especially to old buildings, because they form the historic fabric of a city," he said.

Arifien was fascinated with the works of European artists like Matisse, Chagall, and Bosch, which he learned from books, and equally admired the paintings of Sudjojono, the pioneer of Indonesian art and founder of Persagi, the first Indonesian art institution. He associated Sudjojono's images of the Indonesian struggle for independence with his own struggle in establishing himself as a painter. Some of Arifien's early paintings seem to borrow from Sudjojono's elements, themes, and compositions.

Arifien's close friends call him Neif, the last syllable of his name spelt backwards. In Surabaya, reversing names like this has become common slang. The word also sounds like the Dutch word neef which means cousin.

It was only in the mid-1980s that Arifien took up painting professionally. After a futile attempt in entering an interior design business partnership with some of his friends, he decided to paint full-time. To maximize his performance, he formed an affiliation with a small but progressive interior decoration and crafts house in Jakarta. Under the management of Obin or Josephine Komara, the proprietor of Bin House, Arifien was no longer required to think about his living expenses, painting implements, and exhibition preparations. He was able to fully concentrate on painting.

New style

But his association introduced other demands. While in the past Arifien was able to spend an almost unlimited amount of time working on a single painting, in this new phase of his career he was asked to produce a certain number of paintings each month, due to an increase in demand. This completely altered the way he worked, and resulted in a new style. His brush strokes, presented in a palette of pastels, appeared lighter and swifter than before.

Later, Arifien established a partnership with the Santi Gallery which concentrated on paintings. This was under the leadership of art collector Joseph Solaiman. Arifien adopted compositions which he studied from books about modern masters such as Matisse and Chagall. His more recent paintings often depict "table by the window" still life reminiscent of Matisse.

Although his current paintings continue to present romantic historical built environments, the structures he portrays today no longer refer to particular existing architecture. Arifien no longer has the luxury of meticulously delineating the details of the buildings in his paintings. By the same token, the figures he paints today also appear less realistic. Using elongated figures, the painter presents anonymous characters in scenes of social interactions and relationships in theatrical settings of his own creation. Now he seems to rely more on his memory and fantasy. Nonetheless, Arifien's characteristic wit and charm is retained even in his most recent paintings.

Although Arifien's paintings are very popular among collectors, he remains left out from Indonesian art history. Indeed, Arifien never had any formal training in art and was never a member of any art association. Apart from the help of a few friends, he was basically a "loner" throughout his entire artistic development. He started to paint under the guidance of his friends and mentors. As he was self-taught, Arifien hardly had any acquaintances with art institutions in Jakarta. He only knew a handful of artists who based themselves at Taman Ismail Marzuki and Balai Budaya. Conversely, only a limited number of artists and art critics knew about him and his paintings.

Only those who frequented the exhibitions at Galeri Santi were familiar with his works. Art gallery representation has even led some art critics to presumptuously dismiss his talents as being merely commercial and unworthy of note.

But he couldn't care less about what his critics say about him. Completely dedicated to the world of art, he stacks his library with art books and makes time to visit exhibitions. All he cares about is his paintings. In the tranquility of his home, Arifien continues to paint his fantasies, set in places which stem from his memories of the natural rural and built urban environments which have so rapidly changed due to the country's overwhelming development. Ironically, Arifien conserves these environments in his gallery paintings, so that they can be enjoyed by collectors, many of whom have influenced Indonesia's economic change in one way or another.