Batik painting: Success story from the past

Batik painting: Success story from the past

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

For visitors, Yogyakarta is not only one of the country's
ancient cities but also the center of batik painting. But its
popularity as the city of batik is on the decline.

Almost 10 years ago, galleries displaying batik paintings were
found in almost every corner of the city. For visitors, buying a
piece of hand-made batik was proof enough that they had visited
the place.

Times, however, have changed. In the past few years, almost
all of the villagers from Kampong Taman Sari, located near the
Yogyakarta royal palace, earned a living from making or selling
batik paintings. Now, less than 10 households earn an income
based on the ancient profession and only a few showrooms and
galleries and a course in batik-painting still survive.

"At least there are some people who still carry on the
profession as batik craftsmen, part of our culture handed down
from generation to generation," 41-year-old batik painter
Supriyatno said.

Supriyatno has spent over half his life making batik
paintings. He began crafting batik from his early years in senior
high school when he lived with his parents, who were also batik
painters in Taman Sari village.

Life seemed to be so easy for batik-painting craftsmen those
days. Earnings from the sale of batik paintings were more than
enough to pay his school fees at the Yogyakarta-based Institute
of Indonesian Arts (ISI) and his living expenses.

Also from the sale of his works, he was able to buy two plots
of land where he then built a house and a gallery. But
unfortunately, that success did not last long. In the early
1990s, he was forced to sell his house as the popularity of
batik painting had started to fade.

He also had to close the gallery and subsequently turned it
into a place for his wife and three children to live. "This house
is but a memory of the batik painting glory era I once
experienced," he says.

Yogyakarta is the original location of batik painting. Painter
and famous choreographer Bagong Kussudiardjo, batik craftsman
Kuswadji and painter Aming Prayitno are among the few who, in
1960s, invented a new painting technique through the adoption of
batik-making techniques.

Thanks to those veteran artists, batik, which used to be
merely a raw material for traditional clothing, especially
Javanese costumes, began to receive recognition in the early
1970s as a work of art, displayed in large galleries or offices,
along with other modern paintings. In a way, batik painting has a
unique color quality that ordinary water-and oil-based paints do
not possess. A small batik painting can fetch hundreds of
thousands of rupiah. A batik painting that uses fine cloth can
sell for millions of rupiah.

Batik painting was very popular in the 1970s when almost every
batik painting gallery in the city was always packed with both
foreign and local tourists.

Famous artists such as F. Agus, Bambang Utoro and Amri Yahya
attained popularity due to their outstanding batik painting work.

The popularity of hand-made batik paintings, however,
encouraged large-scale batik producers to use modern printing
technology to reproduce batik paintings. Machine-made batik
paintings were mushrooming and could be found at almost every
corner of the town, priced at only Rp 15,000 to Rp 25,000 each.

"Without detailed knowledge of batik, people can barely tell a
hand-made batik painting crafted in accordance with traditional
batik-making methods," a veteran batik craftsman from kampong
Taman Sari explained.

Despite such a problem, many galleries still display and sell
hand-made ones. But the sharp decline in foreign tourists during
the past two years has further damaged the business. Some have
closed and many batik painters have had to change their
profession due to the slump.

"However, I believe batik here will never die. It is part of
our culture and will always remain close to our hearts,"
Supriyatno said expressively.

The hard times currently being experienced by batik craftsmen,
he says, will probably turn out to be a kind of "natural
selection" of genuine batik craftsmen, whose work is original,
authentic and creative.

Supriyatno, who has experienced both the ups and downs of
batik painting, insists on devoting his life to the profession as
a craftsman in batik painting. Although business is not as good
as it used to be, orders still keep coming in. "Many foreign
buyers still come here and buy," he said.

For Supriyanto, creativity would not end simply due to the
declining market. Supriyatno and his colleagues have, for two
years, developed a new type of batik painting to cope with the
market slump.

His new creations are still related to the manufacture of
handmade batik paintings. The difference is only in the use of
the painting materials. In his new creations, he uses a woven
eceng gondok (water plant) as the medium for his batik paintings.

Supriyanto's new batik painting style has attracted curiosity.
He has, for example, been invited to display his new paintings at
an exhibition to be held in The Hague, the Netherlands, early in
July.

"One day I will again have my own batik painting gallery;
that's been my dream for years," he says.