Dede found his artistic calling by chance

JAKARTA (JP): When he was a little boy, Dede Erie Supria wanted to be a teacher like his father. But in one of life's ironic detours from the planned path, he became a painter, a profession he had never considered seriously.

Originally from Jakarta, Dede left his hometown in 1974 to enter the High School of Fine Arts, also known as SESRI, in Yogyakarta.

"My goal was simple," he says. "I just wanted to learn to draw and be a teacher or whatever. Coincidentally, my father was a teacher. I never thought of becoming a painter. I came from a family who liked to work hard, so I just worked with a great dedication toward painting. I loved to paint since I was little, but never dreamed of being a well-known painter."

He had little appreciation for his own works at the time. "There was a leak in the roof one rainy day, and I patched the hole up with one of my paintings. I don't know where the painting it now. It was of a violinist. We would pile the sketches in newspaper and sell them. Everyone who stayed around my neighborhood, Gampingan, was like that."

Dedi was just following the example of students of the Academy of Arts, who had to produce hundreds of sketches for their mid- year exams. "Some students would go to Kota Gede and sketch gold houses. We would do about 15 sketches at a time. After that we didn't care. Gendut Riyanto would come and collect the paper, and pile it up with newspapers to sell for wrapping paper."

Gendut Riyanto is today a respected painter and author.

Dedi focused on his art ("I loved to sketch, it was like smoking to me") at the expense of his grades.

Students would form groups and exhibit their works in other regions to promote the school. "Every August 17, we would go to the regions, even to East Java, and set up kiosks and exhibited in their night markets," Dede remembered.

Their extracurricular efforts were never acknowledged. "Our grades remained poor and I was disappointed. I tore up my report card in front of my teachers, and threw it away. Then I left SESRI."

In 1976 Dede returned to Jakarta to make money. Through friends, he met S. Prinka, who brought him to Tempo magazine, the country's most prestigious newsweekly at the time.

"I got my first commission for the cover on Cinta Pertama (First Love), the film with Slamet Rahardjo and Christine Hakim, but we changed the figure of Slamet with comedian Benjamin Suaib so it was a humorous caricature."

He said Tempo, especially its editor, Goenawan Mohamad, helped him a lot in his work. The publication was banned in 1994.

Portraits

Dede toiled long hours to produce cover illustrations using poster colors.

"Many were portraits of important figures. I would start at 9 a.m. and work until very late at night. If I did not finish the work, I would continue it the next day, and sometimes I would even spend the night there. Occasionally, the cover would be canceled after I had finished it because the main story had changed, and I then I would have to redo it."

Dede also received many other commissions, including graphic design work for the advertising agency established by S. Prinka and Wagiono Sunarto.

"I was so busy after getting commissions from them. However, I still had to return to Yogyakarta. My things were still there and so were my paintings. I was spoiled as there was lots of work, making packaging for cakes and so forth. I forgot painting at that time, but I had a lot of money. Finally, I stopped and went to Yogyakarta. In 1979, I commuted between Yogyakarta and Jakarta, and finally moved to Jakarta."

Dede Eri Supria made his mark on the Indonesian art scene in 1976 during the Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia (New Indonesian Fine Arts) exhibition at the Balai Budaya, Central Jakarta. The painting is primarily a self-portrait, depicting the painter standing in front of a slum somewhere in Jakarta's Kota area. Today the painting hangs in the Museum Seni Rupa Jakarta at Taman Fatahillah, West Jakarta.

"I took the image from a magazine, I don't know which one, although actually it was not so long ago. It was very interesting, so I tried to do something with it. That became the starting point of my style. I didn't have a camera, so I always asked a friend to take a picture for the self-portrait."

Dede began to work with photographs after leaving the fine arts school.

"When I studied at SESRI most of the work was done directly without photographs. I often drew using a mirror. In school we just concentrated on technique, drew still lifes, self-portraits, Chinese temples, monuments and landscapes. Abstract, decorative, or any style which obtained the Wendy Sorensen award would be followed by students."

Dede had never considered the possibilities for photorealism until he joined the new fine arts movement.

"My eyes were opened and I began to see. We could make use of tools, so we just used photographs. Finally I borrowed a camera, because I could not afford one."

The revolution influenced painters from Yogyakarta and he realized the painters were already thinking in a unique and progressive way.

"At the time art which was gila-gilaan (crazy) was already spreading. My views have been nyleneh (twisted) since then," he said.

Dede's self-portrait received an offer of Rp 600,000 from the Jakarta Municipal Government. He discussed the offer with other members of the group, including Jim Supangkat, Bonyong, Ati Subangun, and F.X. Harsono, because none of the other paintings had sold.

"Mbak Ati said 'don't let it go, the offer is too low', but Bonyong said, 'you haven't sold your work, just give it to them!'" Dede said. He finally agreed to the price, and was paid. As the exhibition was continuing, he was obliged to treat his friends. Before he knew it, the money was finished.

After being hung in City Hall, the painting was given to the Museum. While being moved to its new gallery, the painting crashed to the floor from the easel. Fortunately, it was undamaged.

Process

Completing the painting had been a feat in itself. "My room was 3.5 x 2 m so I could not paint with the canvas laid out. I took the canvas off the easel, and just nailed it on the wall. I stretched and nailed it, so it was not very tight, but what could I do? So I painted one part, and once I reached another part, it would be difficult, so I would fold if that way, and I would nail it again and continued on that part, and so on."

He says he continues to adapt to conditions in making his work. "The way I paint has always been like that. I would have to bend myself like this, I accept the conditions and make do. Since way back in Yogya, I have always propped up my paintings on paint cans. I don't know why, but I think that some painters in Yogyakarta also do the same thing. We make do with what we have."

Dede still works the same way he did 20 years ago, and he still has to contort himself and juggle the positions of his picture canvases to cover their expanse.

Dede Eri Supria can be likened to a sturdy old-fashioned company which sticks to its tried-and-true ways for handling business. Like a solid company, Dede's "value" has soared; his paintings, with their meticulous attention to detail and often poignant commentary on contemporary Indonesia, today fetch 50 times the Rp 600,000 price tag of his first sale. (Amir Sidharta)