Dede's painting success came as a big surprise

Dede's painting success came as a big surprise

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.

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."

Conditions

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)