Exhibit shows the phenomena of the urban painters

Exhibit shows the phenomena of the urban painters

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): Galeri Milenium in Jakarta organized a painting
exhibition recently titled Urban Community Phenomena.
Participated in by 15 painters, the works on display certainly
varied widely.

With such a too-wide and floating theme, the exhibition was
only felt as a change of title, without attempting to show an
urban paradigm, whether in the manifestation of the creations or
in the artists' behavior. Perhaps it would have been more
appropriate if the theme "urban society" were changed to "urban
painters" because the exhibition featured the works of a number
of painters, not of different professions.

The phenomena is interesting as it happens when exhibitions
and painting business are centered in cities. Since the painting-
art boom of more than 10 years ago, artists have gotten more
chances to exhibit and market their works to art lovers and
certain classes of society who grow in metropolises like Jakarta.
Lately in Jakarta, almost every day there are painting
exhibitions with the works for sale, especially in hotels and
office buildings.

With such a trend, a number of painters are pushed to urbanize
and gamble with their fate in big cities. An urban-mentality
attitude for each modern society that doesn't want to miss an
opportunity. That also does not look to slip away, influencing
artists' behavior, and this symptom can roughly be seen in
several tendencies of certain groups of painters.

First, there is a group of painters who attempt to adjust
themselves to the appreciative condition of the society of art
lovers. This group is usually very tolerant of the market laws
rather than of the dictum "art for art's sake" and "personal
expression". To them, a work of art is alive, a source of living,
to provide sustenance for themselves and their families.

And more so, they already realize that life in a big city like
Jakarta has proved be hard, where dreams and art romanticism are
forced to be buried. In the manifestation of their creations they
follow society's taste. The painting style portraying the legong
dance, mother and child, still life, scenery (especially rice
fields), are the favored themes. So it is reasonable if we see
often a reminiscence in the manifestation of their creations.

In this group there are always artist wannabes who also have
the technical capability but who do not let this field become a
living. So we also find several celebrities, rich mothers,
government officials or businesspeople who paint. The success of
these artist wannabes is often more profitable because their
social status has been welcomed by society. (Ratih Sanggarwati,
Triwatty Marciano, Firman Ichsan, Dewi Motik and some others do
not let their fate depend on this profession).

The second group of painters are those who tend to follow the
taste of the era and attempt to fit in with the development of
contemporary art in their own as well as in foreign countries.

If they rely solely on painting, they will also always face
contradictions or dilemmas. On the one hand, they want to get an
avant-gardist degree, pioneer, but on the other hand, they also
want society to "make them live".

In short, they are always in a condition between following the
"buyer-market" and the "discourse-market", between a name and
money. This situation is not only experienced by urban artists
nowadays, but also by modern artists in general.

The third group of painters believe in "self-expression",
without caring about the "discourse-market". But they care about
money. The target they want to achieve as an urban painter is how
art lovers (of course not only love without money) appreciate
their self-expression, no matter whether its manifestation is
really expression or not.

Contradictions and dilemmas are also often experienced by this
group. To support their art and themselves, they are forced to do
other jobs, whether as a land broker or merely making an
illustration for the mass media. This kind of choice is
considered more honorable than just accepting an order of
photograph painting or "prostituting oneself" by painting things
that are not in line with their self-expression.

The fourth group are those who are clever in lobbying and
cooperate with companies and office buildings. They accept orders
to paint for the need of office art, like banks, hotels and other
buildings. Because the orders are big, the prices of the works
they supply are usually far from the market standard that counts.
In this case, they are sure that a painting is no different from
a design or another commodity.

This reality is a phenomenon that characterizes urban
painters, although in general they do it silently. Contemporary
painter Irawan Karseno, who also participates in urban society
exhibitions, could be said to be the most realistic about the
reality of metropolises. He puts upside-down the values by
attaching the profession to his name-card as an "art trader", and
in that way he is freed from the load as an artist.

The fifth group are those who are established painters. Their
works are widely welcomed. Financially, they are secure.
Therefore, also, they are finally nailed to their style because
it is that style that makes them live and grow.

The Ancol Art Market is a good example of an urban painters'
community. There we can find painters of different origins,
backgrounds, motivations and styles. Because they choose that
place as to make a living, people consider them as mere traders.

In fact, the urban reality of Ancol Art Market does not make
their creativity stagnant, especially when we have seen the works
of Sapto, Munadi, Achmad Syahri, Cubung and many others. They
realize that to become urban in this metropolis, they must be
willing to face the market reality, although they ought not to
sacrifice quality of art or follow the taste of the market.

So, this is where we find the group of real urban painters.