Exploring Yogyakarta's alternative galleries

By Bodewyn Brands

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Although Yogyakarta is the home of the National Art Academy, and with about 80 universities a center of art and education in Indonesia, there are not many galleries where one can see what artists produce today.

This is in comparison with a city such as Amsterdam where 150 galleries are to be found with a population of about one million inhabitants. According to Neni of Kedai Kebun, "There is no place to exhibit here in Yogyakarta." A gallery also has an related, educational task: it should show the public what an artist does."

Regarding this, Neni added that people usually see mass produced goods in shopping malls. In an art gallery, they can see individually created works. Some of these can make our brain work harder to understand the work or confront us with fundamental questions about life and other issues, so the mental experience is very different.

When asked how many additional galleries could be opened in Yogyakarta, given the number and quality of artists, Neni answers "No Idea." We concluded that an additional 20 would be welcome and really make Yogya a center for contemporary art.

Oda Teda Ena, an artist, is not of this opinion. According to him, there are ample opportunities to exhibit. Besides, the galleries there are public places such as Taman Budaya, Bentara Budaya, Museum Vredeburg and a number of hotels that are available too.

If, for an individual artist, the cost of organizing a solo exhibition is above his budget, he can always join a group where the contributions of many can lead to a group exhibition.

An example is Kelompok Sepi in which 30 painters cooperated and held a group exhibition in Museum Vrederburg last year. Oda himself will exhibit his work in combination with Philip Morris Award winner K. Dhaffy Dhoa's paintings in Bentara Budaya for one week starting on Saturday, Feb.10. What Ouda really misses, however, is a gallery where one can see the art history of Yogyakarta.

With galleries that we describe here, we mean places that show "high brow" art, not painting shops. The easiest way to tell the difference is that what we usually consider to be a good gallery provides documentation and an explanation about the artist's work and describes the art formally in conformity with internationally-adopted styles.

Furthermore, such a gallery may take the risk of showing something that it feels to be good art more than a handsome picture that looks good above the sofa in a living room. The final choice of what can be seen in a gallery is obviously determined by the owner and here idealism, as in Neni's case, may match the need to create income.

The number one gallery to visit in Yogyakarta is Cemeti Art House on Jl. DI. Panjaitan 41, Yogyakarta 55143 (close to supermarket Maga (Phone and fax: 0274 371015, cemetiah@indosat.net.id). This gallery was founded in February l988. Opening hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Mondays. There are eleven monthly exhibitions per year, well- planned in advance.

A good number of works are kept in stock so any collector with limited time has a good chance of finding something to his liking.

Very close to Cemeti (around the corner on Jl. Tirtodipuran 3) and a good place to review the books and documentation bought there is Kedai Kebun, a place that combines a Gallery with a cafe and restaurant and where one can also buy very reasonably-priced woodcuts. The gallery contains not only an exhibition but also literature, music and a theater. In March there are literary activities and in April and May exhibitions by artists Nandang Gawe (from Bandung) and Bob Yudhita Agung (Yogyakarta). Kedai Kebun also edits a magazine to which one can subscribe, Halte (kedaikebun@yahoo.com). Opening times: 9-3 p.m. and 6 to 11 p.m.

Jl. Tirtodipuran is an interesting street to walk along as it connects with Jl. Prawirotaman, a tourist center, where there are many different styles of houses to be seen. Also one can check out the new location of Galeri Astuti (phone: 0274-372987).

This gallery set up by the artist of the same name has existed already for 30 years and is now run by the artist's children, one of whom, Andy, has also studied at the Indonesian Fine Arts Institute (ISI). Some works of promising young artists can be found here but documentation is very scarce.

In Jl. Prawirotaman itself you can find the small Via-Via cafe that also exhibits contemporary arts.

This former location of Cemeti Gallery was rented by a Dutch art collector who wanted to make the place available for young artists as well.

Potential collectors can check this place out when they go to the same street to visit the Cemeti Foundation. Here one can find documentation on contemporary Indonesian art.

The Foundation has just issued a book Outlet which discusses the role taken by Yogyakarta in contemporary Indonesian art.

Galeri Gelaran, Jl. Manukan MG III/273, Karangkajen, Yogyakarta (same street and same side of the road as Yogya Village Inn and as such not far from Prawirotaman) is a gallery opened first in December l999. It was set up by painters Dipo Andy, Nugroho Wantoro and other artists.

The manager, Rain Rosidi, studied at ISI to be a sculptor but now spends his time organizing his small business art group, Gelaran. Besides the gallery, it also consists of a bookshop (Kubuku) and a publishing house named Artiline, which among other things, translated Claire Holt's book Art of Indonesia into the Indonesian language.

Galeri Omah Dhuwar, Jl. Mondorakam 252, Kota Gede, Yogyakarta (0274-374952) is mainly an antique shop housed in an ancient and interesting building. You might go there should you wish to combine the trip with a visit to the many silver shops in that area.

Air Art house, Jl. Puntadewa, Gg.Malabar 5, Sorowajan Baru, Yogyakarta: the first exhibition opened on 30 January 2001 with works by Syahrizal Pahlevi, Bob Yuditha Agung and Alpha Tejo.

Galeri 9, Jl. Pringgodani 9, Demangan Baru, Yogyakarta: this gallery looks like one that will last and will change the gallery scene in Yogya. The soft opening was in November last year with an exhibition of photographic works, the reason being that the owner feels that photography, as fine art, is not yet accepted as such in Indonesia. So, Agus Leonardus, a photographer and initiator of this gallery, combines idealism with clean commercial thinking.

To enable the gallery to survive and make it possible to exhibit "difficult" art or art by good but unknown artists, he also sells works of already famous artists.

This works well as he also networks effectively and can persuade the best collectors to come to his gallery. As such it might become the "Santi-gallery" of Yogyakarta, but in a more modest way.

Commercial success is not the most important thing for the last gallery discussed here: Gallery Benda, Jl. Kemetiran Kidul 62A (east of Malioboro), phone 0274-512010, benda@angelfire.com. The gallery is run by Satya Brahmantya who chooses the artists and then discusses with others about his choice. The space was allocated by Bram's grandfather who wanted the house to have a social-educative purpose. The gallery specializes in "difficult" three dimensional art.

The writer is an art collector based in the Netherlands