Go Tik Swan, batik guru from Solo

Bambang M, Contributor, Surakarta

In the Spirit of Indonesia, a book published by the Indonesian Batik Foundation, Go Tik Swan is referred to as "the most respected batik artist from Java".

"He is the guru for batik experts all over the world and he is also the teacher of the writers of this book," Joop Ave, the former minister of tourism, post and telecommunications, wrote in the book's overleaf.

The guru of batik experts from all over the world? That statement may sound exaggerated, but the 71-year-old guru, whose full name is Kanjeng Raden Temenggung Hardjonagoro Go Tik Swan, deserves the commendation.

Go Tik Swan said a person could never be a really good batik artist unless he or she was an expert in Javanese culture.

"People who can dance traditional Javanese dances are generally good learners of the art of batik," said the Chinese- Indonesian, who is well-versed in Javanese culture and considers batik his mainstay.

In his backyard in Kratonan, Surakarta is a bamboo building that he uses as his batik workshop. There, a number of old women are busy at work.

His creations have found their way into the collections of various museums in Australia and Europe. Among his masterpieces is one called the Batik Parang Mega Kusuma, which he dedicated to Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was vice president.

Go Tik Swan is well-known as a seasoned batik designer. His style is in fact a mixture of the colorful motifs from the north part of Central Java and the sogan motifs of Central Java's south area.

Sogan is a batik coloring technique in which only the colors of the wax are used and nothing else.

Etty Soeliantoro Soelaiman, the chief of the local batikmakers association, Sekar Jagad, said that Go Tik Swan was one of Indonesia's most respected creators of motifs.

Go Tik Swan attributed his role in batik to Megawati's father, first president Sukarno, who wanted him to help preserve the various ethnic batik motifs from the different parts of Java.

The artist met Sukarno at the time he was studying Javanese literature at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta. In 1954 Sukarno attended the university's anniversary party and Go Tik Swan performed a Javanese dance called the Gambir Anom, which made a deep impression on the president.

"When my name was mentioned, Bung Karno (as Sukarno is affectionately called) was very impressed because the dancer was Chinese," he recalled.

Sukarno met him backstage and there their friendship began. The president asked him to help organize the monthly Javanese shadow puppet play (wayang) once a month at the State Palace.

Later, Sukarno learned that Go Tik Swan came from a rich batik family in Surakarta.

One day, Sukarno asked Go Tik Swan to make him a batik which was "typically Indonesian", and that he could proudly show off to his foreign guests.

Go Tik Swan had no reason to refuse the request of the statesman he admired the most.

"It was like a sacred mandate that I had to do," said the artist, who was born in Surakarta on May 11, 1931.

Although he was well-educated, Go Tik Swan did not go the technical route to fulfill the president's assignment by doing library research on Indonesian batik. He went instead to northern Java's batik centers, such as Tuban, Demak, Cirebon and Kudus.

At every town he visited, Go Tik Swan not only observed the arts, but also looked for spiritual guidance by meditating in sacred places, such as the Great Mosque of Demak, the tomb of Sunan Bonang in Tuban and the tomb of Sunan Gunung Jati in Cirebon.

His spiritual journey for typical Indonesian batik led him nowhere.

Then in 1955, he met with Tjan Tjoe Sien, an expert in Javanese culture, who invited him to Bali. There they stayed at the home of Walter Spies, a Dutch painter in Campuran village, Ubud.

Every night, Go Tik Swan meditated in a cave near the Dutch artist's residence.

"One night while they were sitting on the verandah, I saw the full moon fall down on me and explode. Strangely, I was the only one who experienced it," he said.

So he went home the next morning, feeling confident that the concept for the typical Indonesian batik that president Sukarno ordered had formed in his mind.

"In 1970, my account was written down by Veldhuizen, a Dutch batik expert in his book Blomen van Het Heelal," said Go Tik Swan.

Go Tik Swan maintains his relationship with the Sukarno family. When he celebrated his 70th birthday, Hartini, one of the wives of Sukarno, gave him a photograph of her and Sukarno, and Megawati gave him a crystal glass.

For his dedication to batik, he received the Budaya Bhakti Upradana award in 1993 from the Central Java provincial government. The Surakata palace bestowed on him the royal honorific title of Kanjeng Raden Temenggung (KRT) Hardjonagoro.

Batik is not his only area of expertise. He is also well- versed in Javanese culture, especially the history of the kris, architecture and archaeology.

In his early years, he learned batik from the artists working for his parents' batik company. From them, he also learned the Javanese dances.

In recognition of his contributions to Javanese culture and batik, he was named a member of the Surakarta Institute of Arts' (STSI) board of experts.

In this way, he has become an important source of information for both local and foreign experts on batik and Javanese culture in general.

As an archeological enthusiast, he fashioned his house after a museum, with antiques placed in all the rooms. In 1985, he donated 45 ancient statues from his collection to the government, knowing that these artifacts should be under the government's protection.