IB Said the potrait painter to the high and mighty

IB Said the potrait painter to the high and mighty

By Linawati Sidarto

JAKARTA (JP): The bespectacled man sat hunched on an elevated,
makeshift bench, concentrating on a faded photograph of President
Soeharto, then returning his gaze to the oversized canvas in
front of him.

"Capturing Soeharto's face is both easy and difficult,"
commented IB Said in his studio, a dark, high-ceilinged, disused
fire engine garage in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

"He is gentle but serious. Just look at his mouth: it is often
between smiling and not smiling, the difference is very faint."

Said should know, as he has probably depicted Soeharto's image
more than anyone else. Since 1967, he has been the only painter
commissioned by the State Secretariat to paint the president's
portraits every time a foreign dignitary visits the country.

Jakartans get an eyeful of Said's giant depictions of the
President and world leaders, from Bill Clinton to Pope John Paul
II, adorning the city's main streets.

"I must have made hundreds of paintings of Pak Harto," he
said, using the colloquial address for the President.

People old enough to remember beyond the New Order era may
also have seen his handiwork on portraits of the late president
Soekarno, since he has painted for the state since 1961.

"Pak Karno has a very strong character, just look at his
piercing eyes," noted the youthful-looking Said, who will turn 64
this August.

Said joined the State Secretariat's decorative section not
long after he made his move to the capital from Yogyakarta, where
he had painted and taken pointers from senior artists such as
Trubus and Fajar Sidik.

"I just kind of landed there (the Secretariat), through a
network of other painters," he said, adding that there were
dozens of painters working for the Secretariat at the time.

The soft-spoken Said, born in Malang, East Java, of a Madurese
father and Javanese mother, started painting Sukarno and foreign
state visitors in 1962.

Describing himself as a self-taught impressionist, Said
admitted that his job was a challenge in the early days.

"It was not easy at first to paint giant portraits from
photographs. Imagine painting a face on a 4 meter by 6 meter
canvas."

One of the most important skills he learned on the job was to
adhere to strict, often impossibly short deadlines.

"When we get an order, the paintings have to be done by the
time the visitor arrives, no ifs, ands, or buts about it," he
said while puffing on a cigarette, his constant companion.

Said remembered that during the visit of Japan's Akihito and
Michiko, then still prince and princess, the arrangement of the
paintings at Jakarta's Merdeka Square had the princess' face
turning away from Soeharto.

"It was a miscommunication between the protocol officials and
myself, but it still meant that a new painting of Michiko had to
be done in a few hours. I stayed up the whole night for that."

While he emphasized that his interest lay strictly in art, he
felt blessed that he had indirectly followed history through his
work.

"Both (Rumania's Nicolae) Ceausescu and (Pakistan's Zulfikar)
Ali Bhutto happened to visit Indonesia shortly before they fell
from power.

"My friends teased me at those times, asking me why the people
I painted kept getting toppled."

He proudly pointed out that some dignitaries, including King
Juan Carlos of Spain and President Ernesto Samper from Colombia,
requested his giant portraits to take home.

When asked to compare working conditions between the Old and
the New Orders, Said flashed a smile and said, "As a painter, I
just do my job."

He did mention technical differences, for example that the
size of the portraits were reduced to 3 X 4 meters in Soeharto's
era.

"Also, as the country became more prosperous, we were able to
obtain better quality paint."

Said was recommissioned to paint for the state as the lone
portrait artist in 1967, after a two-year hiatus from work when
the country was in turmoil.

"At that time, there was criticism that portraits of a person
would vary as they were done by different painters. Finally, the
authorities commissioned me to coordinate all the portraits."

Since then, Said has worked on the portraits together with two
or three assistants. His wife, Karmiati, buys the calico cloth
used as his canvas, and sets it up in his studio. His assistants
sketch the portrait subject's outline with chalk.

"But I always paint the faces myself, as that's the most
important part."

It takes skill and practice to paint the foreign dignitaries
only from photographs, with limited knowledge of their
backgrounds or characters.

"It becomes a purely technical task. I try to make optimum use
of the photographs, constantly making sure of the likeness
between the portrait and the photograph, and asking other people
what they think."

He added that the task was harder when the photograph he
received was too small or out of focus, "which sometimes does
happen".

Said has also continued to do his own work, oil paintings
using a palette knife, which give his work their thick, swirling
images.

"I like observing people doing their day-to-day work, and
expressing my impressions on canvas."

The living room in his simple but comfortable Kemayoran home
is decorated by childhood portraits of his four children, all
adults now, and five of his paintings depicting laborers at work.

In contrast with his realistic portraits, the paintings on his
wall rely heavily on body contortions and colors, muted with
incidental splashes of brights.

His works have been shown in many exhibitions, including three
one-man shows, two here and one in Rumania.

He declined to say how much the state pays him for his
portraits. What about his own paintings?

"That one there," he said pointing at an oil painting of
workers carrying heavy loads down a steep mountain slope, "is
around Rp 40 million."

Said diplomatically declined to comment on the question of
presidential succession, reiterating that he did not get involved
in politics. But did he fear his job would end when President
Soeharto was no longer in power?

"I will still exist as a painter. I always believe that if one
door is shut, then another will open."

He referred to the tumultuous years from 1965 to 1967.

"Of course it was a difficult period. I survived by doing a
variety of things, including designing gardens.

"The only constant in life is change. We should not worry
about those changes as long as we rely on ourselves, and not be
at the mercy of other people."