Irianese bark paintings carve out their own style
By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo
JAKARTA (JP): From Sydney to Stockholm, Irianese primitive art has gained its place as a modern decorative item in galleries and living rooms.
The most popular form of Irianese art is sculpture from the Asmat tribe, but others have actually developed into a more modern art form.
The main appeal of Asmat sculpture comes from the crude carving style, which has ironically also acted as a hindrance to its development.
In the few years since the statues become popular, sculptors from Bali and Java have succeeded in imitating the style. Now, visitors can easily find "genuine" Asmat carvings in Jakarta art galleries and meet the Javanese sculptor in residence.
Bark painting, another form of Irianese art, has undergone an interesting metamorphosis.
The traditional form uses bark from the kombo'u, a tree common in the highlands of the province. According to Samuel Kabes from the Irian Jaya Chamber of Commerce's representative in Jakarta, the kombo'u tree contains two layers of bark. It is the second layer that easily peels to be turned into a canvas.
After being pounded and cleaned of sap, the bark is sun-dried for a week. After a two-week-long processing, the bark stretches to as large as 0.5m X 1m.
The art is mostly popular among the Asei tribespeople who live by the Sentani Lake in Jayapura. They use a traditional means of coloring. White is gained from pounded sea shells, red is derived from the fruit of the areca nut or clay and black from charcoal.
Like other traditional art forms, bark painting used to be closely related to religious practices.
"Women of higher status in the tribe used to wear painted bark to religious ceremonies," said Samuel. Like many traditional societies, important rites of passages such as coming of age, birth and death are marked by the whole tribe.
Traditional painting themes are closely related to the tribe's daily activities. Animals like fish and lizards are also believed to have supernatural powers, with paintings occasionally serving as homages to these forces.
The arrival of newcomers to Irian Jaya has triggered a development in bark painting. Instilled with a better art knowledge, these outsiders are mainly interested in the uniqueness of kombo'u bark as a selling point.
"At an exhibition organized by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, many buyers were interested in this new innovation," said Hamzah Muin.
A Makassar native who has lived in Irian Jaya for the past 30 years, Hamzah will organize a tree bark painting exhibition to popularize the medium.
Although retaining tree bark as canvas, the modern bark painter uses arcylic paint.
"Bark has distinct characteristics compared to a normal canvass. At times, I need more paint," said Rizal.
Since it is still at an early developmental age, modern painting only takes form as panoramic paintings used as decorative art.
While the artistic value of modern bark paintings has yet to be established, natives of Irian have questioned the motive of such development.
"We should establish a common rule so that traditional Irian art is not overexploited," said Samuel.
Hamzah's exhibition "Panoramic paintings on tree bark from Irian" will be held in the lobby of Hotel Indonesia, Central Jakarta, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6. Thirty traditional paintings and 80 modern ones will be displayed.