JP/19/BETAWI

JP/19/BETAWI

Betawi painter changes style

Yusuf Susilo Hartono
Contributor
Jakarta

Painter Sarnadi Adam is always associated with Betawi, a name
which refers to everything indigenous to Jakarta.

Born and bred in Jakarta, Sarnadi, a graduate of the
Indonesian Fine Arts Institute (ISI) in Yogyakarta, has since
1988 regularly explored the lives of the Betawi in his paintings.
His works have included such themes as the old days of Betawi,
life in Betawi settlements and Betawi traditions, arts and
religious activities.

He has displayed his works in a number of solo and joint
exhibitions at home and abroad, including in Southeast Asian
countries, Holland and the U.S.

His exhibitions abroad, particularly those in Holland, where
he displayed works in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 1999, are the fruit of
his friendship with one of his collectors, A. Q. Jansen.

A Dutchman, Jansen, who first struck up a friendship with
Sarnadi in 1986, worked in Semarang, Central Java, but now has
resided in Holland.

Sarnadi first exhibited his works in Holland in 1992. In that
exhibition, all 20 pieces on display were sold, although at half
the price he usually got in Jakarta. The paintings were bought by
Jansen's friends, Dutchmen who used to study or work in
Indonesia. They bought Sarnadi's works out of their deep longing
for Betawi, or Batavia, as the city was called during the Dutch
colonial period.

With more exhibitions in Holland, the number of Sarnadi's
collectors grew, and one of them invited him to hold an
exhibition in the U.S.

And next month, Sarnadi will again depart for Holland at the
invitation of Jansen for a solo exhibition in Alkmar. The
exhibition will run from July 25 through Aug. 25, after which it
is scheduled to move on to Switzerland.

For this solo exhibition, Sarnadi has chosen about 25 of his
works, all with the theme of Betawi. Some of them are new
paintings, while others are those which are now being exhibited
at the Galeri Milenium in Jakarta.

Before concentrating on producing paintings with a Betawi
theme and in decorative patterns, Sarnadi, who began displaying
his works in 1978 while still studying at the Indonesian Fine
Arts Secondary School in Yogyakarta, used to dwell on free themes
and patterns.

Once, he even devoted himself to abstract painting. But he
realized the need to explore the lives of the Betawi when he
returned to Jakarta after graduating from ISI Yogyakarta. This
choice has clearly positioned him in the realm of Betawi or
Indonesian fine arts.

Today, Sarnadi, the chairman of the Jakarta Association of
Artists and also a lecturer at the Jakarta State University, has
established himself as a Betawi painter thanks to his prolific
output and regular exhibitions.

In his latest exhibition at Galeri Milenium, there are two
changes noticeable in his work, which his collectors and fans in
Holland can look forward to.

The first change is concerned with color. His paintings,
Penari Betawi Santai (Relaxing Betawi Dancer), Dua Penari Betawi
(Two Betawi Dancers) and Dua Wanita Betawi (Two Betawi Women),
all oils on canvas, give great prominence to the primary colors.

The colors green, red and yellow are present, unmixed, on the
costumes of the dancers. And there is a strong bright red used
for the background of two Betawi women wearing yellow bras and
sitting on bamboo couch in a traditional Betawi house.

The second change is concerned with the format of the
paintings. In his Panen Ikan (Fish Harvest), he uses a canvas
format which tends to be vertical, at a size of 50 cm x 140 cm,
in four frames. Each depicts women carrying baskets of fish on
their heads and men carrying fish on their shoulders.

The object (the women) is placed on the canvas without
compliance to the law of perspective. The composition looks so
free that the women seem to be stepping on each other's feet.

"I care little about perspective and the contrast of dark and
light. What's important to me is how to paint comfortably," he
told The Jakarta Post.

As a matter of fact, the use of a vertical format or bright
colors are not new in the fine arts realm. These two aspects play
an important role in Sarnadi's works, though, because since he
began to devote himself to Betawi themes, he has never made any
radical esthetic changes.

This is a phenomenon contradictory to the great dynamism of
Jakarta. The city keeps changing, sometimes drastically, from
time to time so that Betawi, as a territory and a culture, has
been greatly marginalized.

In such a situation, Sarnadi, through his paintings on Betawi
themes, seems to record what remains in the memory of the Betawi
community. Through these paintings, he hopes to expose which
aspects of the Betawi community have been set aside and which
have been lost or buried under the concrete jungle of Jakarta,
the capital of Indonesia.

Art observer Merwan Yusuf has voiced his suspicion that by
means of his decorative paintings, Sarnadi hopes to conserve folk
art in Betawi and document the cultural diversity of Betawi,
without forgetting to expose the problems, hopes and fears
related to this community.

The exhibition will run through June 30 at Galeri Milenium,
D'Best shopping center, Jl. RS Fatmawati #15, Jakarta. Tel.
7507828. The exhibition will continue in Alkamar, Holland, from
July 25 through August 25.