Murals in Yogyakarta attract tourists

By R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA, Central Java (JP): In fine arts, mural painting may not be popular but using walls as a medium is the oldest form of artistic expression.

As mural paintings are not collectible items, very few local artists express themselves with such artwork. Among notable mural painters was the late Affandi, who painted the walls of the East West Center campus of the University of Hawaii in the 1960s.

Twenty years later, a mural painting competition was held in Yogyakarta, using the outer walls of the Kridosono stadium as a medium.

Recently, however, three young artists painted noteworthy murals in Yogyakarta. Ade Dermawan and Tri Wahyudi painted on the walls of the Cemeti Gallery while Samuel Indratama did the inner walls of Cafe Via Via.

Earlier this year, Indratama gathered a few artistic talents to paint murals on a fenced wall at a village in Yogyakarta, an event worth noting in the Indonesian fine history of arts.

The art of mural painting lies in the fact that the medium is stuck steadfast to the ground. Unlike with the spray-painting of graffiti, consideration is given to the surroundings and to expressions drawn on the wall.

Just as outer walls face the constant movement of people and open air, inner walls should give a rested, more private feel. A similar concept was adopted by Indratama, when he designed his mural paintings at Cafe Via Via, which were completed on Sept. 24.

Visitors to the cafe, most of whom are foreign tourists staying at the nearby village of Prawirotaman, can enjoy Indratama's paintings until Dec. 24.

Intricacy

Indratama, who graduated from the Indonesian Arts Institute, designed the mural paintings with intricacy. He made paper- sketches before the actual drawings on the walls and formed a vertical composition of his portraits. The composition was arranged to give the desired effect of a much heightened room in the narrowly-spaced cafe. He adopted the theme of tourism, which was well-suited to the surroundings of the cafe.

He painted all the walls of the cafe, including its main section, kitchen and the closet rooms. The main section, measuring 6 meters by 4 meters is on a wall of 6 meters by 4.5 meters square.

Indratama has sketched a line of comical portraits on the wall, using a similar technique applied to caricature drawings -- long lines and sketchings using pastels, Chinese ink, paints and sprays.

On the left side of the wall, there is a drawing of a wash- basin on a blue background. Next to it are five squares placed vertically on one another. There is one with a leg in it, another with a hand holding a tap, a third with a hand washing the other under a running tap, the fourth has hands being towel-dried, and the last has the word "clean" written on it.

Beside the squares is a partial human figure painted from the highest end to the bottom-end of the wall. The figure is a distinct portrayal of greed -- bulging round eyes, a widening nose and a huge mouth -- as he spoonfeeds himself with plentiful food placed in a bowl.

Illustrating the processing of the food in the body, Indratama has drawn different parts of the human anatomy -- the food going down the throat to the esophagus, the intestines and excreting out of the anus. The picture showing the excreted material, which looks more like orange carrots surrounded by flower-like decorations, attracts foreign tourists to take photographs and send them to their home countries.

An interesting matter to consider is that both Indratama and cafe-owner Mie Cornoedus do not seem to find a painted depiction of the excretion process grotesque.

A noteworthy one, however, is that most visitors of the cafe feel the same too. Sometimes the paintings go unnoticed and other times, visitors seem indifferent to them.

Indratama said that visitors continued to eat and drink without feeling irked or icky. "Besides," he added, "this is an alternative cafe."

He admitted, however, that there were a few exceptions.

An English tourist, Rebecca, for example, said: "Why is it necessary to paint human waste in a cafe?"

Cynicism

With these paintings, Indratama conveyed his cynicism on monotonous tourism. "Tourist attractions hardly ever change here and no other alternatives are offered to tourists. And yet, tourists continue to visit them," Indratama said.

He added that this showed the rotting of the "tourist industry."

The cynicism of Indratama, who was born in Gombong, Central Java, 27 years ago, is in line with the idea of the cafe's owner, who wants to provide alternative attractions to tourists.

Cornoedus, who shared the cost of the exhibition, said: "We don't want foreign tourists to take in what they have already seen."

Indratama paid the cost for the painting materials, a mere Rp 100,000, while Cornoedus financed the expenses for the opening ceremonies.

However, the use of all the walls for mural paintings -- not to mention extremely vivid portraits -- can be very distracting to visitors, particularly when the cafe is narrowly-spaced. The use of bright colors like yellow, orange and dark blue does help, but the "loud-and-crowded" look can still be quite suffocating. A disturbing atmosphere, in any case, is an unwanted quality to any cafe owner.