Nitiprayan, a suburban artists' village

Nitiprayan, a suburban artists' village

By Anis Suryani

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Vincent Meyer, a French musician once wrote
to his Indonesian friend, Yanto. Part of the letter was quoted in
Yogyakarta CCF French Cultural Center's La Revue publication of
the April-May 2000 edition.

Meyer wrote: "September 1988, I had just come to Yogyakarta to
teach note harmony at the School of Music of the city's
Indonesian Institutes of the Arts (ISI) and I was looking for a
house to rent. We met at a small cafe for tourists near
Sosrowijayan. You knew a house for rent but its location was far
from the center of the city. You added 'it has banana trees in
its yard'. Banana trees! It was a magic word of exoticism for a
Frenchman like me at that time. We visited the house. It was like
at the end of the world. We had to leave Jl. Patangpuluhan,
through soil path, across the beautiful rice field. I decided to
stay in Nitiprayan.

"I did not know, but I was the first bule (white person) who
ever stayed here. Since then some other people like me were
fascinated by the comforting view, the color of the sun's rays
reflected on the water at the rice field, and the clean and light
air. Yet, not only foreigners stay here, there are also local
artists who live here ... I'm glad to know that there are a lot
of houses where artists are painting all day. Do you remember the
paintings of Tosin before he changed his life? He was talented."

Now, 12 years on, Nitiprayan at the southern outskirts of
Yogyakarta is still an attractive place for artists to live,
especially young ones. Tosin is an artist, but he no longer lives
in the village. But he carved his name from there. Entang
Wiharso, who now lives in Prambanan, is another artist who
started his profession in Nitiprayan.

Dadang Christianto is a senior artist who lived in Nitiprayan
before moving with his family to Australia to teach at Darwin
University. Now he lets local people use his house in Nitiprayan
for village activities while he and his family live in Australia.

Successful artists who still live in Nitiprayan include Bali
born artists Putu Sutawijaya and Made Sukadana. Dozens of other
young artists who came to the village the over the years now make
Nitiprayan an "artist village". There, artists live side by side
with local people whose professions are mostly farmers and
traders.

Budi Ubrux, a young artist who was born and grew up in a
village near Nitiprayan, moved there in 1995.

"I have more chance to chat with other artists here," said
Budi, explaining why he decided to move to Nitiprayan.

Budi, who has worked as a billboard painter, is now preparing
his solo painting exhibition at Yogyakarta Bentara Budaya
building early next year.

Just opposite Budi's house, lives Dwi Setiawan, another young
artist from Magelang, Central Java, whose works have been
collected by some famous collectors. Just like Budi, Dwi also has
lived in Nitiprayan since 1995 for similar reasons.

In front of Budi and Dwi's houses lives Agus Mahmudi, another
young artist whose speciality is painting dancers. A few blocks
from Mahmudi's house lives Tarman, who is faithful in "recording
the exoticism of the Javanese community".

Tarman's neighbor is a female artist named Dyah Yulianti,
whose art works are very much inspired by the myth about
supernatural creatures in her home village in Kalimantan.

Cheap rents

There are many other young artists living in Nitiprayan, such
as contemporary fine artist Heri Kris, and sculptor Hedi Haryanto
to mention some of them.

Low rental fees -- many three-room houses are rented for less
than Rp 1 million a year -- is a major reason why artists are
interested in living there.

Space for studios is available for hire at low rates. Dwi, for
example, needs only Rp 2,5 million to hire 100 square meters of
land for 10 years.

According to Dwi, the existence of Fine Arts high School
(SMSR) at Jl. Bugisan, the main street leading to Nitiprayan, is
a major reason for Nitoprayan's growing popularity.

Many of the students of the schools stay in dormitories rented
by residents of nearby villages, including Nitiprayan. Many of
the tenants choose art as their profession and stay at the
village after they finish their studies, or even drop out of the
school.

"Initially I stayed in a dormitory I rented for Rp 25,000 a
month for a single room. As I felt comfortable here, I chose to
hire a house on a yearly basis," Dwi said.

Dwi never finished his studies at SMSR and learned art by
doing.

The artists and locals live in harmony. The artists living in
Nitiprayan do not make an exclusive community. "We pay each other
visits and chat," he said.

They, too, participate in the village social activities such
as ronda (community-initiated security system).

The good relations between local people and the artists can
also be seen from the way landlords communicate with the tenants.

Dwi, who shares the same yard with his landlord Kasimin for
example, has treated Kasimin as his foster parent. "I've been
part of his family," Dwi said.

Even Kasimin's brother in-law Muryanto, a graduate of a junior
high school, has worked for two years taking care of Dwi's
studio. Muryanto's tasks are preparing painting tools, canvas,
cleaning the studio and taking care of the paintings.

Many other Nitiprayan indigenous youth are beginning to show
interest in learning how to paint or become an artist or study at
the Indonesian Institutes of the Arts (ISI). Some of the amateur
artists have even taken part in painting bazaars at the annual
Yogyakarta Art Festival.