Painter Arie Smit honored for contribution to the arts

By I Ketut Sutika

UBUD, Bali (JP): Harmony emerging out of bright colors used in unusual formats and contexts is the defining characteristic of the works of the Young Artists, a school of Balinese painters who owe their existence to Dutch-born Adrianus Wilhelmus Smit.

Now 85, the artist better known as Arie Smit is endowed with an indefatigable spirit to share his talent with the community of Penestanan village in Ubud, Gianyar.

His devotion to them began in 1963 when Bali was hit by food shortages after the devastating eruption of Mt. Agung. Arie Smit began to teach two young duck herders how to paint; as time went by the number of Arie's students grew to some 50, including I Ketut Parsa, 46, who is now known as the painter's "grandson".

Many local painters began to take up painting as a career, with some of them eventually receiving handsome earnings for their works. Arie encouraged them to evince their artistic creativity on canvas or in sculpture.

"Today, most of the Penestanan villagers devote themselves to painting. They generally take up the Young Artists school, as evidence of the influence that Arie Smit has exerted, without, for sure, abandoning their Balinese traditional and classical art values," said Pande Sutedja Neka, owner of Neka Museum in Ubud where many of the works of Arie and the Young Artists' group are found.

Arie's endeavors earned him the Lempad prize, presented in mid-May to five individuals who have dedicated themselves to the development of art and culture, and the promotion of education of the people.

Along with writer I Made Sangra and heirs of the late Balinese classical fine artist Mangku Mura, the late artist Anak Agung Gde Sobrit, the late K. Nadha, who was at the forefront in the publication of the Bali Post and also served as its general manager, Smit received the award from the deputy governor of Bali, I Gusti Bagus Alit Putra, in a ceremony held at the Balinese Classical Art Museum.

Soldier

Arie joined the Academy of Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1938 to study painting, but his love affair with Indonesia started when he was sent to Jakarta as a Dutch employee and soldier.

He made his name in the pioneering use of lithography in the country. He also taught fine arts at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), but moved to Bali in 1950 where he has lived ever since.

In the 1950s he lived in various areas of the island, including Taman in Ubud and Dauh Tangkluk, an area full of small temples and royal residence, where he began to paint classical architecture.

He also lived in the former home of Walter Spies, the artist who made Bali his home in the 1930s but died in 1942 during the war. Arie made the Spies' bungalow at Campuhan into a quaint bungalow and also tutored the first of the Young Artists, 13-year-old Nyoman Cakra.

In 1965 Arie helped establish the fine arts division at Udayana University in Denpasar, with RM Moerdowo and Nyoman Tusan among the instructors.

He lived in Singaraja in the mid-1980s, and became familiar with the beauty of the district of Buleleng, withs its unspoiled landscape, the sea and mountains.

As an artist, he is known for venerating "nature through colors", an artistic phenomenon that he manifests with the spiritual purity of a traveler walking under the tropical sun. Arie puts on canvas the strokes of his painting, combined with the spurting of an array of colors that always seem to envelop the objects and panorama that he wishes to immortalize.

Several museums in the artists' village of Ubud display Arie's works, the thematic subjects of which range from mountains to the sea. The characteristics of his works are that they show what lies between the pseudo and vague colors. The two chief elements of his paintings -- shapes and colors -- merge in a synthesis in which each original element need not take prominence.

"It's just like a children's song that bursts out of a profound comprehension laden with poetic realism," Arie Smit said about his works, which always demonstrate preciseness, creativity and innovation.

Still painting

Although now an octogenarian, Arie is still healthy and has never stopped painting. Unlike other foreign artists who have taken Balinese wives, for example Belgian artist Le Mayeur or Spanish-born Antonio Blanco, Arie remains a confirmed bachelor.

Since 1992, he has resided at Sanggingan Villa, which is owned by Pande Wayan Suteja Neka, the founder of Neka Museum in Ubud.

"For me, Arie Smit is just like my own father," said Suteja Neka.

He said his acquaintance with Arie dated back to 1973 when the artist was still living in Nyuhtebel village, Karangasem, on the eastern tip of Bali island.

"I came to see him, but it turned out that Arie had got my name from Rudolf Bennet, a Dutch-born artist who had been staying in Ubud for dozens of years," said Suteja Neka.

As time passed, the relationship between the two became stronger. Suteja built the Neka Museum, in which the works of Arie and other artists are displayed, in 1982. All of the works are inspired by Balinese nature and culture.

"Arie Smit has donated 50 art items for the collection of our museum. Half of them are the works of his former students, which he purchased," Suteja Neka said.

He added that his relationship with Arie had deepened thanks to their common appreciation of efforts to raise the quality of Balinese arts and culture, and also preserve the works.

He has paid homage to Arie at the museum with a special Arie Smit Hall showcasing works of the Young Artists school.

His enduring legacy is the Penestanan artists, who have enriched the world of fine arts in Bali through providing a myriad of fantastic colors and patterns in their works

I Ketut Parsa and I Made Sukanta Wahyu, both from Penestanan and former farmers, are among those who have proved their mastery of the Young Artists' stream of painting.

As a token of gratitude to Arie Smit's perseverance in producing artists who, despite outside influences, retain Balinese traditional and cultural values, the provincial administration of Bali awarded him the highest citation in art, the Dharma Kusuma, nine years ago.