Painter Rastika returns with fresh touch
Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta
After being absent for some time from a solo exhibition in Jakarta, Rastika, 60-year-old glass painter from Gegesik Kulon, a village in Cirebon, West Java, is back with his latest works.
Though some of his 40 displayed glass paintings still show a repetition of old themes, like calligraphy in Syahadat (the confession of faith, there is no God but Allah and Prophet Muhammad is God's Messenger) in Semar or Paksi Naga Liman (a creature unique to Cirebon), fresh themes are also found in his works, even with a touch of humorous nuance -- like the one where Petruk, a royal servant in traditional shadow puppet shows, sits leisurely with his two hands holding liquor bottles while a pretty woman sits on his lap.
Rastika started his creative process as a glass painter in the 1950s. After such a long time, the former farmer has now reached new heights of wisdom, as shown in the way he uses humor as catharsis, not a form of escapism.
Although his formal education was confined only to elementary school, Rastika is knowledgeable about the philosophy of life (as reflected in shadow puppet stories). His works clearly show how his knowledge and experience as a farmer have gained him more prominence.
Nowadays, young painters in Cirebon generally come from a higher educational background than has Rastika but know little of philosophy like that in shadow puppet stories.
If it is true that Rastika's humor is a kind of catharsis, how does the quality of visual language in the drunken Petruk painting compare with his usual themes, which are usually derived from shadow puppet stories?
According to glass painting observer Eddy Hadi Waluyo, Rastika is capable of depicting flexible and elegant shapes with rich and beautiful detailing of great complexity. This, he said, must be the outcome of his continuous exploration of the themes from the shadow puppet stories.
Rastika was not alone in creating the exhibited works. Although these works bear his signature, Kusdono, 20, his fourth child and a junior high school dropout, played an important role in creating these works.
Kusdono, who is confined to a wheelchair, has, in the past five years, gone through his father's rigorous training in glass painting in a hope that someday, he might take Rastika's place when his father can no longer work.
In the creating process, Kusdono is assigned to color the patterns that his father made. These patterns are in black flexible lines with objects neatly placed in a neat composition. In coloring these patterns, Kusdono has to follow his father's guidelines.
The base, for example, is in duck eggshell blue to create a softer impression; the motifs of stony ground and clouds are layered in a monochromatic degradation of blue, green, red and, brown. Nowadays, his fanatic collectors find his paintings softer in color than those created five to 10 years ago when most of them were in bright colors.
An interesting thing at this ongoing exhibition is that for the first time, Rastika displays reproductions of Barikan from Gegesik, a series of 16 frames. He has reproduced the paintings by Sitisiwan (1865 to 1948), using Lontar offset reproduction. Lontar itself has reproduced these paintings from the original works, collected by TL Cooper. This painting features Cirebon folklore like Lukas Baurna, putra Jaka Larang (Lukas Baurna, the son of Jaka Larang) and Raja Jin Tanjung Karobak dengan Rara Bulan, putri Laut Selatan (Genie King and Rara Bulan, the South Sea Princess). Such paintings were displayed in a house at a time that there was a wedding party or circumcision ceremony.
The reproduction idea came from Iwan Ramelan of PT Fortune, the exhibition's sponsor. Many have supported this as Sitisiwan died over 50 years ago and Rastika has reproduced the paintings in his own media and style so he cannot be accused of plagiarism.
Regardless of whether or not this reproduction violates copyright, Rastika's exhibition this time is quite attractive. In the early years of the propagation of Islam, glass painting works were used as a means of carrying the message, but now Rastika uses it as a medium of humor. This is especially interesting to note, given that Indonesians now find it hard to laugh as the price of daily necessities has risen.
The exhibition will run through to Jan. 19, 2003 at Candrika Gallery, Pondok Indah Plaza I, South Jakarta (Tel: 75900763-762).