Painters prove Surakarta arts remain dynamic

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

Surakarta, better known as Solo, has a long cultural history, particularly in the arts. The city has a style of its own in the fields of dancing, shadow puppetry and bridal make-up, genres of art originating in the Surakarta palace.

In modern painting, Solo once had artists who were greatly concerned with the state of the city, known the world over as one of the centers of Javanese culture. One of these artists was Dullah (1916-1996), a palace painter during the administration of Sukarno, Indonesia's first president.

Amid the hullabaloo of contemporary fine arts, the artistic community remains greatly enamored of his works, which generally dwell on the exoticism of rural life and the naivete of village children and young women.

Before the establishment of the city's Sebelas Maret University (UNS) in 1976, the Surakarta Cultural Society (HBS) was widely recognized as an association of Solo artists, indigenous or otherwise, and also a place where they could improve their skills.

HBS was set up in 1945 and was first led by Dr Moerdowo. In 1947, another painters' association was established under the chairmanship of Soelarko. It was called Pelangi (Rainbow) and was in existence until 1949.

A fine arts observer, Agus Nur Setyawan, noted that in the HBS's heyday in the 1970s, Dullah, as a past master of realist painting, once said, "Solo is the last fortress of Indonesia's realism."

Unfortunately, Agus stopped short of mentioning how this last fortress is faring today. He simply said that in terms of painting, Surakarta showed less dynamism than Yogya or Jakarta. Even Sri Warso Wahono, a painter and a fine arts observer who formerly belonged to HBS and was later head of the fine arts committee of the Jakarta Arts Council, stressed that the Surakarta community had gone "soft" in terms of modern painting.

In a situation not particularly conducive to the development of painting, four painters from Solo, all teaching at UNS, are now exhibiting their works at Galeri Cipta II at Ismail Marzuki Park.

These painters are Arfial Arsad Hakim, 52, a graduate of Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB); Sunarto, 55, also an ITB graduate; Suatmadji, 51, a graduate of Yogyakarta's Indonesian Arts Institute (ASRI), and Putut H. Pramono, a UNS graduate.

As there is no common theme, the four demonstrate their own styles in the works exhibited.

Arfial, actively exhibiting his works since 1974, presents the poetic image of West Sumatra's chain of mountains through the soft and analytical use of color. Houses, roads, trees, rice fields, hills, the sea and beaches feature in this oil paintings, which rely on the use of soft colors: raw brown, light green and light blue accentuated by dark coloring. One of his works, entitled Yang Memanfaatkan Sembari Merusak Lingkungan (Those Making Use of the Environment and Destroying It, 1998), reminds the viewer of the construction of villas in the Puncak area. As these villas stand on land originally serving as water catchment areas, their construction has resulted in terrible flooding.

Sunarto, meanwhile, creates decorations in his paintings with broken, bending and curving double lines to form a particular stylization that sometimes cuts across the expanse of color. Some of his works seem symbolic, for example Jatayu dan Harimau (The Eagle and the Tiger), in which he depicts a fight between an eagle with bound legs and a tiger.

While Sunarto makes use of decoration, Suatmadji plays with various ideas with a strong social content. These ideas are expressed through drawings, collage, painting and installation using oil paint, acrylic, etching, pens, wood, metal and mixed media.

One of his works, called Wanita Menunggu Turunnya Harga Sembako (A Woman Waiting for the Prices of Daily Necessities to Go Down, 2001) is dominated by red and black and shows the figure of a woman with her eyes wide open and her lips expressing disappointment.

As for Putut, his abstract paintings are the result of his response to nature and life. The paintings are presented in overlapping colors of black, brown, blue, orange and white, plus a cut to give accentuation. His latest picture, produced in 2002 and using acrylic and oil paint on canvas, is called Kantong Hidup (Pocket of Life).

When opening the exhibition, former minister of mines and energy in the New Order era, Subroto, noted that, even today, unlike in dancing, Javanese literature and shadow puppetry, Solo was yet to create its own fine arts style.

Suatmadji, responding to the criticism, said that trying to find Solo's identity in fine arts was as difficult as trying to find the identity of Indonesian fine arts, a topic that has long been debated without any solution.

He added that the exhibition was not based on a "heroism" related to the place of origin, or Surakarta, as each of the four featured artists had tried to be honest with their own identity.

The exhibition will run through to February 28, 2002 at Galeri Cipta II, TIM, Jl. Cikini Raya 73, Central Jakarta.