Portrait of the artist as a young Indonesian
Portrait of the artist as a young Indonesian
Monique Natalia
Contributor
Jakarta
A young man clad in a T-shirt and jeans is walking along a
deserted path when a sinister-looking man jumps out and proceeds
to do things that could be considered sexual harassment.
A passerby who hears the victim's cries stops to rescue him,
Jacky Chan/The Matrix-style. Amid it all, there is the sound of
dangdut (Indonesian pop) music.
Footage from a wacky takeoff of the 9 o'clock news? It's
actually a synopsis of a a short action-comedy film by 19-year-
old Dennis Adishwara.
The film -- written, directed, edited and produced by Dennis,
along with his friends -- received an award in the comedy
category of the Indonesian Independent Film and Video Festival
held by Konfiden (Community for Independent Films) in October
2001.
It turns out that Aku Rapuh dalam Pelukanmu (I am fragile in
your embrace) is not Dennis's first cinematic effort.
He started making films back when he was only 14, recruiting
neighborhood kids as the cast of his martial arts action video
titled Perang Gila Pendekar (Crazy battle of the warriors).
While the resulting video only made it onto the neighborhood's
TV screens, his next film, made together with his high school
friends in a filmmaking workshop, received the acknowledgement it
deserved.
With an extra long title -- Sudah sore! Sebentar Lagi Jam
Lima! Cepat Datang! (It's late! It's almost 5! Hurry Home!), it
won the award for favorite film in the audience vote at a local
festival.
He has even branched out into acting, playing the nerd with a
crush on Cinta in the successful teen flick Ada Apa Dengan
Cinta?.
Dennis, unlike many young people who set their hearts on a
career in the arts, has not faced parental opposition.
"I really thank my parents for their continuous support.
Fortunately they are not like other parents who push their kids
to be doctors. They even said, 'If everybody was a doctor, who
would entertain them!'"
It sounds too good to be true, but his parents also put up the
financial backing for his efforts.
"I guess money can be a problem for people who want to be
filmmakers," Dennis said.
"The good thing is that they are my number one investor. They
finance most of my films."
While Dennis names his main problem as coming up with
original ideas, he is one of the lucky few. It's a tough road for
other aspiring young artists, especially in the case of the fine
arts.
Dina, 19, who wanted to study painting at the Jakarta Art
Institute (IKJ), in the end gave up her dream of being the next
Van Gogh to fulfill her parents' wishes for her to become a
lawyer.
"I was devastated," Dina explained. "When I first told them
that I wanted to go to IKJ, they freaked out."
Some parents, though, are eventually willing to compromise.
Aldi is a third year student of the IKJ majoring in graphic fine
arts. His parents used to think that art was not worth the
effort, time and money.
"They don't know where you can go with it (art)," the Warhol
fan explains."They think that it's not a profession that can make
a living."
However, in the end they relented when Aldi showed them that
he could make money by taking jobs like drawing illustrations and
stage decorations.
"The real problem for us (graphic artists) would be Indonesian
people's opinion of local art. They are so western-minded that
they only see something as artistic if it looks like western
artwork."
Parental support is not the main concern for others, like
Ririt who is a student of the ceramics department of the IKJ. Her
father, who studied fine arts himself while he was a young man in
Yogya's Art Institute (ISI), understands what she has to go
through in the Indonesian art scene from his own experience.
"The only problem is from people outside the art scene, like
my friends that go to 'regular' schools. They would ask me what
I'm studying and when I say ceramics I can just see this big
question mark plastered all over their faces."
The questions that follow are along the lines of "Why?" and
"What the heck are you doing there?" -- and sometimes even the
occasional "What do you study there? Clay?"
There is a more technical difficulty.
"There is also a lack of good materials here (in Indonesia),
what I mean is stuff like colors and glaze."
Whenever she is starting a new project, the 22-year-old always
has to play around and experiment with chemicals to get the color
she needs.
"I truly love bright colors and it's really hard to find them
here, plus they are usually very expensive."
Fortunately, a lack of materials and facilities are not
problems faced by aspiring comic writers, like 20-year-old Lisa
Yuwono, who published her second comic book, Fate, last month.
She is free to sit and draw with a pencil and a piece of
paper, like she has been doing since she was a little girl
growing up in the company of comic books and cartoon films.
"When I was small I used to spend most of my time drawing,"
the student of graphic design at Universitas Kristen Petra
Surabaya.
"I used to make my mom worry about my school work. She would
tell me to stop drawing and start doing my homework!"
Like the problems of most aspiring young artists, Lisa a.k.a
Shinju Arisa (her publishing pseudonym) faced doubts and
questions from those closest to her -- her parents -- when she
started her career
"They think of comics and cartoons as playthings. The thought
that writing comic books could make money never entered their
heads."
But now her parents are starting to accept the fact that their
daughter will be able to indulge her hobby while making a living
at the same time.
"I think the real problems for young comic writers like me is
the finding an opportunity to get published and become recognized
by the public," Lisa said.
"I know that some of my friends have a lot of potential but
they need the right channels to really make it."
The invasion of Japanese comic books in the local market has
also been a problem. Lisa uses a Japanese pen-name to win over
those "people who are really crazy about Japanese stuff".
Another problem in the Indonesian art scene is penetrating the
barrier between the "artistic clique" and young aspiring artists,
a problem faced by the rising film director of Ada Apa dengan
Cinta?, Rudy Soedjarwo.
"When I first got here from studying film in the U.S., I
really wanted to make a film but I didn't know who to make it
with. I didn't know anybody involved in film production that I
could ask to be in my crew. Sure there are the IKJ people, but
you know how they are -- they only hang out with people in the
same circle of friends so it was hard for me to really get to
know them."
In the end, he managed to make his first film, Bintang Jatuh
(Shooting Star) with a crew consisting of people with no film
backgrounds. Although it received a so-so critical reception, he
persevered and Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? has made him a hot director.
His secret for success: "If you want to be a filmmaker, don't
worry about where you'll get the money to do it from. Just
concentrate on developing your ideas and making them work with
what you've got."