Six artists share their impressions on the art of drawing

Six artists share their impressions on the art of drawing

JAKARTA (JP): Drawing is the basic scaffolding of all
artistic expression. ...The Chinese call it "the bones" of the
picture on which everything is hung. Drawing is an adventure, a
creative experience in the mind the imagined shape. Drawing is
seeing with the mind as well as the eye (Benjamin Rowland in Cave
to Renaissance: Great Drawings of the World).

The above paragraph quoted by Astri Wright, a Ph.D. researcher
of Modern Indonesian Art at the University of Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada, in her article From the Spontaneously Gestured
to the Minutely Labored: The Art of Drawing, might be one
appropriate definition of drawing.

Where as writing was unknown to people of prehistoric times,
drawings were done everywhere, including in caves and on rocks,
which later became very informative sources to depict the world
during those times.

In her article, Astri says that for today's artist, a drawing
can be anything; From a sketch, aimed at improving an artist's
skill of capturing a form naturally, to a memory device, which
forms the basis of a later, more carefully executed job to be
done in the artist's studio.

Drawing, she writes, "can also be a fine example of visionary
and technical mastery intended as a finished product in itself,
or the most spontaneous, intimate scribbling, with no rules or
self-censoring, the artist's equivalent to a writer's personal
diary".

Six artists, graduates from Bandung's Institute of Technology,
give their impressions on the art of drawing.

"To me, drawing is a way to spontaneously manifest both my
vision and emotions in a private way. I draw not only for myself,
but to initiate a dialog with friends, or with admirers, through
visual sensations which are, I hope, both pleasant and able to be
appreciated, however modestly," T. Sutanto said. Sutanto has
exhibited his drawings more than 20 times around the world.

Priyanto S., a cartoonist of the defunct Tempo magazine (from
1977 until its banning last year), who now works for the Forum
Keadilan magazine, has never entertained the slightest wish to
stop drawing. "Drawing is made from wandering hands and thoughts,
adventures without limitations on destinations, or roaming at
will, while capturing all that is flying through the mind.
Exploring, discovering, or stumbling, but always enjoying, and
without burden. Hopefully, the drawing itself, like the process
of its creation, may be enjoyed together...Amen," he said.

Satyagraha, who is also an accomplished sculptor, says that
his drawing attempts illuminate what the eye reflects, even
outside of this world and within ourselves.

"When drawing a person, a landscape, or a still life, I
retreat into myself and try to make the object into the subject.
All this offers no conclusions, so I work it again and again,
until the conclusion arrives, like a miracle rewarded,"
Satyagraha says poetically. "Through this process of soul-
searching, lines are eliminated, simplified and strengthened,
while simultaneously surrounding the object. Both pencil and
eraser leave a mark."

S. Prinka, a lecturer at the Jakarta Art Institute, and former
art director and printer of the banned Tempo magazine and graphic
consultant for magazines Forum Keadilan, Medika and Kalam, says
that to draw is to wander with strides that are sure, brisk and
colossal, or shaky, giddy and brooding.

"Drawing can turn reality into fantasy," he added.

Diddo Kusdinar, who loves to draw lines, and more lines, and
gives the one title Just Lines to not less than 20 of his
drawings, said that drawing as an art is a new reality which
doesn't need any reason.

"A piece of artwork is the closest phenomena to thoughts,
which are otherwise unable to be captured by words," he says.

Wagiono, a director of the advertising and graphic design
company, Grapos, and who has studied at the Pratt Institute in
New York, said, "The art of drawing is a great and comfortable
art form, more serious and responsible than graffiti or doodling,
but more relaxed than painting."

Such is the important and essential role played by the art of
drawing.

Nowadays, in spite of its mushrooming exhibitions and growing
number of galleries, Indonesia never seems to touch on the world
of drawing. Appreciation for art has increased, but is limited
mostly to painting.

Noted art critic Jim Supangkat says, "Almost all exhibitions
are painting exhibitions. The works which inundate the art
market, and are bid for at the highest prices, are again
paintings. Discussions and desire for further studies, which are
regarded as proof of increased art appreciation, are limited to
the desire for further information on painting - particularly on
the appropriate prices of paintings."

To develop the public's appreciation of drawing and to show
that drawing is actually not on a "lower" level to painting, The
Jakarta Post will exhibit drawings done by the above six artists
in a single exhibition entitled Pameran Gambar Segi Enam
(Exhibition of Original Drawings).

The exhibition, to be officially opened this evening, will
feature about 150 drawings. It will be open to the public from
Oct. 14 to Oct. 23, at Bentara Budaya Jakarta, Jl. Palmerah
Selatan 17, Central Jakarta. (als)