Street artist finds job picture perfect
Tony Ryanto, Contributor, Jakarta
If you are in downtown Jakarta and happen to pass along Jl. Pintu Besar Selatan, heading north toward Pasar Ikan, you are likely to notice photo paintings hanged on the doors of a closed shop.
The art works make the shop stand out from among rows of other shops in the area.
On sale are works by street artists, who offer everything from paintings of customers to portraits of international celebrities and leaders.
One of the best-known artists in the neighborhood is Mizan Syaifuddin, 41, whose charming photo of legendary actress Marilyn Monroe dominates the kiosk.
Mizan is a well-educated artist who has chosen to make a living by selling his works on the roadside. He said he took a five-year course at the Indonesian Institute of Arts in Yogyakarta.
Between 1984 and 1989 he tried his luck as a painter on Jl. Malioboro in Yogyakarta. Then he moved to Jakarta to work with Lintas Link Indonesia, an advertising company, where he stayed for eight months.
The soft-spoken man decided to resume working as a street painter and he landed at Jl. Pintu Besar Selatan in Jakarta's Chinatown. That was about a decade ago and his business has been doing quite well.
Mizan paints portraits from photographs. A 30 x 40 cm portrait on paper costs Rp 250,000 and a 50 x 70 cm one costs Rp 350,000.
"Larger paintings on canvas cost more, sometimes more than Rp 1 million," he said.
One characteristic that certainly contributes to his success is his determination to work seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This means leaving his wife and two daughters, aged three and six, early in the morning and not getting back to them until the evening. He lives in Bogor, about two hours drive from work.
Some of his 20 or so colleagues tease him for always bringing with him to work a lunch box prepared for him by his wife.
A modest lifestyle, he says, is key to lasting in the art business.
"We are not rich but the money I earn can make ends meet," he said.
Mizan's best-selling portraits are of world celebrities, of which he produces many.
As Pintu Besar Selatan is in Chinatown, it is not surprising that some 50 percent of his customers are Chinese-Indonesians. Asian expatriates make up about 10 percent of his buyers, he said. He has few European, Australian and American buyers.
It takes two or three days to paint or draw a portrait. He does the work in the shop which also functions as a studio.
Customers have to pay a 30 percent down payment when they order a portrait. Uncollected items are generally kept for years. Once, Mizan said, a customer came back after three years but he had to pay some extra before he was allowed to take the painting.
Mizan said: "A Taiwanese man came back five times, bringing along some of his friends each time he visited Jakarta. Women customers are more emotionally involved. Once they like my work they will always come back.
"Very few customers -- about 5 percent -- complain about dissimilarities between the painting and the photograph on which it is based. They (those unsatisfied) refused to pay the balance and I will not now allow them to take the portraits."
Mizan, who dreams of one day having a studio of his own, says he has come to enjoy his job very much.
"I have been offered the possibility of working in hotel lobbies or staging solo exhibitions, but so far I've not accepted any of these chances for fear of losing customers.