SPAFA Digest 1990, Vol 11, No 2
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31 personality, Amri never considered art to be anything outside the domain of ordinary life. To him, art is an expression of life and its purpose is to make human society beautiful. The establishment of beauty in society must be overcome by strong determination in exploring new ideas and knowledge in one's profession. Throughout his artistic career, Amri had made relentless efforts in the development of his techniques and explorations, making possible the unrestrained pursuit of his own significant arts. His art has always served the common people, from whom he himself had come, by faithfully depicting their land, their life, their hopes and aspirations. The scenic rural landscape and the nature of Palembang are his favourite subjects for two-dimensional compositions. Amri Yahya's artistic work has been inspired by the natural Amri Yahya surrounding he has been moving around, since his childhood days. He Exponent of Indonesian Contemporary learned to love the brilliant hues of the stream and the bamboos that enclose the bluish river in his dwellings. Batik Painting He states that nature's majestic landscape keeps him feeling fresh. by Bertoldo J. Manta Like bamboos with their boughs pointing upward, some bows with their clustered emerald leaves represent human aspirations. Amri Yahya was born in 1939, I,Lf the beauty and proliferation batik artists have enormously researched in a lower middle class Muslim family of remarkable textiles are any measure on the possibility of employing other from Palembang, Indonesia. He is the of civilization, then the countries, media and various techniques to third child among the six children of of Southeast Asia have attained a propagate this aged handicraft. an illiterate farmer parent. When he high order of cultural achievement. A number of Indonesian Batik was 12 years old, his father died. He Notwithstanding the remarkable wax artists have been known for their became the head of the family by and dye textile printing, batik is a expertise in this craft. Prominent helping his mother in farming. He significant traditional craft in the lives artist, Amri Yahya from Palembang, was raised in the most idyllic and of the Indonesian. comes first. The significance of Amri romantic rivers, swamps, grassy Yahya in Indonesia lies not just in the fields, and the heat of the sun of Today this ancient craftmanship value of his art but also in his role in Palembang. Nature's grandeur was the has survived the complexity of modern contributing to the development only affluence he had known in his technology and has evolved in various of batik painting in his country. A childhood, and for many years experimentation. Several Indonesian sensitive artist but with strong beyond. 32 Nature worked in the develop- Feeling that his at artworks need UNESCO, Paris, a member of the ment of Amri's artistic temperament. to be extended beyond his studio and Executive Committee of the National On nature's beauty surrounding him, his classroom, Amri organized various Calligraphy Exhibition I, the head of he says, "Many a times it has been my art galleries. In 1964 he established an the Indonesian Artist Council and greatest teacher". He had shown his Art Gallery in Yogyakarta, and then Exhibition in Yogyakarta and the co- talents quite early during school days in 1967 the Art and Craft Centre in ordinator of the Calligraphy Exhibi- in Palembang. But Amri was not Jakarta. Later on he set up various art tion at the World's Islamic Mass satisfied until he could go to far away galleries in nearby Yogyakarta and Media Conference. Yogyakarta, where he embarked on a Denpasar Bali. His galleries have long and ardourous career in art. been popular because of the demand Through exhibitions, since 1957 for his major artworks, frequented Amri has been very active in promoting He attended his art courses at his newly explored technique in STSRI Sekolah Tinggi Seni Rupa by art collectors. In fact, this has led him to establish his representative Batik painting. He has attended Indonesia), or in English, the Indo- numerous major group exhibitions nesian Institute of Higher Learning in galleries in San Francisco, Hawaii, Denmark and Netherlands. and has organized his own countless Visual Art, and at the ASRI/ISI one-man exhibitions. His exhibitions, (Akademi Seni Rupa Institute of Seni Amri has chaired important art held abroad, have received enormous Indonesia in Yogyakarta. He graduated activities and headed outstanding art praises from prominent artists and with the highest award in painting. projects, both locally and in the scholars. They have thus contributed Deeply impressed by nature during international scene. He became a to the introduction of the new batik his childhood days, Amri turned into chairman of BKKNI DIY (Badan Ko- painting to the western world. a fine painter of the rural landscape. ordinator Kesenian Nasional Indonesia He was trained to paint in both the Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta) and the To Amri, the contemporary traditional way and the western Indonesian Artist Association, which acceptance of new media for creating techniques Even within the limited is HSRI (Hipunan Seni Rupa Indo- art forms is widening the potential time of his academic studies, Amri nesia) and DIY (Daerah Istimewa for the acceptance of traditional had made many memorable sketches Yogyakarta), a member of the Inter- Indonesian art from into the new fine and paintings in various media. national Artist Association (IAA) in art context. He states that his stature, In 1963 Amri graduated from STSRI and ASRI/ISI (in English, the Academy of Arts/Indonesia Institute of Arts-1, 11). After graduating from the Teacher Training Institute, IKIP (Institut Kaguruhan Ilmo Pendidikan) in Yogyakarta, he joined the Arts and Languages Department as a full time lecturer. He also now teaches art and appreciation at various universities in Yogyakarta, such as at the Indo- nesian Islamic University. Amri's profession as an artist has earned him a good reputation in Yogyakarta. Responding to the needs of the local artists and owing to his Amri Yahya's Arabic calligraphy in exceptional abilities in organizing art batik. activities, Amri took upon himself the onerous task of organizing various arts association in Yogyakarta. He Left : Amri Yahya demonstrating his founded the Sanggar Muslim (Moslem new artistic techniques in contemporary Arts Associations) by involving the batik painting to students of Suansu- young artists. nandha Teachers' College in Bangkok. 33 Due to the strategic location of Pekalongan, batik from this place was Various batik motifs used in ornamentation and now widely used greatly influenced by other art works, by Indonesian artists in contemporary batik painting like the Chinese ceramics motifs. These influences could be seen on the new motifs and the color of their batik. Traditional batik still prospers in the various towns of Indonesia, for instance, in Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Cecek Uwer Anggur Gringseng Crackle Banymas, Pekalongan, Cirebon, Jakarta and also in the island of Meaning of Motifs Madura. These places still practice the Cecek means points or dots; batik ornament in the form of tiny dots. traditional method of producing batik and also use the old motifs. It Uwer a kind of scroll or curling motif. was in only 1963 that new forms and Anggur means "grape" ornamental design in the form of a stylized shape or grapes. designs have replaced the old and Gringseng ornamental designs resembling tortoise shell forms. ancient method. Crackle a motif which is the result of the cracking or molten wax on the surface of the Mr Soelardjo, a proprietor of a cloth, allowing the was to crack. batik business in Yogyakarta initiated experimental changes in traditional batik patterns. He invited a prominent The Indonesian batik art, which as a recognized artist in batik batik artist, Kusawadji Kawindrasusanta, has existed for many generations, is painting, is the fruit of his arduous to colloborate with him in his a common traditional art of the experimentation with well known experimentation. Two years later they people. Batik art is a handicraft Indonesian batik artists. He points launched an exhibition displaying the intended to produce clothing material. out that his identity in the Indonesia result of their explored artworks. It Batik is made by decorating woven batik painting is attributed to proved to be successful. But it was cloth with designs using a wax discipline and self-reliance. His new observed then that the patterns were compound to cover those parts of the medium is the result of his interaction still influenced by traditional designs. cloth to make them resistant to a with prominent Indonesian batik It was at this moment that the new particular colour during the dyeing artists. creation was given the new name, process. His new technique is free and "Gendala Giri". Meantime, Mr expresses more ideas, says Amri. The The word batik is thought to be Soelardjo went on developing his usage of traditional pattern is still derived from the Indonesian word experiments. there, to retain its identity. But ambatik meaning "a cloth with little, techniques are set free to create new dots". The suffix tic means little dot, This time he worked closely with dimensions in the use of other media. drop or point. But it can also denote Amri Yahya and Bagong Kussudiardjo. As such, he says the base of his a ticking or tapping sound. Researching new designs by using response to his commitment in art, While the process of decorating ordinary painting instruments, like towards the present demands, is in woven cloth through the batik resist brushes, spoons, the stem of a self-reliance, placing individual process is not unique to Indonesia, it banana leaf, a siwur (a dipper) and freedom in the continuous search for has reached a degree of perfection in also a canting (a device used for the new or in looking deeper at earlier that country which is unequaled applying wax).