Printmaking: Transcending the ridiculous

Eilish Kidd , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 05/18/2008 10:49 AM | Arts & Design

More than 50 years have passed, curator Aminudin TH Siregar said, and "still every time we exhibit prints we have to explain why. We have to retell the history. We have to explain our position.

"Why? Because it is only paintings that are viewed as art.

"Sometimes, this constant questioning of the print media is ridiculous".

He said that in order to show the works of older artists in "Grafis Hari Ini" (Graphics Today) it had been necessary to strike a deal with Bentara Budaya.

The arts complex had only originally been interested in showing the work of finalists of the Indonesian Graphic Art Trienalle, an event that it hosts.

"I made some additions. They (some senior artists) needed to join the show in order to show the history of printmaking. Of course a lot of the young artists were jealous, because they think the older artists have already gotten enough exposure. They don't realize that without the work of older artists as a background, it is impossible to show the public how they are energizing the discipline or to show what is new about these young guys' work."

Some of the most beautiful works in "Grafis Hari Ini" are those of the Yogyakarta artist Syahrizal Pahlevi, born 1965. Images of the landscape have been roughly printed on sheets of canvas that are loosely hung across the gallery wall.

"Landscapes teach about perspective. They guide the mind", Aminudin said.

The work of Syahrizal is filled with light, and gives the sense of a journey.

The prints of Haryadi Suadi, born in Cirebon, West Java, in 1939, are fine examples of the work of a master printmaker, the image cut into the surface of the lino with great precision.

Aminudin, the curator of "Grafis Hari Ini", which opened Wednesday at Bentara Budaya Jakarta, South Jakarta, said the discipline remained misunderstood, even among artists and curators.

"Today's printmakers use a wide range of styles and techniques, creating engaging images. Since 1948, when Mochtar Apin produced the first linocut as a cohesive work of art in Indonesia, printmaking has generated among artists both possibility and doubt."

Aminudin said most people took the history of printmaking in Indonesia back to 1946, when Sukarno had commissioned Baharuddin Marasutan and Mochtar Apin to design linocuts that could be mass-produced as "propaganda" that could be sent out all over the world to further the cause of the country's independence.

In its very early years, lino-printing was associated with amateurs and used only to teach art students a sense of design.

Aminudin said he had come across 12 original Mochtar Apin linocuts in a flea market several years ago that were dated 1948. Looking at them in his house, he realized that these could be considered the first prints to be produced in the country that were autonomous works of art.

"They are very different from the others. The subjects are of a female figure, of sport, of an athlete jumping. They transcend their subject matter."

Mochtar, born in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra, in 1923, was among those who benefited from a formal Dutch education during the colonial period, developing a strong intellectual basis for producing art.

Young artists today, like Sri Maryanto, A.C. Andre Tanama and Agung Kurniawan, are less attached to the discipline of printmaking and are more playful.

Sri, born May 13, 1976, is a painting graduate and his prints are saturated with color. Often he uses the image of a figure, a punk, himself. In Kena Kepala (Hit on the Head), a man holds out a paintbrush. On his head is a missile, used to symbolize the current painting boom in Indonesia. The missile becomes paint, dripping down the artist's face and obscuring his eyes.

Aminudin said that once Sri had left art school he had wanted to make prints but no longer had access to a printing press, "so, he printed these onto the canvas by stamping on the plate with his feet."

Agung's work, titled Adidas Tragedy, Jakarta 98 consists of a pair of black Adidas sneakers, set between two shoe boxes wrapped in prints.

Explains Aminudin: "The Adidas factory in Jakarta was closed down after the May 1998 riots. Now they have this series of sneakers called The City Series. The sneakers are marked at the back with the name of a city, like Milan, which is important in sports history. But the shoemaker never uses Jakarta. So the artist marked this pair of black sneakers with Jakarta."

In Indonesia, debate is ongoing over whether printmaking lies within or outside the sphere of recognized fine art.

The exhibition brings together the work of 10 artists working in the print media.

"Grafis Hari Ini"
May 14-23
Bentara Budaya Jakarta
Jl. Palmerah Selatan No. 17

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