DEDDY PAW: Apple Digital Printing Sketch

He is now identified by the “apple” digital printing masterwork.

“I had my worries, but fortunately he is one genius, expressed Martha Gunawan, founder and manager of the Mon Décor gallery on Thursday, 28 January 2010, in Wisma Mulia, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Southern Jakarta. The “he” she was implying to is artist Deddy PAW. According to Martha, Deddy PAW possesses the intelligence in interpreting “orders”.

Some time ago Martha was giving presentation of her idea to managers of hotels, apartments and other buildings to decorate their buildings with paintings. Two participants agreed to follow up on her idea, one of which is the manager of Wisma Mulia. Martha had her confusion on finding an artist with the ability to work rapidly, accurately, in accommodation, with off the rack masterpieces. The name Deddy Paw then came to mind.

“Yes I had Paw in mind and sent the proposal. The result was approval from Wisma Mulia. It turned out that Mrs. Barbara, one of the managers of Wisma Mulia is already familiar with Paw’s works. She liked the apple and silver color chose by PAW, and has already collected his pieces. It was a match”.

PAW soon wrapped up two large size paintings, each measured 5 x 5 meters. They are now posted on the lobby wall of the 56 story building. Those large size paintings were completed by PAW in speed and detail. His experience of being a Visual Editor for 14 years and Cultural Art Editor for 4 in the public newspaper “Media Indonesia”, which demanded him to “interpret” people’s ideas into visual work and familiarize himself with computer as the main tool in working on visual design, played a major role.

Paw has proved that he is a meticulous worker. He learned how to edit and comprehend the composition of words, sentences, paragraphs, and also studied writing. His shift from working as Visual Editor to Writing Editor had also brought many benefits. Firstly, PAW became an avid reader and learned how to write communicatively. Secondly, he started to cover many affairs and conduct interviews. Thirdly, PAW became a frequent visitor of various exhibition launchings which were very useful in expanding his knowledge and social network.

In year 2003, he began painting with apples as his objects, manually sketched using pencil or crayon on canvas. In 2007, PAW went back to sketching by digital printing technology, which allowed him to be more productive in creating. By mid of May 2008, PAW were participated in the exhibition “Technosign: From Painting to Digital Art”, in Surabaya Art Link, Surabaya, mastered by Djuli Djatiprambudi and Mikke Susanto.

According to both masters, PAW were invited to participate because technically he is one of several examples of fine-artists that is successful in combining digital imaging as the object transfer media. In other words, he was still using digital printing as a mean to ‘draw’. The digital technique was applied only as the tool to lock in the object before finally imprinted with manual skill.

The use of digital printing for this sketch, according to PAW, is because technically, the approach he applies in completing his paintings tends to refer to realism or rather hyper-realism technique, which in the perspective of contemporary painting art is known as a technique that focuses more to objective accuracy. Sketching with digital printing can fulfill the realistic concept.

“That is the reason why I use medias of photography and graphic computer as the supporting tool to record and process “shapes”, before then digitally printed on canvas,” explained the artist who was born in Magelang, 18 October 1963.

Early 2007, PAW were back to sketching with digital printing technology, after finding a digital printing company in Jakarta that will and can print on large scale canvases. Printing machineries such as Roland (resolution 1440 dpi) and Wit Color (720 dpi) owned by that company are able to print wide Talens canvases up to 310 cm. The Skytech printing machinery could even print on canvases with width up to 500 cm.

PAW described that the ink used in digital printing will not damage the canvas and adhering paint, moreover when using high quality canvas and oil paint. This is because high evaporate thin paint that absorb into the canvas will ‘die’ or blend in as soon as oil paint is brushed on the first layer. Also, the printing ink is assured to vanish from sight because it is covered by the oil paint that brush over it in layers.

In year 2009, PAW again held his sole exhibition in the Art Seasons Gallery in Singapore, entitling it “Say It With Apple”. To date, PAW is known as the visual artist who uses digital printing for sketching needs, and with the apple as his object identification, his name is often tagged as Deddy “Pelukis Apel Wae”, or Deddy “Who Paints Only Apple”.

Thanks to his skill, PAW’s stand as an artist now becomes stronger. In this year of 2010, he is invited to hold a sole exhibition in the “Bazaar Art Jakarta” in the Ritz Carlton Jakarta Pacific Place (end of July), and in Srisasanti Art House (end of December). Meanwhile the agenda of collective exhibition which he would be participating in 2010 amongst others will be in the cities of Surabaya, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, and Singapore.

Read More...

Frans Nadjira: Ray of Colors and Words

At often times presents vague shapes in a harmonious rhythm of colors.

After being absent from the world of fine-arts for quite some time, Frans Nadjira has now reappear to present 27 painting works in his sole exhibition. He also displayed several poetries in special frames, and launched a book comprising the collection of his latest short-stories titled; “Firefly Trees”.

Frans Nadjira is gifted with artistic talent. Besides a painter, he is also a poet and short-story writer. For him, poetries and painting-art are blood brothers. As his paintings, his works on literacy are also lyrical, filled with heart-felt in depths and contemplation on the meaning of life.

In painting, he uses the method of psychograph, to then continue to the free-association method. The visuals of his paintings emerge from processing subconsciousness, out of something known but never thought of. The results are surrealistic works those are filled with reflections from the heart.

When observing his works, we seem to be taken into a world suspended between dream and reality. There are flower leafs blooming colorfully, leaves under the ray of light, fishes swimming in the skies.

At times, between them, glimpses of human faces appear, and mysterious figures too. There are also shapes those are unexplainable by rational mind, but they all seem to flow within a harmonious rhythm of color.

Frans Nadjira says that all shapes and colors already exist in the universe. Through processing of the heart, he just becomes the recorder or some sort of medium of that energy. His capability to act as medium allows his works to be full of astonishments, and thus opens various interpretation possibilities. Enjoying his works requires sensitivity of the soul, to allow the feel and to making it possible to find sparks of contemplation that are scattered all over the canvas.

Frans Nadjira was born in Makassar, 3 September 1952. Since the year 1960 he has been active in writing poetries and short-stories; and also painting. He focused on the major of painting-art theoretically at the Indonesian Academy of painting-Arts (ASLI) in Makassar, while the rest was all self-searching and self-learning. Since the year 1970 he has been active in holding collective and soul exhibitions, and showcasing his works on literacy in many mass media in Indonesia. In the year 1973 he decided to reside and do his arts in Bali, to date

Read More...

Suprobo: Comprehension on Management is a Must

Though age influences the working quality, he still possesses his own level of maturity.

Between 75 percent talent : 25 percent perseverance and 25 percent talent : 75 percent will, I choose the second one more. To be a painter requires a strong will.

Suprobo, or mostly known to people as Probo, was born in Pati of Central Java on 10 February 1958. His father was a govern-ment official who also painted. To have grown up in an artistic family, Probo’s dream was not far from his father’s focus, which is to be a painter.

He migrated to Jakarta within the 1980s. Before concentrating on painting, Probo first acted out the job as an illustrator in the Puteri Indonesia magazine. Besides that he also focused on graphic de-sign. Those two worlds came to be the most influential grounds for his techniques on painting processing.

For Probo, a contemporary painter should comprehend design. The competence in designing, he perceives, will be a great help in determining the composition of the painting. “First I decide the theme, then design, and afterwards dive in to the visualization phase,” Probo explained his creative process.

“Today painters are demanded to be able to design. When a painter is unaware of design, his painting will become dull,” he continued.

Besides the comprehension in design, a painter should be knowl-edgeable in regards of management. Be it self management in cre-ating, socializing, or even marketing. That is because, according to him, by all that, a painter will be able to maximize his work productivity.

Probo was not kidding, because what he says is taken from his own personal experience. Having met obstacles in his early exhibitions, Probo then realized that to be an artist one needs to know more about management.

“In 1992 I did a sole exhibition in Mitra Budaya Jakarta. Not one of my paintings was sold back then. But after I learned manage-ment and applied the knowledge in the upcoming exhibitions, my paintings were always sold out. Even those works that would not sell during the Mitra Budaya exhibition got sold during the next exhibitions.

”Still related to the issue of management, Probo thinks that it is the thing that have brought his painting style to become simpler. Start-ing from the year 2000, he has now eliminated supporting images as his paintings’ backgrounds. Lately his canvas media has been more focused on single objects of the theme he wishes to expose.

When illustrating a child playing his kite, Probo would then just make an image of a child holding a rope that suspends up without any other addi-tions. Probo’s wit in processing symbols which allows his canvas room to be inhabited more by empty spaces still holds its own appeal.

“Those empty spaces are actually meant to serve as breaks for observers before they get into the focus on the painting. People are busy nowadays; wanting less and less of deep thoughts. That’s why I make simple works only. This is part of my management.. ha ha ha,” he laughs aloud.

Besides manifesting as a form of management for his works to continue being appreciated by public, Probo again perceives that his much simpler works are also a part of his strategy in overcoming his age. Along with age, one’s tendency to work in more detail and prudence will lessen, and such is the thing that Probo is trying to deal with.

Suprobo with his painting style which has lately become much simpler may well say that it is part of the applied management. But one thing for certain is that his experience for tens of years in the painting business has brought him to his own level of maturity. It is the maturity which can be seen in his painting style.

Read More...