Promoting Batik in the United States

annisa pohan

She also creates in making wearable outfits in various occasions.

She also mentioned of her experience as Ramadhan comes along. As a wife, and also the mother of Aira Yudhoyono, Annisa had the marvelous experience of going through the fasting and celebrating Aidil Fitri in other countries. Going in the Ramadhan month of this year, there is a possibility that she would be going back to the USA along with her husband and soon to be 2 year old Aira. I had my full month of fasting and also celebrated Aidil Fitri there last year. It may be the same for this year, but I still dont have my departure schedule, continued the lady who was once a broadcaster for a radio in Bandung.

To fast in another country and not being surrounded by her beloved family gave a whole new experience for the daughter of Aulia Pohan. One experience is never hearing the prayer call (adzan) for the lengthy distance of the mosque. Asie from that, as a minority, the atmosphere of fasting is far different from what she knows in Indonesia. The Aidil Fitri celebration experience of last year becomes something new for her and her nuclear family.

There is no holiday there during Aidil Fitri. Over here there is holiday and you get to have a gathering with families and relatives. But Alhamdulillah las celebration fell on a Sunday, making us able to have Ied prayer calmly without being chased off by my husbands campus schedule. It was such a great time being able to gather with fellow muslims from various countries, and after the Ied prayer, we had a open house, said the shampoo commercial star.

Even when she cant gather with her big family in going thfough the fasting month and celebration, Annisa still feels good because what shes doing is her responsibility as a wife that must accompany her husband. And also, to comfort and give her reassurance is her daughter, who is now very witty and does a good job in making her laugh.

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Teater Garasis Globalisation

Teater Garasi finds the perfect hybrid between local and global: Tarling.

The latest performance of Teater Garasi in Komunitas Salihara, Tubuh Ketiga (The Third Body) (october 12-13, 2010) was made as if it is a wedding ceremony. The audience must first exchange their tickets with souvenirs packed in a box, while the door towards the theatre was decorated with young coconut leaves, customary decoration for a Javanese wedding.

Stepping inside the theatre, an empty dais on which the bridal couples sits awaits, on the plank on top of it said  Congratulations on Your New Life in the Globalisation Era. On the other corner of the room, a solo organ band played tarling dangdut songs. Welcome, for you, our honorable guests we have served boiled peanuts on the left side of the room, said Gunawan Maryanto, one of Teater Garasis member who played the part as the MC.  You can take picture, but please dont use the flash lights, said he.

The room seemed narrower than usual. After awhile, the backdrop that turned out to divide the room into two parts was opened. The audience was then brought to enter the atmosphere of a village during the harvest time.

For the following hour, the villagers told their life stories, the stories of ordinary and simple peasants, that intertwines with habits of the so-called modern life. A farmer took his own picture obsessively with the camera on his handphone, a woman stood in front of a blue screen spoke with slapstick tone and articulation that reminds us to a certain presenter of an infotainment program in a television channel.

Tubuh Ketiga (The Third Body) tried to illuminate the fluidity of the tarling dangdut music that could move in various space that seemed to be the opposite of the other, Agrarian and industrial, rural and metropolitan, traditional and modern. On the other side, the area hat made Tarling as one of its identity, Indramayu, was also considered as the third space that grows in the midst of numerous other areas that tried to implanted their own influences: Central Java, West Java, and Jakarta.

The mixture of globalization could also be sensed from the combination of music, for a while the popular Tarling song Kucing Garong was heard, and the next minute Bjorks Its not Up To Me was played from a tape.

The performance has similarities with the previous play by Teater Garasi, Je.ja.l.an, where the audience was plot to not see the show conventionally. The theater was transformed to become a huge stage that seemed alive and continuously changing. The audience must changed their seats and perspective, stand up, or give way to the actors.

In the end, the stage went dark. The backdrop that depicted the beautiful country side was pulled down, and the actors changed their costume to black outfit, while the speaker played a serious discussion between two men. They used unclear yet seemingly sophisticated and intricate jargon to talk about globalization and how the globalizing process should not be faced with a defensive attitude, and how the mindset of the villagers in indramayu who are open and confidence, is one of the best option in facing globalization.

Is it really? Well, probably, but the mixture of Globalization from Teater Garasi was surely pretty enjoyable.

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Digging into Hidden Potentials

Young artists deserve support and have their works collected.

The painting potential and proficiency of Indonesian children is magnificent. Without any formal education on the subject, they are able to produce beautiful and characterized works. Just observe the 150 painting works by Indonesian children from 21 provinces and numbers of works from art studios in various cities in Indonesia at the walls of Indonesian National Gallery exhibition spot of Jakarta. Most of them are the product of art studios in each region.

Exhibition curators Indra C Noerhadi and Kuss Indarto did not limit the media and techniques used. They were free to use crayons, water paint, oil paint, conte, collate, and other materials in their works. This exhibition is a celebration to place children of ages 6-12 that received awards in various painting competitions locally, nationally, regionally, and even internationally.

In accordance to the theme, most of them take on the cultures of various regions in Indonesia. Traditional outfits, houses, cultural arts, dance, and various other artistic forms were painted. Priska Ivena of Bandung that received a gold medal from a drawing competition in Egypt, silver medal in Japan and Egypt, Bangladeshm Slovenia, Poland, and a number of other countries; presented the drawing of Wayang Togog. The Javanese traditional artistic icon was arranged with a rather detailed color and line composition. Each of the body parts were brushed with different colors, maing the drawing comes to life. Togog was portrayed short figured, big bellied, and comic characterized.

Chelen Christevelyn Dewi from Jambi displayed the painting of Chinese Lunar Year Celebration in Jambi. The work imaged a boy and girl celebrating the event, both happy and joyous. On their hands a red cloth with Chinese script was placed. The colors red and yellow dominated the canvas. This work wishes to celebrate the new Indonsia that has place Chinese tradition as part of its wealth. The iron hands those discriminated Chinese culture has know melted.

In the end, the exhibition will have a rather significant meaning for the Indonesian fine-art history, should the Jakarta Indonesian National Gallery be willing to collect the works of these children from various provinces. Because, all these times, there has not been any special large collection that stores the works of children those are worthy to be references in the progress of Indonesian children fine-art history. Should this be done, the Indonesian National Gallery will be noted down in the history of Indonesian fine-art history as one of the institution that is willing and capable of documenting children fine-art masterpieces.

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The Sheen of Pearls in Alila

World-class jewelry designer Nicole Moja showcased her latest creations.

Since the old age to date, in various cultures of the world; the sheen of gemstones has been captivating men. For instance, in many ancient ruins beads, simple jewelries embedded with gemstones are often found, usually as the carry in grave. The kings crowns are also decorated by gemstones such as diamonds, onyx, sapphire, and ruby. The Indians even used turquoise to decorate their weaponries. The jadestone was one even used as the arrows head.

Now, due to the beauty, gemstones are more often used as jewelry, be it as necklaces, lockets, rings, bracelets, earrings, ear-wears, brooch, and others. They all can be enjoyed at the Treasures and Gifts of Nature exhibition. World-class jewelry designer Nicole Moja, showcased her newest creations, in forms of various jewelry from all kinds of gemstones combined with gold and silver.

For instance, gemstones lovers can observe the beauty of necklace from crystal type rocks and quartz with lockets from turquoise stones. There are also necklaces from the arrangements of tiger eyes gemstones combined with various other stones. You can also observe the beauty of the ring collections with topaz stones, aquamarine, and others. All of them are designed in custom to Nicoles creations.

Nicole was born in Paris. For 20 years she resided in Hong Kong, and in 1998 she decided to stay in Bali. To design the various beautiful and unique jewelries, she took in lots of inspirations from the many varieties of cultures she learned. Her creations have been awarded by the Hong Kong International Jewellery Designer Association (HKIJDA).

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City of Jakarta on Canvas

The chaos of traffic, social imbalance, city volume, and consumerism.

The Capital is going to be moved to Kalimantan?
Thats going to be difficult. This country hasnt the money for it, making it hard to be realized even in the next 9 or 10 years, said reigning Governor Fauzi Bowo in an informal chat on the capital citys chaotic condition at the North Art Space (NAS) Gallery in Ancol.

The mentioned current condition of Jakarta was what was reflected by most participants of the 2010 Jakarta Art Award competition, with the theme Reflection of Megacities, with the city of Jakarta as the subjecy matter. The chaos of traffic, social imbalance, city volume, consumerism, to the ignorant characteristic of Jakartans; all showed in various dynamics.

Held since 2006, the Jakarta Art Award is a two-yearly painting art competition. The competition is the subsequence of the Golden Palette Award competition pioneered by the ancol Art Market and the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta; limited by participants from Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi. Fauzi Bowo was still in the Vice Governor position at the first event.

In order to widespread the competition, the Golden Palette Award transformed to the Jakarta Art Award with participations opened for nation-wide painters. Lately the 2010 Jakarta Wart Award has been sounded to international level, by involving many participants from various foreign countries.

Kim So-young, Lee Min- Ju, Halley Cheng, Victor Angelo, are a line of international participant names that contributed in the 2010 Jakarta Art Award. And if it is true what was said by Budi Karya Sumadi, the Chief Director of PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, that this event is the first ever international competition that is held in Indonesia, this comes as quite a pride to us.

Came as the 2010 Jakarta Art Award winner is Putu Wirantawan at first place, with his work The Wandering Soul III. Next is Agung Tato Suryanto with his work City of Tomorrow, and Imam Abdillah with Dimensi Perburuan (The Hunting Dimension) at second, and Aditya Novali with (My) Comfort Zone and Angga Sukma Permana with Lie of Life at third.

Most of the works displayed at the NAS Gallery criticized the current condition of Jakarta. Hopefully they can all be aspired as inputs to build a much more organized Jakarta.

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Designing Geometrical Islamic Wear

Architectural background influenced her in creating an outfit.

Ten years ago Islamic wears were still clothing worn by only muslim women. The models were also rather simple without any accessories added. But now, the progress of Islamic wear fashion is very rapid and has become a trend. Various designs allow the muslim ladies to become more fashionable.

Events of fashion shows were then held to accommodate the creativity of Islamic wear designers. Names such as Iva Latifah, Jenny Tjahyawati, Ida Royani, Merry Pramono, Monika Jufri, Anne Rufaidah, Dian Pelangi, and of course: Hannie Hananto, are some of the most well-known Islamic wear designers with renowned works.

As seen in a fashion event a while back, around 10 Islamic wear designers participated in displaying their latest creation in welcoming the 2010 month of Ramadhan. The event that is aspired to be Indonesia’s first step in becoming the “mecca” for Islamic wear; opens up more chances for the fashion industry doers. And Hannie Hananto is one of the Islamic wear designers who is consistent in maintaining the quality of her designs.

Hannie Hananto started concentrating in the Islamic wear fashion since year 2004, beginning with her involvement in the Islamic wear design competition held by a magazine. Hannie who has an architectural background won runner-up in the competition. It is from there that she began to have self-confidence and continues to give more color to the Indonesian Islamic wear fashion.

“At first I design with minimalist lines. Since I have architectural background, I like geometrical shapes. Flowers confuse me,” she laughed.

Her design style that always put in the elements of lines and squares become unique when applied into various kinds of cloth with trendier cuts. She even had the time of designing Islamic wear with futuristic theme, displaying a new image to the Indonesian muslim ladies. She wishes for muslim ladies sense of fashion to be unlimited. According to her, right now muslim ladies are considered active people with various activities; thus they are demanded to pay attention to their appearance.

“I feel that Islamic wears do not limit ladies to not paying attention to their appearance. There used to be the impression that ladies with Islamic wear are weak, frail. But look now, almost in all sectors there are ladies with Islamic wear. I wish for them to follow the shifts of era, to stay stylish and have the look of power. Don’t get stuck in the monotonic style, exploration is a must,” she wished.

For her Ramadhan month collection this time, Hannie chose the theme of “La Mozaique”. And in accordance to the theme of carrying traditional cloths, this time the tartan sarong “Makasar” from Sengkang, Wajo District of Southern Sulawesi became the base material used; applying the loose cut style cutting, inspired by the bodo wear and African style of ladies wear which is the Kaftan.

“This is the third time I use traditional cloth. To be honest, it is more costly because I have to make it one by one, manually. Automatically the price for one piece of outfit becomes more expensive. However this is one of the efforts in preserving and carrying out the heritage of traditional cloth. We have to give full support,” said the designer who is also looking for inspiration from interior design books.

The designer who also has a readyto- wear line under the name Anemone admitted that the rivalry in Indonesian Islamic wear fashion goes head to head. It is quite different from the time she first started. Nowadays there are more designers that also launch Islamic wear fashion and it gives more options to the people.
But Hannie claimed she is pleased because this shows how the Indonesian Islamic wear fashion has evolved very rapidly.

Hannie who never misses issues of fashion in the global catwalk continues to work with her unique style of lines, geometrical shapes and also bright colors. For her, to have a unique style is a must for every designer. That is why architectural books become inspiration materials in each her design.

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Bandung Gamelan and Utrecht

Gamelan becomes the cultural dialogue media between two nations that has a long historical relation.

The audience in the Salihara performance room on Tuesday (13/7) witnessed an extraordinary show. Ten white men wearing dark red shot sleeves and 15 tanned men in black sat cross-legged. They all faced Javanese gamelan metals those are arranged by their front. Their hands grabbing the panakol -batons in Sundanese language-.

Not long after the composition of Sanata de Camera that was written by Klaus Kuiper and the Holland Gending Ensemble was heard. At first this composition was played by ten players, but for that night, 20 players were performing. The composition was opened slow, soft and flowing. Jurrien Sligter was the conductor that gave commands to to the gamelan members from the Gending Ensemble and Kyai Fathahillah Bandung. The Bandungs played the pelog while the Hollanders played the slender. As soon as Jurrien came down, energetic tunes surround the entire performance room that was packed by at least 120 spectators.

The show did not only show the gamelan proficiencies of the two nations, but also became the sign of cross-learning. Kyai Fathahillah, as any karawitan groups in Java, in general uses number notations, while the entire composition played were using block notations. The issue was that Gending is used to the Bes as their ground note. Fathahillah uses A base note. Iwan Gunawan, the conductor and leader of Fathahillah must interpret the two different notes so that is can be accepted by the two groups of two different backgrounds.

Although enchanted the audience, the collaboration show that only took place at the beginning and end of performance was a 90 minutes show. The rest was filled with each groups playing their own composition separately.

The next show was filled by the Gamelan Ensemble. The second composition, Petruk, was one of the compositions chosen by the judges at the 2010 International Gaudeamus Musicweek. The composition combines Chinese techniques and Indonesian musical instruments, including the Balinese and Javanese instruments. Fast and slow tempos were going one after another.

The performance began with a theatrical act. At first there were only two persons on stage, then one by one the players come on and played the music directly. The same act was then repeated to close the composition. For the next composition, Pengaget by Iwan Gunawan, fast music pattern was used.

The show that night showed that traditional musical instruments can serve as the inter-nation dialogue embassy. It did not occur overnight, but since 2006 both have been travelling around under the collaborative project of Tribute to Ton de Leeuw. This is the concrete form of East meets West dialogue.

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The Struggle of Kraton’s Teenager in 18th Century

Discovered the human side of a teenager: guilty felt, sex adventured, and searched for the faith of God. This is the story of a teenager in 18th century, Cebolang, the child of Kiai Syekh Akhadiat in Sokaya. His parents were religious persons. Cebolang was ashamed for doing disgraceful things. He ran away from his home in the night of takbiran (the last day of fasting month). The adventure was begun.

He walked along the Serayu River with his four friends: Nurwitri, Saloka, Kartupla and Palakarti.

In this journey, he entered the dark side of life. He satisfied his desire of sex to different kind of women: maiden, widow, ronggeng (paid dancer), warog reog (masked dancer), even regent. Not only with women, he had a passion with a man and so was the man. He adventured of sex in various techniques and styles. He walked through Ngawi, Ponorogo and any forest in hinterland of Mataram just for finding the light of the life.

Cebolang described as the teenage boy who had the smooth body like the Ramayana’s dancer and his good-looking face reminded of the blooming girl. “No wonder, including man had passion to him,” said Ki Slamet Gundono. The performance, in the event of the Art Summit Indonesia 2010, titled Minggat Cebolang (Ceoblang Ran Away) which had been adapted from the Centhini’s Fibers and had translated-interpreted by a French Journalist, Elizabeth D Inandiak, as Centhini Kekasih yang Tersembunyi (Centhini, the Hidden Lover, 2008).

Slamet Gundono played the puppets and narrated by Elizabeth D Inandiak. Sometimes they both made dialogue such as wayang (traditional puppet). “This is the incredible script and very important for the present generation. It’s very rare that the ancient script told about the teenager life like Cebolang,” uttered Elizabeth. The scene located only in living room. The stage designed as in the room of Javanese house.

Cebolang was a grey person. He experienced the theology adventure. He respected and obeyed the Kiai, in the same time he ate pork and dog’s sate. “He penetrated life not only in its norms and dogmas, but also from nature. Isn’t the nature as well the God’s verse?” said Slamet Gundono, after the performance. He also performed Bambang Kumbayana (Hanidawan) who wanted to go to Java Island, but he could not swim and no boat. Then, he made a contest – which is very cliché plot in the Javanese stories – anyone who could took him to Java Island, if a man, he would make him as a brother, if a woman, he would marry her. Therefore, Sembrani’s female horse (Ida Lala) which could swim appeared. Kumbaya succeed to across, but he did not marry her. “Person is easy to make promise, but a lot easier to break it,” uttered Slamet.

The strength of Slamet are in his words and stories, they could made the audience imagining another space and time construction. And it was right, the prayer in the night of takbiran reverberated. The drum in the mosque sounded. Cebolan came back to his parents.

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The existence of Black & White

Exceeding the long journey in the colour exploration, black and white become the option.

Black and white is not just an expression of rhetoric a kind of “credoan artistic “Q’bro, black and white, it is really the colour. That is one excerpt from the introduction of Radhar Panca Dahana, a humanist. While black and white paintings are often considered as a second class painting, unattractive, and many consider are like half-finished sketches or paintings.

But this assumption would not apply for Q’bro’s works. Line incision, spread on canvas, and the formation of dimensions through the variations of black colour intensity is something that is done with whole-heartedly. This is not beginning of an artist stepping into a color painting. But this is a black and white itself.

Such as “My Ancient Sea My Current Sea” is very interesting. The paintings that express the figure of creatures in the sea are not only talked about the sea. That picture also refers to the linkage of an ancient and the latest human culture implicitly. Q’bro is not only talked about a very pitchy ancient sea when etched in the form of black and white. But at the same time, we empathize with what happened in our oceans today. Sea border issues that are often become the dispute between countries, waste pollution on the sea, etc.

A series of paintings entitled “untitled” represents also the struggle to sharpen his expression. The Q’bro’s works was philosophical, and save the expression of life road of art selected.

He seemed not to concern with the discourse of modern art. He wanted to be himself, which upholds honesty, although he had to through a series of challenges.

Otherwise, black and white lines that he has committed exceeded the long journey in the exploration of colour. “What will happen when I mix all the colors? It becomes black evidently. And after that, it will be white, because I have to take a new canvas to paint. The black colour will not be another colour. Even if I polish the paint with the light intensity, it will not be gray, but black transparent, “says artist whose original name was RM Murdaning Pandamprana.

The man where born in Singaraja Bali, April 13th 1955 is always remembered when he proposed to cooperate with the gallery, and almost always got floating answers. “Oh black and white painting? Yes, just like that, no rejection directly but pessimistic, “said the man wrestled in theatre and had won the Best Actor Youth Theatre Award, in Jakarta 1981.

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Champion expression from Solo

The idea of “champion” is visualized in the figure of rooster.

Twenty six paintings on the canvas describes a rooster in several poses and expressions. Sulistyo, 39 years old, an alumnus of Institut Kesenian Jakarta, exhibited his painting with theme driven by his concerned about Indonesian condition which is in his opinion ever be “champion” in South-East Asia, but now is drowning in bewilderment. Corruption and crisis make all dignities disappear.

According to curator, Sulistyo’s painting shows a clear image structure. Some of them are determined as foreground, figure or “subject matter. In other paintings, it shows an image of background in the making of showing firm relation on the “subject matter” supported

The painting of “cross The Limit” describes a white furry rooster in standing position. In front of the rooster, there is a yellow color like flaming ember and black and white stripe at the back. “Dance with the Dragon” describes a black-red furry roster in flying expression. Beside the rooster, there is a dragon in flying formation. The composition of both animal act as if they were chasing something before them.

In politic and business arena, we identify the cunning of actors. Sulistyo describes a tricky rooster using knife tightened on its foot in the “Secret Weapons”. Rooster is described in the position of flapping wings and foot ready to attack its enemy.

Even though all roosters are visualized in active pose, there is no fighting and bloodshed. Even there are several roosters visualized not fighting, only side by side on a canvas. Sulistyo’s imagination on champion who can fly like airplane is visualized in the painting of “Fight on The Sky”. This painting describes a rooster riding airplane to the sky

Sulityo does not show the enemy of the rooster. The philosophy is “the hardest fighting is to fight ourselves,” he replied. To paint this rooster in details and approaching to the real figure, Sulistyo makes an observation on his roosters raised in Surakarta. “I am interested in roostersince long time ago” he remarked.

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