Indonesians in Focus: Bondan Suryaning Tias

By Barrie | September 29th, 2007 | No Comments

Artist Bondan Suryaning Tias searched through his files and began to read an article in a newspaper cutting on what gave him his artistic inspiration.

“Life is a long journey, and people do not know when it will end. This never-ending journey inspires me to put it on canvas. I find the essence of happiness blooms from the spirit of life.

“My paintings are the result of my spontaneous response or of my observation about that spirit. But I am not preoccupied merely with visual performance. In fact, I deliver the true spirit of the object, which speaks truth against violence. That is the essence of being passionate about life.”

Bondan adopts a positive attitude toward people’s lives. He has a passion about happiness, elation, smiling and laughter. Sadness, to the contrary, should be concealed. “When I’m sad, I rarely express it,” he said at his home in Ciputat, a suburb southwest of Jakarta.

Bondan is driven by the lives of the poor like beggars or street musicians. But he does not berate us about their hardship. He is concerned about those people deserving to be happy. “Their happiness is when they count their earnings,” he said of his painting Menghitung Hasil (Calculating the profit).

“The essence of happiness for the poor and the rich is similar. People do not need to possess wealth to be happy.

“‘Happiness does not lie in the mere possession of money’, Franklin D. Roosevelt said. ‘It lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.’”

Bondan’s aspiration to provide happiness can be seen most obviously in the inventiveness in his art work. The object is often portrayed peculiarly — with eyes bulging, a blunt nose and drooping lips — provoking at least a smile on behalf of the viewer.

The titles of his exhibitions mostly convey messages about happiness: People Rejoice 1 (1999), People Rejoice 2 (2000), World of Laughter (2001), Folks Elated (2002), Javanese Traditions (2003), The Eyes of Java (2004), Love of Life (2006) and The Celebrations of Joyful Moments (2007).

The latest exhibition is ongoing at Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta from Sept. 5 through Oct. 16.

Art columnist Agus Dermawan says in a local newspaper review about the artist’s work: “Bondan’s paintings do not convey the complexities of the world of politics. People are shown as being easygoing, undeterred by the prolonged economic crisis.

“His paintings provoke smiles, laughter or at least contentment. Viewing Bondan’s art works is equal to watching a play or comedy of ordinary folks’ lives that are often overlooked by the elite.

“Bondan tries to show their sincerity. He wants to raise awareness in his audience that happiness is not merely about money.”

Bondan paints objects drawn from the diversity of communities, but mostly about people. Balinese cultural and traditional nuance is one the themes of his paintings.

Others focus on the entertainment world and rusticity. All depict the positive side of human beings — their cheerfulness.
Long journey

Looking back on his journey, Bondan says his current work is a result of his long pursuit of creativity.

“When faced with those kinds of paintings people will be aware they reflect my essential style and character,” said Bondan, whose Four Seasons event is his eighth solo exhibition since 1999.

His works appear to have caught the interest of art lovers and collectors at home and abroad, the promotion of which is being helped by art management organization Duta Fine Art Gallery.

Around 15 paintings were sold in the first five days of his current Four Seasons exhibition. “Last year, I exhibited 50 and sold 60,” he said.

However, Bondan might well have followed a different career path had he not been insistent on his desire to realize his childhood dream. His father, FX Mulyadi, is an artist but he appreciated the difficulties that artists of his time had to cope with.

“My father advised me against becoming an artist because — as he said — life is difficult enough for an artist,” said the second of five siblings. It was revealed later that Bondan was the only child to follow in the steps of his father, who backtracked on his initial advice when he officially opened his son’s exhibition in 2001.

In 1989, Bondan entered the Indonesian Arts Institute of Yogyakarta, to study interior design. However, while socializing with his friends, he began to hone the drawing skill he had already shown during his childhood.

He said he had already earned money from drawing to help finance his studies.

After completing his studies, Bondan worked with an interior design consulting company in Jakarta. During the first four to five months with the company, he traveled abroad a lot. He used the opportunity to look for information about fine art by visiting art galleries.

“I spent my travel allowance on art books. I learned a lot from them,” he said.

His desire to focus on art was strong, but he could not yet leave his job, which provided him with financial support. Therefore, he divided each week between working for the company for three days, lecturing in interior design at Tarumanegara University for two and working the canvas for the remaining two.

He decided to leave his corporate and academic positions to concentrate on art when he took the plunge with a solo exhibition in 1999.

Family of painters

That may have helped to seal the destiny of his artistic journey. Another was his marriage in 2000 to fellow artist Riyani Lukita.

Their eldest daughter, Kathy, 6, has inherited her parent’s trait, winning many trophies in drawing and coloring. During the interview, Riyani had to shuttle back and forth between accompanying her husband and soothing their 2 month-old baby who cried at times.

Although she gave birth recently, Riyani has been impatient to get back to the canvas. “She is still completing that painting,” Bondan said, pointing to a frame on the floor leaning against the wall. It is in the geometric style of Riyani, who held her latest exhibition in May, also at Four Seasons.

While sharing the household chores — they do not hire a housemaid — both use their painting time at a small studio at the back of the house, although that may fall into disuse soon as they are currently building a larger one nearby.

Stacked on the floor was a pile of framed canvases containing rough sketches. The other sketches already had color on them.

“The difficult phase in painting is the attempt to unify the mind, the hands and feeling. A good idea will not be evident on canvas if there is no unison between those three elements. To make it a unified entity takes time,” said Bondan.

“The need to paint is as fundamental as the need to eat for me,” he concluded, philosophically.

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