INDONESIAN ARTIST: F. WIDAYANTO, A CERAMIC ARTIST

F. Widayanto 

For ceramic fanatics the name Fransiskus Widayanto is pretty well known. The man who born in Jakarta, 23 January 1953, is popular as ceramic artist and already celebrated internationally. His ceramic exhibitions held in Singapore and Aussie. One of his works, Maria, is now gracefully displayed in a church in  Israel. To name some, King of Jordan and luxurious label Hermes have collected his creation.

Some of F. Widayanto women figurines 

Widayanto always created uncommon themes for his art objects. He has principle that he won’t follow or copy other ceramic artists’ style. “Thematic objects has more personalized, you can’t literally folow to the tradition, but you still able to aply the tradition combined with the trend nowadays,” he explained. Later he also told that ceramic art actually had been popular as a part of Indonesian culture. Ceramic becomes a part of Indonesian history. “ It’s important finding your cultural root, rediscovering and reinterpreting it in order to create.”

He had created not less than 13 thematic of ceramic arts such as Ganesha-Ganeshi, Kendi, Ukelan, Mother & Child, Dewi Sri, Fantastic Lady, Narcissus Narcissus, and Semar. Each theme contains not just one statue. Just like Semar, there were 30 statues that he created. In creating his arts, Yanto usually insert the elements of Javanese and Indonesian culture. Just like his Ganesha-Ganeshi series in 1993, he created various pose of prudish and funny elephant. Ganesha is one of Hindu’s gods. His Ganesha-Ganeshi take F. Widayanto to the higher level in art society and become the talk of the Jakarta crème de la crème. His designs inspirations also come from the nature that surrounding him. It reflected in his choosen colors like warm brown, calm green and soothing blue. Not to forget the floral and animal shapes.

Ganesha-Ganeshi

Besides creating art objects Yanto also release household collection. Once he said that he needed chanelling his enormous creativity, but still it needed special treatment. “I have to separate the common product like household items to art objects. It needs strategic planning when to launch the the household items or art objects. Don’t ever launch both of them together at the same time.”

Semar 

The appreciation for ceramic arts is still less compared to other kind of arts like paintings or statues. That is why ceramic industry in Indonesia is growing slowly. On that situation he commented, “ We cannot blame people for that situation. It is us who must fight for it. We can’t just accept that situation and do nothing. Some things worth to fight for, and it needs determination, struggling and time. To be succeed what we need is evolution not revolution. Don’t just pursue the result than later just finished. Ceramic is difficult to do and need a long process. You have to know the soil well, knowing the details of making and burning. If it’s broken, you have to remake it.” He continued, “The only way is keep creating and continuing to introduce your creation by exhibition. Afterward people will recognize you and willing to pay your journey, your value and character that reflected in your creation. It’s not a new thing for people in this ceramic world to be strong. The creation of a personal character is not easy and take a long time, need more literatures, reviews and contemplation. Just like the ceramic’s character, when it burnt it’s getting stronger. Different from other materials that will be damaged when they burnt.”

F. Widayanto graduated in 1981 from the Ceramic Section of the Faculty of Fine Art and Design,ITB, the Bandung Institute of Technology.  In 1991 Widayanto set up his own studio in Tapos, marking the beginning of his functional and decorative products, including accessories. Testifying to his continuing artistic creation, he hold solo exhibitions of ceramic sculptures held every 2-3 years.


Solo Exhibition :
1987   : "Wadah Air", Water Container, Erasmus Huis, Jakarta
1990   : "Loro Blonyo", Symbol of marital faithfulness, Mercantile Club, Jakarta
1990   : "Topeng", The Masks, Bank Universal, Jakarta
1993   : "Ganesha-Ganeshi", the Hindhu God Ganesha, Bentara Budaya, Jakarta
1995   : "Ukelan", the various forms of javanese women's hairstyle, The Regent Hotel, Jakarta
1997   : "Golekan", the Javanese Wooden Dolls, Bentara Budaya, Jakarta
2000   : "Mother and Child", Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta
2000   : "Kendi-Kendi", the water vessels, Restoran & Gallery Koi, Jakarta
2001   : "Ceramic Inspiration", Hotel Sari Pan Pacific, Jakarta
2003   : "Dewi Sri", the Rice Goddess, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta
2005   : "Fantastic Lady", Galeri Nasional, Jakarta
2007   : "Narcissus", from the kiln of F. Widayanto at Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta
2009   : "Semarak 30 Semar", Galeri Nasional Jakarta
2010   : "China Dream", at Widayanto Galeri, Jakarta

Joint Exhibition :
1996   : "Topeng", Masks collection, Museum and Art Gallery
            of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
2003   : CP Bienalle, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta

GALERI F. WIDAYANTO
Jl. Setiabudi II no. 11,
Jakarta Selatan
Telp: +62 - 021- 526 2309, +62 -021-522 3547

Dewi Sri

courtesy of peluang usaha, KREASI, mybusinessblogging, Indonesiakreatif, lpds, f.widayanto, thearoengbinang, arcadja, imajinasidimas