The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Dede Eri Supria was born in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1956. His art career began at the age of ten, when his father, who was an advertisement painter, began to teach him to paint. He was also encouraged by his aunt who adopted him when he was four­ teen. Through her, in 1970 he met Dukut Hendratnoto, a well-known Indonesian artist, and joined his studio for two years. Between 1974 and 1977, he studied art at the Indo­ nesian Art College, Yogyakarta. In 1976 he and other young artists organised an exhi­ bition entitled 'What Is An Identity?'. He was invitedto participate in the 'National Biennale' held in Jakarta in 1978, and in 1979 held his first solo exhibition in the Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center in Jakarta. In addition to five solo exhibitions in Jakarta, Dede Eri Supria has participated in group exhibitions both in Indonesia and abroad. These include the '3rd Asian Art INDONESIA DEDE ERi SUPRIA In the concrete jungle (from 'Concrete forest' series) 1991 Oil on canvas 120x140cm Collection: PT Tri Patra Engineers and Builders, Indonesia Show', Fukuoka, Japan, 1989 and 'Modern Indonesian Art', Indonesian Festival, touring the United States, 1990-91. Awards for his work include the General Award for the Arts 1978 (American Indonesian Friendship Inc.) and the AdamMalik Award in 1987. His works are represented in manypublic and corporate collections. In general, Dede Eri Supria's style has not changed greatly. The paintings presented in his first exhibition in Yogyakarta in 1976 already showed the technique and ex­ pression characteristic of his work today. From the beginning, his works showed a marked inclination towards realism. De­ veloped initially by his father's work as an advertisement painter, this preference was reinforced by Dukut Hendratnoto's influence and developed further through his contact with young painters at the Indonesian Art College who were exploring new realistic 20 and photographic styles. It was a time in which the decorative style dominated art thinking in Indonesia, one influential art writer (Kusnadi) even suggestingthat the decorative style was an integral part of the Indonesian identity. The 1976 exhibition 'What Is An Identity?' was intended as a challenge to that pervasive 'decorativism'. Though different from the United States' 'super-realism' , Dede Eri Supria's work is marked by very realistic images which present an almost photographic effect. This highly accurate depiction of objects results froma kind of sensibility, more than fromvery developed realistic techniques or any theory of mimesis. A sense of playful exploration comes through some of his early works. My table mixes real and painted objects on the surface of a table, confusing viewers' perceptions and expectations. His conventional oil painting techniques are also different from those commonly used in hyperrealism, such as air brush techniques. Even as a young painter Dede Eri Supria's work gained critical attention and acceptance as serious art. The socialthemes which came to his paintings when he joined the Jakarta­ based Indonesian New Art Movement in 1977 were viewed as 'new' realistic painting, different fromthetraditional realistic painting - landscape, portraiture, nudes, still life - still practised widely in Indonesia . Far from being idealised or romanticised, his realistic images reflected the ugliness and chaos of much urban life. In his work after 1980 he has continued to explore the theme of urban life but more contemplatively. A series of paintings entitled 'Concrete forest' portrays building construc­ tions through a dramatic use of perspective, emphasised by the inclusion of human figures. One painting in this series shows a child crying in the middle of an unfinished building construction. Nearby a man lies on the floor-whether dead or simply sleeping is unclear. In the series entitled 'Labyrinth', photographic images are developed into an illogical scenery. Slums are portrayed with heightened perspective, imaginatively suggesting, through the labyrinth metaphor, the human suffering of urban poverty. Jim Supangkat