Dias Prabu
Dias Prabu was born in 1987 in Malang, a city in East Java. He won a mural design competition at the National Gallery of Indonesia in 2014, and his mural design was painted on the wall of the gallery, where it remains today. His mural painting has since taken him to cities in Java, Aceh, East Kalimantan and to the northernmost part of Indonesia. On his mural journey, the motifs, patterns and elements he employs are derived from traditional art and culture in each region he visits.
Recently Dias has worked to transfer his mural drawing and design technique to the traditional medium of batik tulis - drawing with hot wax onto cotton or silk fabric in a process called “canting”, and later dyeing the patterned fabric. Often featuring symbols of national pride, the works are his way of making a contribution to the national dialogue around issues as diverse as environmental degradation, the extinction of species and the values Indonesia should follow as a complex land of over 17,000 islands with a large, ethnically diverse population.
Batik, a craft form of high artistic value, has been part of Indonesian (especially Javanese) culture and daily life for centuries, passed from generation to generation. The history of Indonesian batik has developed through various techniques, technologies and motifs. Now many regions have diverse patterns and motifs which are incorporated into the form, thus enriching Indonesian batik itself. In October 2009 Indonesian batik was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity:
The techniques, symbolism and culture surrounding hand-dyed cotton and silk garments known as Indonesian Batik permeate the lives of Indonesians from beginning to end: infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and the dead are shrouded in funerary batik….The wide diversity of patterns reflects a variety of influences, ranging from Arabic calligraphy, European bouquets and Chinese phoenixes to Japanese cherry blossoms and Indian or Persian peacocks. Often handed down within families for generations, the craft of batik is intertwined with the cultural identity of the Indonesian people and, through the symbolic meanings of its colours and designs, expresses their creativity and spirituality.
When working on batik as a contemporary artist, Dias does not make a first design or sketch. He executes the batik artwork directly using “canting” and lets the design develop according to the intuition and creativity in his mind. He enjoys the unexpected surprise when he sees the end result and the honesty of the idea that emerges.
Dias has made to new bodies of work for his exhibition at 16albermarle. The first deals with traditional animals of Java, many either extinct or endangered. In the second, he explores childhood memories and the stories told to him by his grandfather. Although addressed to the Indonesian people, the moral and environmental messages in these batiks speak to people of every country.
SELECTED WORKS
Exhibitions