In Memorium
by
Mary Northmore
Born in
Purwokerto in 1928, artist Abdul Aziz took his last breath
at Sanglah Regional Hospital on Tuesday (22/1) at 10 am local
time, after undergoing treatment for just over one week. The
deceased leaves his wife, Mary Northmore, founder of Seniwati
Gallery of Art by Women in Ubud. The remains of the deceased
were prepared for funeral at the home of artist W Harja in
Banjar Teges, Peliatan, Ubud.
A Patriot
In 1958 Abdul Aziz was awarded 3 Medals of Honour including
the Guerrilla Star, War of Independence I medal and the War
of Independence II medal, for services to the nation during
the fight for Independence from the Dutch between 1945 and
1949. For this reason, his funeral at the Gianyar Cemetery,
Bali, on Tuesday afternoon at 5 pm, also included a Military
Guard of Honour and a Volley was fired over the grave.
Childhood Talents
As a child, Abdul Aziz began to draw when he saw a horse his
older brother had drawn. On his brother's refusal to do one
for him, Abdul Aziz decided he could do it himself, going
on to add a cowboy and other pleasing elements. His musical
talents also emerged early. His brother owned a violin which
he was forbidden to touch. So he had to wait until his brother
left the house, and 'borrow' the violin. Once it broke and
he had to quickly learn to repair it! And at the age of 8
or so, he was invited to sing at the local Indonesian Radio
Station. He loved Keroncong and later learned to play all
the musical instruments available.
From Social/Politic to Arts
Initially, in fact, Abdul Aziz did not study to become an
artist. In 1951, he studied Social/Politics at Gajah Mada
University in Yogyakarta. However, due to the call of his
heart to the arts, he went on to study at the Indonesian Fine
Arts institute in Yogyakarta. In 1959, he received a Scholarship
from the Government of Indonesia to continue his studies at
the Academia Di Belle Arti in Rome, Italy, where he spent
five years and was awarded the Diploma in Painting in October
1962 and the Diploma in Decoration, in October 1964. He then
served as a cultural attache to the Indonesian Embassy in
Rome from October 1964 to September 1965. On his return to
Bali in 1965 he taught Materials Science, Basics of Technical
Drawing, and Illustration and Graphics, as an unsalaried 'coach'
in the Fine Arts department of Udayana University, Bali. He
resigned this job in 1980 to focus his attention on his art,
developing the unique 'trompe l'oeil' style which became his
trademark.
Marriage
In 1988 Abdul Aziz married Mary Northmore, then Director of
the British Institute in Bandung, and they set up home in
Mas, Ubud, in 1989. Abdul Aziz was in complete support of
his wife when she decided that women artists needed a gallery
of their own, which led to the foundation of Seniwati Gallery
of Art by Women, in his previous studio in central Ubud.
Then he decided it was time to fulfill another life-long ambition.
He wanted to show the world that an Indonesian could make
a world-class violin. Starting quite on his own, with no books
or information other than some old violins, he had made his
first, very beautiful violin from sandalwood in 1985. He went
on to study in Cremona, Italy, and Cambridge, England and
finally announced himself satisfied with his last two violins
in 2000, since which time he enjoyed playing music in a more
relaxed fashion. In 1993 Abdul Aziz fulfilled his Moslem 'Haj"
pilgrimage commitment
Obsessed by Violins
Other than as an painter, Abdul Aziz was indeed as a multi-talented
artist - painting, making violins, and also sculpture. Very
few of his sculptures exist, the most well-known being the
Puputan memorial in central Denpasar, on which he worked as
a consultant.
Two of his sculptures, one of sandstone and one of "sawo
kecik" wood are placed alongside his paintings in the
Neka museum. In this museum there is one of the artist's most
famous works, "Mutual Attraction" (1974-75) - which
consists of two separate paintings, one of a youth, one of
a young girl, which are placed next to each other, becoming
one work. The paintings of Abdul Aziz were included in the
"Art of Bali" exhibition at the East-West Center,
Honolulu, Hawaii, and for many years he participated in the
annual Bali Festival of Arts exhibition of paintings, along
with certain other group shows.
See also: Bali Echo, December 1994, interview with
Barbara Anello
Abdul
Aziz and Mary Northmore, Ubud 1994
(Photo by Astri Wright)
|
In Memorium
by
Astri Wright
Nationalist
and revolution era painter Abdul Aziz passed away on January
22nd, at 10.30 am. He was buried the same afternoon in accordance
with Muslim custom. Being a Hero of the Republic for his services
in the Revolutionary Student Army, 1949, Abdul Aziz was put
to rest with additional Military Ceremonies, with a Guard
of Honour and a volley of shots fired over his grave. He left
behind his wife, Mary Northmore, Director of the Seniwati
gallery for Women's Art in Bali, who said in a personal statement
that he did not suffer for long and was calm at the end. She
thanks everyone for their prayers and good wishes.
Abdul
Aziz, originally from East Java but a resident of Bali for
the last part of his life, was widely known and highly sought
for his realistic paintings of village scenes and scenes from
the Ramayana or other popular mythology, painted in high-contrast
day-light. Many of his best known paintings used a theatrical
illusionistic device that was uniquely his in Indonesian painting:
wooden frames or doorways which he painted so realistically
that they seemed like real ones were incorporated into the
composition, but with the subjects's heads or limbs overlapping
these framing devices, which main them appear to be leaning
out of the canvas, towards the viewer. In this highly skilled
way, Aziz brought his painted subjects and his viewers together
in the same semi-imaginary, semi-real space.
During
the last years of his life he mostly abandoned painting for
the pursuit of the art of building violins and recording music
in his home studio. While collectors sought his work passionately,
Aziz did not give in to the star-pressures of the art world
and its indelible hierarchy-drive and marketing instincts,
even though (or perhaps because) he was considered a senior
master in Indonesian painting and would have been swept into
the numerous social and artistic engagements such positions
entail.
Abdul
Aziz's paintings can be seen in the Neka Museum in Ubud and
elsewhere. |
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