Bambang Boentaran

Works 1

Bambang Boentaran is a graduate of IKJ (Jakarta Art School). He lived in Purwakarta, a small village in West Java. Bambang Boentaran died of a heart attack April 2006.

Profile - by Poppy Drews (written ca. 1998)

BAMBANG BOENTARAN left his well -to-do parents to lead a bohemian and nomadic existence, though he was disiplined enough to study art at the Jakarta Art School ( IKJ, in his days it was called LPKJ ). Everywhere he goes he makes friends with people from all layers of society: from prostitutes and peasants to dalangs. He can watch wayang performances for days, getting completely absorbed in them.

Bambang not only lives for art but becomes a subject of art himself. In his younger days his paintings depicted more fantastical scenes, like people with birdheads flying in the sky, and for him it was reallity. Nine years ago [1993] he got married and had a son. From then on he became more down to earth and his recent pictures show daily life, which now and then is symbolized in wayang figures. He gets totally immersed in his suroundings and feels the urge to express it instantly on scraps of paper, pieces of cardboard and anything at hand. Then he'll settle down somewhere for a few years to transfer all his sketches, plus a very rich imagination and a strong sense for colour & composition, onto canvas. And voilá! His paintings describe Bambang Boentaran exactly.

So there's not much to tell about Bambang - just look at the pictures and you'll know the man personally.