INTRODUCTION:

 ==============

Kerry in the Kitchen, 1994
Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 cm
 

Linda and Domestic Chores, 1983
Oil on canvas, 70 x 70 cm

 
 ART BEGINNINGS:
 ===============

 CHRIS: When did you want to be
 an artist?
 PRANOTO: I started when I was
 fourteen years of age, or something like
 that.
 I was born in a village where there was
 no modern visual art. My family,
 as well as the neighbours, all made batik.
 When I was thirteen or fourteen years old
 I decided I wanted to be an artist.

 CHRIS: If the villagers' friends all
 did batik, why were you different?
 PRANOTO: I did not think I was
 different from my fellow villagers.
 When I moved to the city (Solo),
 I saw different things, including art,
 and thought “this artist is very cool.”
 In town I saw becak artists (who
 specialized in painting tricycle rickshaws)
 who were very cool and very interesting
 for me.
 I liked to do drawings not as painting
 but like calligraphic writing.
 When I went to school I did a lot of these
 things.
 When I moved to town, I saw not only
 writing but painting.
 

 CHRIS: Did you see a lot of art work
 like watercolour and oil work by
 artists like Dullah?
 PRANOTO: In the 60's and 70's there
 were a lot of famous artists living in
 Solo such as Dullah, Sudibio and
 Sumitro.
 They were like my idols.
 Five years later I personally met them
 in Solo when I was already starting
 on the path for art. I had already
 joined a group of artists there.
 Sudibio, for me, is very good.
 I am very familiar with his work.
 It is decorative painting.
 Whereas Dullah is in the mainstream
 of Indonesian art history. 

 CHRIS: Was it pretty tough then?
 PRANOTO: I had little confidence in
 my art. The toughness comes because
 you're still young and you don't know
 how to do it, but it was always tough.
 

Pura Dalem Ubud, 1977
Oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm

Portrait of a Girl, 1978
Water colour on paper, 35 x 35 cm
 

   PREVIOUS GENERATIONS
   OF ARTISTS:

    ====================

   CHRIS: Do you know many artists who
   have survived the same length of time?
   PRANOTO: Many of my fellow artists who
   continued to paint have become famous now.
   From 1965, many in the first generation of
   artists could not carry on because they had
   a fear of the link between communism and art.
   I'm one of the lucky young offspring of the
   older generation who moved in when art was
   for art sake, when there was no political
   connection made between communism and
   art. But now, even the victims of the previous
   generation are famous as well.
 

Quiet Beach, 1985
Oil on canvas, 120 x 110 cm