User:Maynardrd/Sony Santosa

Biography
Sony Santosa was born in Curup, a small town in the Bengkulu Province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in 1963. While he was still young his family moved to Java and Sony spent much of his youth as a poor kid on the streets of Jakarta. Despite a raw artistic talent, Sony left school in the early 80’s and spent the next few years working occasionally doing odd jobs around the Block M district of Jakarta. Then in 1989, he moved to Bali, initially to the tourist mecca of Kuta, but later to artistic area around the town of Ubud. There he met and was befriended by the French painter and psychologist Elisabeth (Betty) Pirat. She recognised and encouraged his considerable artistic talents and as a result Sony started on a career as a painter.

Two years afterwards, in 1991-1992, Sony and Betty established their first Painting Gallery in Ubud to be followed in 1993 by another larger gallery and Arts Centre which they named the Sony Painters Space. Sony and Betty were married and for a number of years shared their time between the gallery in Ubud and another in Nice, France. During the ‘90’s Sony also taught self expression through painting to the children at the Sanur International School, Bali and to members of the Bali International Women’s Association. Sony and Betty also held a series of “Bali-Nice” exhibitions on the French Riviera displaying his vision of the South of France and hers of Bali.

In 2004 very sadly Betty died after a long battle against cancer. It had been a growing dream of theirs for a number of years to establish a much more ambitious Arts Centre away from the bustle and ever growing tourism on Bali. So Sony threw all his energies into this project, left Ubud behind and has now established the Eloprogo Art House near an ancient temple at Borobudur in Central Java which he dedicated to Betty’s memory. Sony continues to paint, in part to fund the Art House at Borobudur. His paintings have been exhibited in Indonesia and France and he has also received formal recognition for the quality of his work in both countries. He has also had acknowledgement of his work in Japan and Australasia, although he is almost completely unknown in the UK.

In artistic terms, Sony paints from the heart. His work has been described as a deep voicing of inner emotions, searching out his own vision of the world. His canvasses range from portraits, often self portraits, that go well beyond physical realism and have a deep emotional intensity, to paintings of landscapes that are alive with natural energy and with imaginative touches that float you between different realities to abstracts taking us to the very heart of an experience. The vigorous sensitivity of his strokes and the atmospheric depth of his colours combine to deliver a powerful authenticity to his work, whatever the subject.

Although he started with pencils, charcoal and water colours, he progressed briefly to oils then to his favoured medium, acrylics on canvas with much use of the palette-knife.

1994
La Colle sur Loup City Prize

“L’Aigle de Nice” 6th Fine Arts International Grand Prix. With “Self Portrait with my knife” (Bali, 1993) Acrylic black & white paint worked with a pallet-knife on canvas- 100 x 80 cm

1995
Tende City Prize

“L’Aigle de Nice” 7th Fine Arts International Grand Prix With “Corrida in Bali” (Bali, 1995) Acrylic paint worked with a pallet-knife on canvas - 140 x 70 cm

1996
3rd Prize Landscape Category

Cannes 32nd Côte d’Azur Painting and Sculpture International Grand Prix With “In the Hills of Mosca” (Nice, 1995) Acrylic paint worked with a pallet-knife on canvas - 140 x 100 cm

2nd Prize and Public Choice

Docteur René Morani 9th Painting and Sculpture Grand Prix. With “The Girl in the Hill” (Nice, 1996) Acrylic paint worked with a pallet-knife on canvas - 96 x 76 cm

1997
Jury Special Recognition Prize and “Art Junction” Prize

L’Aigle de Nice, 8th Fine Arts International Grand Prix With “Petani” (Bali, 1996) Acrylic paint worked with a pallet-knife on canvas size -120 x 120 cm

1998
Jury 3rd Oil Painting Prize

In the European Academy for Graphic, Fine and Photographic Arts Contest “Salon du Printemps des Arts”, Coaraze, France. With “Autoportrait” (Bali, 1997) Acrylic paint worked with pallet-knife on canvas size 80 x 70 cm

Resources & References
http://eloprogoarthouse.com/

http://www.artgalleriesdirect.com/artist/Sony-Santosa/1809

http://picasaweb.google.com/Eloprogo.Art.Space/EloprogoArtSpaceInBorobudurTheCulturalCenterOfArtistSony#

http://borobudurartspace.blogspot.com/

http://goremasternews.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/eloprogo-art-house/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=89017917751 (Eloprogo Art House)