Artist Ririe Ranggasari

ririe's art

Ririe Ranggasari is an imaginative, contemporary, young woman expressing herself in a combination of both traditional and digital techniques. Based out of Jakarta, Indonesia, Ririe was kind enough to share her thoughts with me on her artistic motivations and goals. Take a look:


1. Where did you grow up and, how, if at all, has your environment influenced your work?

I was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. I went to an Islamic private school – elementary and junior high, where I felt my ideas were somewhat restricted. My teachers all said that I had talents, but I wasn’t allowed to be “creative”. I remember once in art class when I was 12 I drew a girl with a pig’s face and my teacher told me that it was not allowed. Another teacher also told me, when I was 9 or 10, that in Islam it is discouraged (or forbidden, I don’t really remember) to put living beings in to drawings because we as humans do not have the “right” to create living things. I do not remember having an argument with my teacher about it or not, but I do remember that it made a big impact on how I see religions. And I remember that as a young kid I was very critical on how women – in Islam, are not allowed to show most part of her body. I became rebellious towards my religion especially after entering high school (in which I attended a public HS) and started working with the female form (nudes) a lot as a way of showing my disagreement in Islamic rules. I suppose those were influences in my work, then.

I would also say that Japanese comic books played a major role in my drawing techniques and style.

2. What did you really, really want to be as a child? Was it an artist?

I wanted to be a lot of things when I was a child. But the first occupation that I ever wanted to be WAS an artist. And even that I kept switching, it was always something that has something to do with art, like an architect, a piano player, a songwriter, a poet, a comic book writer, etc.

3. Who are your mentors? Your artistic influences?

Wow, I don’t think I ever had mentors. Maybe just the art teachers from my schools. My artistic influences vary and never were a person in particular. Sometimes it’s a comic book artist, other times it’s my own feelings or experiences. But I can say that Affandi (Indonesia’s famous artist) was someone that I idolized in terms of art works.

4. How, if at all, does your work engage social history or commentary?

I’m not pretty sure. As I mentioned, they are more about how I interpret my feelings about different things.



5. How much do you paint? Everyday? How many hours?

It depends on my mood really. When I’m inspired I cannot wait, I have to draw it right away. And I tend to not stop until I finish unless for meals and bathroom. So it can be many, many hours. But so far, the longest time I ever spent on a painting (which was oil) was more than 28 hours. But when I’m not inspired I could go on not working on anything for weeks too.

6. Do you experience boredom or "blocks"? How do you deal with them?
I do, especially after I see other people’s work that I found impressive, I would feel small and stupid, and could never, never be as good. It used to make me feel so discouraged that I couldn’t work for days, maybe weeks. But as I grew up, I put in mind that when I draw I do it for myself and not to impress anybody. And I always say to myself that I love myself when I’m drawing and I shouldn’t let anything stop me from doing something I love most.

7. Do you consider yourself self-taught or have you been schooled? What advice would you give to a developing artist?

I’m self-taught. Never had proper learning, that’s why I think, I know, that I lack in techniques and knowledge of art.
I don’t know any good advice, although I can say that it is good that there are more and more young people who are passionate in art than ever. All I can say is that nowadays there are plenty of opportunities and facilitations to develop oneself as an artist, so, never hesitate to show other people your work!!!

8. What's the best advice you've ever gotten as an artist?

I was told not to hold back. “Just let your heart guide you”, a friend, who was not an artist and not really in to art, told me when I was in college. He also added, “don’t think about whether people are gonna like it or not, or whether it is good or not, just be yourself, be sincere, and do what you want to do, go crazy!”

9. How do you categorize your art?

That’s kind of hard. I do traditional and digital, and sometimes both. I like surreal things but I mostly draw people. I was hoping someone could categorize my work for me.



10. What do you want to say or how do you want to be remembered as an artist?
I just want to say that I wish I had realized how much I want to be an artist sooner/earlier. It was always somewhere deep in me - the passion, but I never realize how much I want to take it seriously until after I was 24. Had I been more insisting I would’ve gone to art school or majored in design instead of getting a degree in Mass Communication, and I probably would’ve enjoyed my life more.

But I believe it’s never too late to start something that you are truly passionate about, even if you have little time because you have to work and have bills to pay.

Contact Ririe at ririeranggasari@gmail.com

“don’t think about whether people are gonna like it or not, or whether it is good or not, just be yourself, be sincere, and do what you want to do, go crazy!”