Becoming a Successful Painter in Australia, This is the Story of a UM Surabaya Alumnus who Won a Prestigious Award to Idap Color Blindness

Limitations make people creative. Limitations make people whipped up to do whatever is lived to the fullest. That sentence is the right one to describe the twists and turns of Warpan Djoyo's career, an alumni of the Faculty of Economics (FE) UM Surabaya in 2005 who became an artist (artist) from Indonesia, who succeeded in expanding his professional painting career in the Australian market.

Coming from a family of artists, Warpan Djoyo has been involved in the world of painting since he was still in elementary school. At the age of approximately 11 years, he already has his own paintings and started painting on canvas when he entered high school, and he still keeps these complete paintings in his hometown, Bojonegoro.

Inspired by his father, who is a woodworking artist, and his twin brother, who has also loved painting since he was young, this 41-year-old artist admits that he only started the professional painting profession in 2010. From elementary school to high school graduation, the artist who is called Warpan is quite active in painting to channel his hobbies and creativity onto canvas.

When he decided to move to Surabaya in order to continue his education at the Muhammadiyah University of Surabaya (UM Surabaya), he had left his routine of creating with oil and canvas.

“Back when I was studying at UM Surabaya, I studied while working. Worked at a paper factory at night from 11 pm to 7 am and went straight home from work to study every day for 4 years," recalled Warpan to the editor of UM Surabaya.

Apparently, entering the economics faculty , brought him to work at the Unilever company for 8 years. During that time, he admitted that he stopped painting due to busy work.

However, because his artistic spirit and love for painting could not be ignored, Warpan then decided to stop working and move to Bali. On the Island of the Gods, he returned to painting until he had a private gallery in Ubud. He continues to pursue his desire to continue to develop into the international arena, all the way to Australian soil.

Starting a Career Through Gumtree and Ebay

According to Warpan, starting his painting career in Australia was not easy. He admits that he learned a lot in the first 2 years when he lived in Perth, when he sold his paintings through Gumtree and Ebay sites. He started to get material results from each painting sold, but strangely, he often felt a little lost when his work fell into the hands of buyers.

Not as smooth as the highway, the obstacles also come and go to his painting career. Before being registered at the National Registry of Australian Art and Artist (NRAAA) 3 years ago and participating in 9 exhibitions throughout Australia, his paintings were often refused to take part in painting exhibitions. But this rejection did not dampen his efforts and hard work to keep working.

Warpan has a vision that the journey of art does not have to be alone. It's important for artists to work together to learn best practices and support one another. According to him, it took him 3 years to form a team that shares the same beliefs and is also passionate about helping other artists.

“We all work closely together to realize this idea. Thankfully in June 2021 Melbourne Artist officially becomes a non-profit organization in Australia," he added.

According to him, Melbourne Artist is an arts community that has emerging artist association members who want to share and are eager to grow together, supporting artists who identify as indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse.

As an impressionist artist, his work is inspired by the experience of everyday life with emotion, without limits in choice of subjects and “telling without words” colors. Warpan works in a number of media including oil painting, acrylic painting, printmaking and visual arts. He has had eleven exhibitions and seven publications, his past work magazines and several of his works have been curated by global fashion designers which are used as fashion products by several world brands, one of which is a fashion company from the United States.

Idap Color Blindness, But Not a Barrier

Behind his beautiful and enjoyable paintings, it turns out that since he was a child, Warpan has had difficulty distinguishing colors or color blindness. This must make him study harder so he can combine colors in his paintings. Often he gets criticism from various parties because his paintings are considered not to be combined.

However, as a painter, Warpan has the principle that art is in harmony with intuition. All the colors that he sheds in his writing are expressions that come from feelings. According to him, this is precisely what makes his paintings come alive. Therefore, he often paints based on the color that suits his conscience.

Awarded by the National Registry of Australian Art and Artist

Behind his success as a painter, it turns out that Warpan often takes part in various ajMelbourne exhibitions such as Moone Valley Art Show, Art in Tune and Music Brighton Tow Hall, Camberweell Swinburn University Art Show Knox Art Show Bayside, Whitehorse Art Show Boxhill, Bendigo Bank Melbourne, Spring Breeze, Carrigbush Hotel. On the occasion of the Melbourne Art Town exhibition he took part in a live painting competition at Chapel Street Melbourne.

On this occasion he was successfully selected along with 50 other Australian artists who led him to a certification award in the form of copy rights which made his paintings embedded in various creative industry products such as bags and clothes in various parts of the world.

He advised that hard work is the key to achieving goals. At the end of his presentation, Warpan also revealed that he wanted to continue painting until his old age, spending time playing and having fun with colors according to his intuition and feelings.