August 6, 2024 – Ubud, Bali
Today I managed to catch up with Devy Ferdianto, master printer, founder, and director of Devfto Printmaking Institute, Ubud, Bali. The studio offers commissions, editioning, paper and printmaking research, workshops, exhibitions, and artist-in-residency programs. It is tucked in behind Sika Gallery, which exhibits contemporary prints by local and international artists.
This is not the first studio Devy has run. RedPoint Printmaking Studio and Gallery was the country’s first printmaking studio in Bandung, West Java in 1993. At that time printmaking was not yet popular in Indonesia and the studio was a way to promote the field and give students studio access after finishing their studies. Many students were reluctant to continue studying printmaking due to the cost of materials, which were hard to come by then.
Another way that Devy sought to encourage more Indonesian artists to engage in printmaking was to get equipment and materials made locally. He built large etching presses which he supplied to universities. He also made rollers and started researching papermaking with local Abaca and Daluang fibre. In DEVFTO the first of the fourty-eight presses that he had made, sits proudly in the centre of the studio.
Sadly, Devy was forced to close RedPoint Printmaking Studio and Gallery in 2000 due to a lack of finance and went on to teach printmaking at universities in Bandung and Jakarta, until he retired in 2017. He then got the opportunity to go to Bali where he co-founded Black Hand Gang and in 2021 decided to independently establish his own studio, Devfto Printmaking Institute.
The studio, although small, offers a full programme of activities including commissioning, editioning, an artist in residency program, educational workshops, research into printmaking and papermaking and exhibitions in Bali, Bandung, Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
There are facilities to do stone and waterless lithography, soft and hard-ground etching, screen-printing, relief printing, Cyanotype and photo-intaglio techniques including gum oil printing. This vast array of techniques on offer is part of the strategy of DEVFTO to support the development of printmaking in Bali and Indonesia.
During my visit, a few collectors from Jakarta dropped in to view the current exhibition at Sika Gallery, taking photos with some of the artists and had a tour of the studio, learning more about how the works were made. Educating the public and art collectors on printmaking is one of the key aims of the studio.
Devy’s education in printmaking started at the fine art university in Bandung, where he chose printmaking simply because the other areas of specialisation didn’t interest him. He had no idea what printmaking was and struggled initially until her received tutorship from a visiting professor from Germany, which inspired him to go on to study intaglio printmaking for two more years in Germany. In 1997 he studied photopolymer intaglio under Keith Howard.
To date, DEVFTO has had a total of 37 local and international artists in residence. If you are interested in bringing a creative project to fruition at DEVFTO, get in touch with Devy who can offer access to the space, his expertise, and materials.
Email: devftoprint@gmail.com
IG: @devfto @devyferdianto
Ina Arraoui 