Strong Statement

There’s something masculine with Madura Batik, and probably it owes much to its daring and bold combination of color composition and not-so-fine execution. Although it’s not as ‘fine’ as batik pekalongan, the overall effect is somehow come with character, and you will say that it’s “unmistakably madura” You can easily see those in my example here. Produced in Tanjungbumi, center of ‘finely crafted’ batik in Madura Island, it screams masculine right away. Although it faithfully follow the most traditional pattern of Sarung Pasisir (Tumpal in the middle, double “Papan” and rows of Pinggir’ after “seret”) this fully hand-drawn piece of batik has bold but also detailed execution. One’s attention must’ve been drawn first to the color combination. It only consisted of very limited palate of light cream (original base color of the cotton) , hues of greens and brown, overall from natural pigments. Its “dirty” looks has achieved by letting ‘cracks’ seeped through with ‘pecah-seribu’ patterns that leave no surface with pristine condition. And the second must be this big'n'bold “oh-so-daring” pattern combination. Incorporating the new approach to much traditional patterns such as ‘manok’ (bird within egg-like oval), ‘sessek’ (fish-scale), ‘get-togget’(sprout) and ‘mbang duri’ (thorny plant), the badan section has vertical in appearance. And the bold hasn’t come to the end when it goes to the Tumpal. With its 3-section base it shows form-manipulation by combining rectangular with contoured edge resulting in more playful effect. Centered with diamond-shape and diagonal background, this Tumpal surely stands out from the crowd.