Secretariat: Institute Technology of Bandung Faculty of Art and Design Jl. Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132 Ph. +62 22 2515291 Email: 2014isnh@gmail.com The Existence of Women Artists in Indonesian Artworld Patriot Mukmin Faculty of Visual Arts and Designs Bandung Institute of Technology patriot.mukmin@gmail.com Ira Adriati Faculty of Visual Arts and Designs Bandung Institute of Technology Ira.adriati@gmail.com Irma Damajanti Faculty of Visual Arts and Designs Bandung Institute of Technology Irma@fsrd.ac.id …….. ABSTRACT Women artists have important role in Indonesian art world. They have already taking parts in it since the 1930s, in the era of PERSAGI (Persatuan Ahli Gambar Indonesia, Association of Indonesian Painter) until today in the era of contemporary arts. For past five years (2009-2013), the progression of Indonesian art world occurred relatively calmly, different from past five years before that happened rapidly, some called it art boom was happened at that time. However, many new names emerged incorporating older artists that already taking parts in the art scene before them. In this situation, the creative progress of women artists still interesting to be observed because they have various of style and unique traits in sense of arts. This research examined catalogues from 24 different solo and group exhibitions in 2009-2013 to see how women artists implement their ideas of arts among so many men artists that actively show their works in exhibitions. Researcher uses history of arts, art critics, and feminist theory as approach or methods in this research. Ten most active women artists from the data was scrutinized to see how they work, and what theme or ideas they used to do in their arts. Women artists are always exist in every era of Indonesian art history. In 2009-2013, most of them raised personal issue to be implemented in various medium of arts. Keywords: woman artists, art work, existence, aesthetic value 1 PENDAHULUAN Hampir sepuluh tahun yang lalu, medan sosial seni rupa di Indonesia mengalami peristiwa yang sering disebut sebagai boom seni rupa. Dalam kurun waktu tahun 2006-2011 kegiatan dan perputaran karya seni terjadi begitu intens. Banyak galeri yang meraup keuntungan dari peristiwa tersebut, begitu pula dengan perupanya, mereka bertambah terkenal dan karya-karyanya terserap oleh pasar. Hal ini tidak berlaku pada para pemain lama saja, galeri dan perupa baru banyak yang muncul ke permukaan untuk ikut meramaikan. Nama-nama seperti Wedhar Riadi, Hendra Hehe Harsono, Indiguerillas, Tommy Wondra adalah perupa asal Yogyakarta yang besar di era tersebut, sedangkan dari Bandung terdapat nama-nama seperti Kelompok Abstra-X, Radi Arwinda, Pramuhendra, dan Wiyoga Muhardanto. Di tahun 2014 ini, keadaan tidak lagi seperti dahulu, kegiatan seni yang ada terasa lebih selektif dan hati-hati. Karya yang terserap pasar kebanyakan adalah karya-karya dari perupa senior. Nyoman Masriadi, Agus Suwage, Kelompok Jendela, dan Tisna Sanjaya adalah contohnya. Bahkan perupa yang lebih senior seperti A.D Pirous karyanya masih lebih diminati, terbukti di acara Pasar Seni ITB 2014 yang lalu, stand perupa kaligrafi modern itu dikunjungi banyak orang dan karya yang dipajang habis terjual. Bandingkan dengan stand dari galeri Gerilya, Awanama, dan Artmadilaga yang banyak memajang karya dari