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JAKARTA – The 101 STYLE Hotel Malioboro in Yogyakarta welcomes guests with a stunning display of paintings in its lobby. The hotel hosts this vibrant art exhibition to celebrate National Batik Day from October 2 to December 2, 2026. Furthermore, 25 talented artists from provinces like West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, and Bali join this special event. These creators choose the classic Wahyu Tumurun theme to inspire their beautiful artworks.
Seventeen years ago, UNESCO officially recognized Indonesian Batik as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage. In addition, the Indonesian Government established this important recognition through Presidential Decree Number 33 of 2009. The Wahyu Tumurun theme represents a traditional batik pattern from the Javanese Palace. This specific pattern carries a deep meaning that God gives grace, guidance, blessings, and true happiness to humans. Therefore, the artists convey this profound message through modern paintings and batik so every hotel guest can enjoy its beauty.
The exhibition coordinator, Endang Apriyanto, explains that the batik theme goes far beyond a simple clothing pattern. Javanese people use this specific design as a communication tool for more than five centuries. They do not just speak their hopes aloud or write prayers on ordinary paper. Instead, they create these messages as visual pictures on fabric so people can wear, see, feel, and pass them down to future generations. Moreover, Endang translates the phrase wahyu tumurun as a divine gift coming down directly from God. Batik makers hope the wearers will easily receive guidance and glory. Nowadays, the artists arrange these picture symbols beautifully, rather than using normal spoken words.
This exhibition successfully achieves three main goals. First, the artists protect local culture by creating batik that keeps growing and actively connects tradition with modern styles. Second, they start meaningful conversations about beauty when their paintings and batik tell engaging stories about nature, life, and spirituality. Third, the organizers carefully arrange these artworks to match the elegant hotel atmosphere. Thus, the guests can fully enjoy the art without losing their relaxing comfort. Inside the Wahyu Tumurun batik, viewers can easily find pictures of garuda birds, climbing vines, plants, animals, and a clear symbol of a revelation coming down from above. All these combined parts make this batik pattern look very noble and full of important meaning.
The organizers allow the creators to freely use various artistic methods and basic materials. As a result, they do not only make traditional batik on fabric, but they also paint on canvas and make statues to show the Wahyu Tumurun theme. For example, the artist Sismarmanto Soewardjo creates a very beautiful modern batik artwork. He draws a mother cat with her two kittens using dynamic lines that look exactly like brush strokes. He also uses bright colors against a dark background on his work which he names Keluarga Kucing in 2026. On the other hand, Hanang Banyu Sabrang paints a lively abstract picture. He uses the hand-drawn batik technique to make fast-moving wavy lines with bright colors on his work titled Bergerak in 2025.
Meanwhile, the painter Tutus Warsito shows his completely unique abstract painting style. He draws interesting lines, dots, and shadows. He seamlessly mixes the traditional batik art style that usually fills the whole fabric with his own modern painting style. He paints two long red and green lines between five short curving lines. Next, he adds dots that form a square over a blue background on his work titled Purnama Samudra in 2025. Differently, Heri Susanto makes a square-style face picture using the classic batik technique on fabric. He puts decorations that look exactly like batik patterns using only black and white colors on the Suku Asmat artwork in 2026.
In addition, Kusbudiyanto makes the only three-dimensional statue in this exhibition. He shapes three human bodies that join closely together. Kusbudiyanto explains that each head clearly represents a brave, honest, and hardworking nature. These strong traits give incredible strength to someone to face life with a high spirit. Furthermore, he decorates the statue’s surface with pictures of tree branches and birds using bright colors in the My Hero artwork from 2025.
In conclusion, when the artists combine batik, painting, and sculpting methods, they successfully create fresh modern artworks. Nevertheless, they still successfully guard and protect the precious batik art culture for the future.
Photo doc. seni.co.id
