JP\/20\/DJOKO<\/p>\n
Billionaire painter with a trauma<\/p>\n
Tarko Sudiarno
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
"Do you think straight? How can Jakarta people forget our
\nhistory, September 30?" queried Djoko Pekik, one of Indonesia's
\nbest-known painters, when asked by a Jakarta journalist about his
\nluxury residence in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
It was only proper for the artist, frequently dubbed the
\nbillion-rupiah painter, to express his irritation and agony on
\nthat day, which reminded him of his traumatic experience in what
\nis called the G30S\/PKI incident (Sept. 30, 1965, Indonesian
\nCommunist Party movement).<\/p>\n
As the political atmosphere in Indonesia was heating up in
\nthose days, climaxing in the incident, a number of well-known
\nartists in Yogyakarta were accused of being affiliated with the
\nparty and were later jailed without trial by president Soeharto's
\nNew Order regime.<\/p>\n
One of the artists was Djoko Pekik, who was charged with
\njoining the People's Art Institute, or Lekra, an organization
\nunder the umbrella of the PKI. Held in Yogya's military detention
\ncamp from 1965 to 1972, the ex-student of the Indonesian Fine
\nArts Academy witnessed the atrocities and arrogance of soldiers.<\/p>\n
A lot of innocent people were imprisoned and separated from
\ntheir families. "Quite a number of fellow artists were sent to
\nBuru island, only to suffer and lead a hard life even after their
\nrelease. I was lucky to be jailed in my own city," recalled the
\npainter.<\/p>\n
It was the trauma of the September 30 incident that offended
\nhim when on that same date last month he was asked about his
\naffluence rather than that murky bit of history, which has
\nremained a mystery.<\/p>\n
"The editor should have assigned you to question the incident
\nand its consequences," said the painter of the monumental
\nIndonesia 1998, Boar Hunting.<\/p>\n
Despite the denial that his works always contain political or
\nmoral weight, his Hunting, created at the outset of the reform
\nera in 1998, will trigger the imagination of those who feast
\ntheir eyes on it.<\/p>\n
But Djoko Pekik maintains that paintings have to convey themes
\nof some depth. "If possible, they should have lofty meaning and
\nbroad nuances." His major works, though visually presenting
\nordinary people like ledhek (traditional dancers) or pedicab
\ndrivers, have profound ideas to communicate.<\/p>\n
Among his canvases are My Train Stops for a Moment, Factory
\nWorkers, Nini Thowong (coconut-shell female figure made as a
\nchildren's toy), Female Migrant Workers Take Leave and the Boar
\nTrilogy, which has been the subject of analyses both at home and
\nabroad.<\/p>\n
His latest painting, 5-M-Star Hotel, exhibited at the end of
\nSeptember 2004 at the Bentara Budaya art center in Yogyakarta,
\ndepicts a star-rated hotel with ordinary people looking in from
\nthe outside, with no way of entering and enjoying its luxury
\nrooms.<\/p>\n
"5-M" is a shortened form of the Javanese words mo limo, which
\nin Javanese ethics mean the five prohibited acts of madhon
\n(promiscuity), madat (drug addiction), maling (theft), mabuk
\n(getting drunk) and main (gambling).<\/p>\n
Such misdeeds, which can occur in the privacy of hotel rooms,
\nare visible in his work from behind transparent panes.<\/p>\n
The social conditions of members of the upper and lower
\nclasses, morally right and corrupt people, as well as disparities
\nand injustice in society, are among the phenomena Djoko Pekik has
\nalways examined in his work.<\/p>\n
Injustice and arbitrariness, which have plagued him with
\nlife-long trauma, are not only portrayed in his pictures but also
\naffect his daily life.<\/p>\n
The killings he saw in the mid-'60s have continued to haunt
\nhim, making him averse to the sight of any act that deprives
\npeople of life.<\/p>\n
"Human lives are not something to play with," are his words
\nevery time he watches crime reports and police shootings on TV.<\/p>\n
So, in his harmoniously designed residence on the banks of the
\nBedhok River in Sambungan village, Bantul, Yogyakarta, he detests
\nseeing the slaughter of animals.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of free-range chickens are left to live and die
\nnaturally on his three-hectare estate, virtually a haven for the
\npoultry where nobody can expect to savor its meat. "I don't have
\nthe heart to eat chicken," said Djoko Pekik.<\/p>\n
When one of his cocks suffered a punctured neck after
\nfighting, the severely injured bird was taken to a veterinarian
\nfor a throat operation.<\/p>\n
Although the cost of the surgery was more than the price of
\neven the best cock, Djoko had the satisfaction of watching the
\nbird recover.<\/p>\n
He did the same for a small village dog that broke its leg,
\ndespite the cost of the surgery. And for the sake of such tiny
\nsouls, he has put up a warning sign on the entry gate of his
\nproperty with red letters reading "Small Animals".<\/p>\n
To him, lives are the most valuable possession and nobody can
\neliminate them, except the Creator, so that if any slaughter
\nhappens like that in the post-1965 period, it is an inhuman
\naction and violates basic human rights.<\/p>\n
Therefore, according to him, the transition from the Old Order
\nto the New Order that claimed countless lives should be made
\ntransparent, so as to reveal the truth of G30S\/PKI.<\/p>\n
"The masterminds of the incident must be found out, yet the
\nincident has remained obscure," says Djoko every time he
\nrecollects the Sept. 30 episode.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp20djoko-1447899208",
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