Artist Yos Suprapto skewers a culture of barbarism

Artist Yos Suprapto skewers a culture of barbarism

By Aendra H. Medita

JAKARTA (JP): Dissatisfaction and a desire for change from the
established order in which avarice and injustice have been
allowed to run amok are the grand themes in Yos Suprapto's
paintings and drawings.

His works, on display at the National Gallery until June 30,
symbolize how oppression affects all members of society on many
levels, from the position of women to the chipping away at the
moral fabric which should bind all of us.

Art is the response of Yos, 49, to the turmoil of the
political and social situation, the arena for him to present both
his esthetics and political messages.

Yos has led an interesting and colorful life, dropping out of
the Indonesian Arts Institute (ASRI) in 1973 and going to
Australia, where he obtained his bachelor's degree from James
Cook University in North Queensland in 1983 and his master's from
Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales.

During the New Order era, Yos was both an artist and a social
activist; he once protested in Australia against the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund in relation to the social and
environmental impacts of a dam built at Kedung Ombo in Central
Java.

Yos began displaying his works in solo exhibitions in 1985 and
has continued to do so, particularly in Australia and Indonesia.
He is also an accomplished musician; in 1974 he joined The Lemon
Tree, a musical group with the late Gombloh, a legendary
musician, as one of its members. In 1991, Yos joined Black
Brothers and began working as an artistic director in a number of
experimental theaters in Adelaide, Australia.

As to be expected from his background as a social activist,
Yos chooses themes related to and affecting society in his 50
works featured in Barbarism: The Journey of the Nation.

He takes aim at the true barbarism of the powers-that-be,
particularly the New Order, and the ploys used by the strong to
crush the weak are dissected in imaginative works.

Although he obviously sides with the people, the criticism he
unleashes in these paintings is still tempered by a visual
sweetness due to the bright pastels he uses in some works. The
starkness of the story that is being told comes through much
stronger in his black-and-white drawings.

Ketoprak is a denunciation of a feudalistic culture in which
women are literally brought to their knees. There is one woman
kneeling in deference before a man -- her husband, her father? --
to another being crushed under the boot of a soldier. The message
is that oppression of women is one and the same, regardless of
whether it is taking a secondary role in the home or becoming a
victim of military atrocities in the troubled areas dotting the
country.

One of the most graphic and startling works is Tangga-Tangga
(Ladders), portraying our culture of sycophancy, where people
from all walks of life compete in pandering to those above them
in getting ahead in life. Yos shows a mass of people squirming
and pushing against each other from a labyrinth, each trying to
achieve their ultimate goal of licking the backside of the king
who lounges above them.

Although the drawings convey the same theme, Yos goes deeper
in their exploration. He illustrates injustices and barbarism in
daily life through strong, deep lines and with the help of
accompanying text.

Works such as Duit, Dolar dan Demokrasi (Money, Dollars and
Democracy), Wartawan Sasaran Tembak (Reporters as Shooting
Targets), Rebutan Kursi I dan II (Fighting for the Throne I and
II), Teror Malam di Aceh (Night Terror in Aceh) and Sampit,
Sampang, Sampah, Sampar (Sampit, Sampang, Garbage, Pest) are all
about barbarism which has permeated society and culture during
the 32-year authoritarianism of the New Order, when no allowances
were made for the human cost.

Yos is at his most powerful in these black-and-white drawings,
which capture the suffocating presence of oppression,
backwardness and the shackles of domination which have plagued
this country through its young life. His works are a reflection
on our state of affairs, both then and now.

Barbarism: The Journey of the Nation will be displayed at the
National Gallery, Jl. Medan Merdeka 14, Central Jakarta, until
Saturday.