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.