Bob 'Sick' Yudhita pictures war with himself

Christina Schott, Contributor, Yogyakarta

Bob "Sick" Yudhita doesn't need to do any acting to get attention. His physical appearance is already theatrical enough.

Therefore an exhibition of his art would not be complete without his presence. "Since my pictures are a part of myself, I am as well part of my pictures", Bob says.

No question. His tall, slim physique is his greatest art work: tattoos all over, ornaments on his hands, legs and even his face, blond dread locks on his head. He enjoys and needs this production.

Although he sometimes wishes to just become a very normal human being. "I fight a war with myself", he confesses. The result of this fight can be seen at his third solo exhibition at the Lembaga Indonesia Perancis in Yogyakarta that will last until Oct. 23, 2002.

Each of Bob's works reflect some part out of the personality or the life experiences of the 31-year-old painter. It is not only about the prejudices and discrimination of people who look different -- especially those that sport tattoos -- but also about conflict in the society, from which nobody can escape and about the unrest, the inner fight of the artist.

Once Bob appears in a self--portrait as a gaunt body in a loincloth, in another picture with the all refusing title No he turns into an unobtrusive man in a dark suit. In one the features of his face are sharp and clear, another time they seem to be hidden behind a shadow.

In all his works Bob loves to play the game with the colors: shrill contrasts are broken by corresponding shades, symbols are strongly pointed out. For example in the painting Di matamu kelihatan korak (In your eyes I see a skull), where a black skull put in front of yellow and silver flames dominates a blue and red area. Two textile stickers -- another skull in the eye of the painted one and a green mini--poster with political symbols -- are exposed on the painting. If Bob is conscious about the effect or not, he himself cannot really answer. "Those symbols just come out of myself", he says.

Bob is convinced that esthetics must hurt in order to have meaning -- a motto which he also transfers to his own life. His nickname "Sick" refers to a concept he had already created while studying at the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta. "Sickness is a blessing, for which I have to be grateful. I contemplate this by the language of art, packaged in esthetics that hurt."

But there is yet another aspect -- his art also offers security to Bob. In much the same way as his tattoos, his pictures seem to give him a form and a stability for what he finds futile in society. Since his troubled childhood, Bob finds only freedom of expression by painting.

In his studio on the former campus of ASRI (now ISI) in Yogyakarta -- in between all the pictures documenting somehow his life -- his colorful appearance suddenly seems to be very natural and a harmonic part of the surroundings.

This is the third time that Bob has exhibited his works alone -- and that's a good choice of presentation. Not only because of the very personal title Aku cinta bapakku (I love my father), it also provides a link to a difficult family situation.

Another reason might be that Bob wishes to have -- every year -- a nice party to meet with old friends and maybe to establish new connections. But mainly because this is the only way he can show himself in the middle of his art merging with his works, without any need to adapt himself to outside circumstances.

Almost like the figures in his picture Alpha Blonde. Their faces become one with the primitive ethnic patterns of their bodies. Not that these figures are the "hurting" elements, but represent the outer world with its plain surface minus any resistance. Like them, Bob has to arrange himself with the society, even if the tension between inside and outside sometimes feels like a war within himself.