Ex-drug addict Iskandar caught up in the beauty of art

BANDUNG (JP): "One day I was dying to buy shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) because I had gone without the drug for a week," Iskandarsyah recalled. But I did not have enough money and the drug dealer refused to give me the substance."

Iskandar was so desperate and frustrated he wanted to hack the dealer to death. Fortunately, his friend, Yon, calmed him down. Iskandar instead vented his anger on canvas, drawing wildly without a purpose or concept.

Iskandar had no experience as a painter. Under the guidance of his friend, calligrapher Suherman, he learned the basics. He has succeeded, and is today known as a painter, not a drug addict.

Iskandar was once a well-known name in the drug underworld in Bandung. Born in 1963 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he was a street thug and robber. He remembers most about being a drug addict and dealer.

"I have lost count of the times I was put in jail for various crimes. I lived as I liked at that time," he said.

His eyes reflect honesty while he talks about his past. And honesty is what his paintings show: He never begins painting with a concept like other painters do.

Painting became his therapy to kick his bad habits. He slowly quit drugs and, with the help of local artists, increasingly became addicted to painting on canvas.

With his friends' encouragement, he held two exhibitions at the YPK building in Bandung last year. From May 6 to June 1, he held another exhibition at Hotel Sheraton Bandung with Yon SP, his friend from Yogyakarta Arts Academy (ASRI), who is also a former drug addict.

The event became a unique forum for a self-taught artist and a formally trained one. The exhibition was called Show of Two Colors.

"Art is a process of learning from not knowing to knowing. It's unimportant if you are self-taught or trained," said Yon.

Iskandar's works like Kalut (Depressed), Musibah (Accident), Kepalsuan (Lie) and Terbuang (Dumped) depict his determination to leave his dark past behind and look to a better future. His strokes on canvas are courageous and honest.

Yon also shows his talent. His outstanding works in the show were Adu Domba (Setting One Against Another), Cepot, Wanita Baduy (Baduy Woman) and Gedung Sate.

Yon, whose best drug record was almost dying three times from overdoses, and Iskandar, who has lost count of how many times he went to jail, are definitely a unique part of the current fine art scene in Indonesia.

Their history of returning to the right path reminds the public of Jhoni Indo, a convicted criminal who repented and became a film actor and Anton Medan, another hardened criminal who later became a Muslim preacher.

Iskandar and Yon may serve as a model for drug addicts who want to return to normalcy.

"The key is strong will, and painting is not the only way of kicking the drug addiction," said Iskandar. "There many other ways."

--Matdon