Jakarta's 'wall bombers' fill the city with explosion of art
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city's walls are their target, cans of aerosol paint their weapon, and even the law cannot stop them from "bombing" public spaces with graffiti.
This niche community spends its nights spraying cans of colorful aerosol paints, or sometimes pasting stickers, on blank walls, power boxes or trains.
Once considered an eyesore, hence those responsible for it are subject to three months in jail or a Rp 50 million fine, graffiti now deserve a second glance.
Prama Widiasmara, a 25-year-old engineer, finds his evening commute more pleasant since the graffiti went up along the road in front of Cilandak Town Square in South Jakarta.
"They do really some good paintings that absorb me," he said. "And sometimes the words and pictures carry social criticism, too."
These days, the writing on the wall, be it vacant lots or overpasses, has shifted from single-line signatures of gangs or schools like "boedoet" and "texas", to colorful tag lines that take on a three-dimensional effect.
These artistic endeavors pop up most frequently along heavily congested streets like Jl. Fatmawati, Jl. Panglima Polim and Jl. Pondok Indah in South Jakarta, or near the Slipi overpass in West Jakarta or Pramuka in East Jakarta.
The graffiti artists -- joined in clubs such as Morden, Artcoholic, Mase, Maskrotic, Karma, Fantastic and Ice -- claim to have moved past simple one-off "obnoxious" sprays of paint to more painstaking efforts that catch people's attention with their aesthetic values.
Most of those involved in these clubs are art students or young people with an interest in art.
Graffiti, from the Italian graffito, simply means words or drawings scratched or scribbled on a wall. The underground art itself was initially used by political activists to make statements and by street gangs to mark their territory.
However, in many cities throughout the world, and increasingly in Jakarta, graffiti has gradually become accepted as an urban art form.
"Although it is still considered vandalism, the policies of local officials allow some leeway as long as it has been negotiated beforehand," City Public Order Agency head Soebagio said.
Soebagio once let a group of young people paint several spots in North Jakarta that he considered better off covered with graffiti.
Although Soebagio said his agency was still actively painting over unauthorized graffiti, South Jakarta public order officer Anto said the last time he bothered with graffiti was back in 2001. "We rarely, if ever, do it nowadays."
The bombers themselves are taking a more responsible approach to their work.
"We no longer run when the police, public order officers or local residents catch us painting walls in public places," said Baso Sutandi Arsyad, a student at the Jakarta Arts Institute. "We try to talk them into letting us finish the work by showing them our portfolio."
He said graffiti artists did not waste time demanding the activity be made legal, but instead took a more subtle approach to get city residents to appreciate their work as art.
Late last year, Baso and at least 97 other young people from about 20 graffiti clubs were involved in a project called "BomCat", aimed at familiarizing the public with "more serious" graffiti.
"We have gradually seen the results of this effort," he said.(003)