Jakarta's 'wall bombers' fill the city with explosion of art
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)