Post Street Guerrilla

Reconsidering the interpretation of street finearts at the contemporary art land.

The art of graffiti is another form of expression from the city space jammed with banners and outdoor commercial spaces. Different from the promotion banners and advertisement characteristic, the art of wall streaks in all truth has quoted the rebel against steadiness. Jakarta is an example of a city that can show the fight between grafitt and commercial ad banners.

Although it has become a global phenomenon, graffiti is still considered a product of city "crime" and "litter". The government has been placing a rather hefty amount of budget for the deletion of graffiti artworks. What's unique is that in each city there are always artists that focus themselves on the wall streaking action, even with the police on their tail.

Sonic Bad, a graffiti artist from New York that began his career in 1972, told that police chase in one of his routine. "I used to have the police on my tail for doing graffiti on the subway. Now I create graffiti with their surveillance. My friends in New York will never believe this," he laughed as he and 12 other graffiti artists transformed the grey wall along TB Simatupang street that stands across Cilandak Town Square (CITOS), on Friday night (9/7). He explicitly explained the status adjustment of graffiti art status from illegal to legal.

At the Salihara exhibition building, the entry of graffiti art from their marginal zone to the mainstream fine-art space was at display. Graffiti artists from Paris and Jakarta showcased 40 canvases. Various themes were put on those canvases; from the facial image of Obama, Michael Jackson, all the way to a train.

Darbotz with his work Rat Road #3 presented the mixed media in form of three panelled paintings of black and white. The three were attached to a gloomy zinc plate making it seem as if it is located outdoor. The drawing looked more of an illustration that emphasis more on lines rather than messages. Beyond the wall of the exhibition, Bujangan Urban imaged three 'hip' girls, with their tight outfits, shaking their body to a level of flight.

The motives of these graffiti artists were quite varied. Sonic told the story that graffiti emerged due to the gang rivalries in territorial dispute. Nsane5 from Jakarta whom has been diving in the street art for more than a decade claimed that graffiti is part of the effort to express identities to the communities and public.

Different from contemporary fine-arts in various cities in the world, according to curator Alia Swastika, the entry of graffiti in the mainstream fine-art land of Indonesia may well be still on the early stage. This exhibition has at least opened the path for graffiti artists in adding and broadening their moving space in conducting 'guerrilla'.

Source: arti magazine 31 edition