Agung Sandy Lesmana, Fakhri Fuadi Muflih – A solo painting exhibition by artist Yos Suprapto at the National Gallery (Galnas) in Jakarta has been cancelled. The exhibition titled Revival: Land for Food Sovereignty was supposed to open on Thursday December 19, but was banned by the gallery.
In the statement received by Suara.com, Suprapto said that visitors had actually come to the gallery to witness the opening of the exhibition that he had been preparing over the year. The National Gallery however locked the exhibition doors.
Suprapto said the curator appointed by the National Gallery, Suwarno Wisetrotomo, asked for five of the 30 paintings on display to be taken down. The five paintings depicted a figure who were once very popular in Indonesian society.
Suprapto refused the request to take down the five paintings.
Based on Suara.com's observations, the paintings depict a face that resembles the seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo alias Jokowi.
Artist Eros Djarot, in opening the event, criticised the banning by the National Gallery. "I think it's an expression of an overly fearful curator", said Djarot.
By the end of the opening ceremony the doors to the exhibition room had not been opened and were still locked and the lights turned off. In the end, visitors were left disappointed at not being able to see Suprapto's work.
"This is the first banning of an art exhibition in the Prabowo Subianto era", said Oscar Motulloh, a professional photographer and art observer.
Yos stated that if the five paintings are taken down, he would cancel the exhibition as a whole and take all the paintings back to Yogyakarta, Central Java.
"I don't want any more dealings with the National Gallery and the Ministry of Culture", he concluded.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Perdana Dibredel Era Prabowo, Pameran Yos Suprapto Dilarang Tampil di Galeri Nasional: Ada 5 Lukisan Mirip Jokowi".]
