Profile Of Yos Suprapto: His Works Sharp Criticism Since The New Order

YOGYAKARTA - Profile of Yos Suprapto, a seasoned painter, is currently being discussed. The painting exhibition, which was originally scheduled to open on Thursday (19/12) night at the Indonesian National Gallery (Galnas), Jakarta, was not implemented. The reason is because there is a 'treasure'.

Initially, the exhibition entitled "Revival: Land for Food Sovereignty" is scheduled to take place from December 20 to January 19, 2025. Meanwhile, Galnas is a modern and contemporary art museum owned by the state.

Yos explained, before the exhibition opened, the curator appointed by the National Gallery, Suwarno Wisetrotomo, asked five of the 30 paintings to be taken down. But Yos refused.

The five paintings were taken down because they contained social criticism. Many people argue that the figure in the painting looks like Jokowi.

Through its official Instagram account, the National Gallery explained with a heavy heart that it announced the cancellation of the exhibition.

"Delayed due to technical problems that cannot be avoided," they said, Friday (20/12).

In this article, we will discuss the profile of Yos Suprapto which is currently being discussed.

Yos Suprapto is an artist born in Surabaya who has the view that creative ideas and concepts can be represented conventionally or nonconventionally.

He was born on October 26, 1952. Yos Suprapto studied at ASRI Yogyakarta in 1970, but left in 1973. Furthermore, the painter holds a PhD in Cultural Sociology from Southern James Cook University, North Queensland, Australia.

Yos himself has long been familiar with works related to social, political, environmental issues, especially food issues.

Quoted from the writings of Donny Pratidana and Bima Agus Setyawan, Yos has also involved himself as a student activist who opposes the New Order regime. He has also joined as a contributor in the underground magazine 'Independent' as an illustrator on the cover page of the magazine.

In 1994, in his single exhibition with the title 'United to Nature' at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) Cikini, Jakarta, he raised issues about the environment. Furthermore, in 2001, Yos held a single exhibition with the theme Barbarism: the Journey of the Nation' in the National Gallery (Galnas).

In 2005, through a single exhibition titled Spang Republic at the Tembi Gallery, Yogyakarta, Yos again raised social issues, this time in the form of criticism of corruption in the bureaucracy elite.

In addition to criticizing strongly and scathingly, Yos has also painted about the colors of fishermen in his work entitled 'Arus Balik'. In the work, he describes fishermen who are fishing with the philosophy of Indonesia having to restore marine culture.

"Yos believes that the maritime culture that is slowly abandoned by the Indonesian people is the vital force of our nation to lead to prosperity," reads the sentence in the biography.

That's a review of Yos Suprapto's profile, an artist who has recently become a topic of conversation because of his work that is considered controversial. Visit VOI.id to get other interesting information.