I Nyoman Masriadi

Singapore, Masriadi: Black Is My Last Weapon, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, August 22 - November 9, 2008

Singapore Art Museum, Masriadi: Black Is My Last Weapon, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2008, illustrated, p. 26, colourplate

T.K. Sabapathy, Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring the Body, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2010, p. 56-58; illustrated, p. 56 & 129, colourplates

The painting is in good condition, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no indication of retouching. The paint layers are intact.
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In Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring the Body, T. K. Sabapathy devoted three full pages to discuss the present Lot, Dewa Perang (War God). He described in great detail the absurd and monstrous figure dominating the entire picture plane, first its form, then followed by its artillery:

"A single, strident figure occupies the entire surface of the picture, asserting a formidable, fearful spectacle. It is bare-chested, wears a pair of camouflage fatigues and is heavily booted, with spurs protruding from the heels. Its muscled, pneumatically pumped or inflated torso is frontal in order to generate maximal impact, yet the figure is turned towards its right and poised as striding in that direction.

It bristles with weapons, ancient and modern, and with implements that spring aggressively, somewhat incongruously from its body (a pair of scissors, a saw and a hook), as weapons. The upper torso is inscribed with a serpent; it uncoils and darts forward with its head looming into view as a transformed mask. Its teeth are enlarged and it bares a pair of upturned fangs; its eyes are bloodshot...

At the tail end of this configuration there is visible a mighty hand gripping a knife, whose tips and jagged teeth are tinged with red pigment. This is no ordinary knife but imprinted with very particular iconographic traits. It is a special-forces knife, affiliated with Rambo."

 (T. K. Sabapathy, Nyoman Masriadi: Reconfiguring the Body, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2011, p. 56-57).

A god, by definition, is a supernatural deity in possession of great power and force superior than any other being. In most cultures, a god can be bad and good, fearsome and benevolent, vain and kind. The Greek god, Zeus, is one example while the Hindu god, Shiva, is another. This double identity compels their worshippers to offer sacrifices to win their favours or to thwart their wrath. Masriadi's version of the War God appears to possess an additional dualism: being both human (his original head is still in its normal size, but looks out of place in the now augmented body) and god (in its powerful weaponry).

When the present work was executed in January 1999, Indonesia had just experienced one of its most shattering revolutions. Soeharto's three-decade New Order regime came to an end on May 21, 1998, following a trail of bloody demonstrations, riots and assault – the UN estimated the death toll at 1,500 lives – although the exact number was never discovered - and at least 468 were assaulted. The country had not seen such atrocity since the 1965 revolution. Although never formally disclosed, fact finders interviewed witnesses who allegedly saw military involvement in these acts of violence, either directly or indirectly. With this terrifying vision imprinted in the people's psyche, Dewa Perang (War God) was thus born.

The double identity seen in Dewa Perang (War God) articulates the duplicity and hypocrisy of some members of the military. Their threatening, gangster-like attitude is surreptitiously expressed in "the upper left corner of the picture, in a bubble emerging from the barrel of a revolver is inscribed: Apa kamu liat liat!! (What are you looking at!!). This does not appear as a disinterested enquiry but a threatening admonition, effectively ordering the other/s to back off and disappear... or else!!" (Ibid, p. 58). When those who are entrusted to protect do harm instead, it is a gross betrayal and violation. Dewa Perang (War God) spearheaded a small group of politically-charged paintings, including Untitled - Meja Operasi (1999; sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, October 2010, Lot 47) and in Kembali Ke Sekolah (Return to School; 1999), which is currently in the collection of Museum der Weltkulturen in Frankfurt, Germany. He might also have used the ultimate monstrosity and absolute inhumanity of War God as a precursor of all the opponents in his Man From Bantul series (executed in 2000).

Masriadi was approximately twenty-six years old when he completed the present work, yet its complexity and multilayered symbolisms illustrate a maturity and depth far beyond his years. Thirteen years after the tragic incident, the horror of it became more distant to those who did not experience it first hand. It is in this context that art serves as a historical marker. Like Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix honouring the French Revolution of 1830, which now resides at the Louvre, Dewa Perang (War God) commemorates the fall of a dictator, the end of an era, and the tribulations that led to it. With this painting, Masriadi crystallized an important moment in history and it will be a reminder for future generations that the democracy they enjoy came with sacrifice; that the nation had gone through its darkest hour and emerged triumphant and stronger because of it.