Foreword by Teten Masduki

When Isa rang me up and asked me to open his latest solo art exhibition at Galeri Canna, which was previously delivered by a friend of mine, I still need to be reassured about how strongly he meant it and also asked him whether he had made a mistake by asking me.

It is just that I had no relevance whatsoever in this context. My routines are far from the feld of fne art. But Isa ignored the fact that I need a chance to digest the request by kept on explaining about the context of his artwork in his solo exhibition that is on corruption, a topic of my main interest all these years. I do not even know why, I did not have the guts to turn down the request; not because I feel that I am an expert on the theme of Isa’s paintings, but because I did not dare to refuse it.

A little I know about Isa Perkasa is that he is an artist who uses canvas to capture issues on social politics as his major concern. In my relationships with most artists who tend to be critical about their surrounding environment, I highly respect Isa Perkasa because I know how deep an artist’s social concerns representing a true voice of humanity, not only an artifcial expressions driven by politics or economic importance.

The misconduct of power or corruption is misguided cultural behavior which has become a daily part of our lives, commonly practiced in an authoritarian type of government but somehow still fourish in the so-called democratic era nowadays.

Anyone has the right to worry and angry about this situation because corruption is an eternal threat to the continuation of our lives. Isa Perkasa’s testimony about the corrupted mindsets in his series of artwork “Ingatan Yang Diseragamkan” shows the reality of corruption practices which have become a main part of the daily routines of many formal institutions, such as the court, the police, local government, etc.

Corruption will never disappear, it will only transform and adapt itself following the relation patterns between the community and the government and businesses. From the typology of predatory corruption which boomed in the era of ‘clepto-cratic’ New Order to the transactional corruption in the multi-party era, along with the political structure changes post 1999 election. And to whatever forms of corruption in the future, whether it will go back the forms in the past, anything could happen. Because of the overfowing profts gained from corruption may tempt anyone, something diffcult that becomes the public enemy. Only corruption, like other crimes, which result in the worsening of life threats, we should be constantly reminded to fght it. And when an artist has testifed, it means that the situation is getting out of control.

Hopefully, Isa Perkasa’s testimony will bring us to our conscience.

Thank you and kind regards,

Teten Masduki