Lot 45
BAYU UTOMO RADJIKIN
b. Sabah, 1969
TEREOR NO. 2: FOUNDATION, 2002
Oil on canvas
100cm x 74.5cm
PROVENANCE
Collection of Raj Kumar RGP, Kuala Lumpur.
ESTIMATE RM 8,000 - 12,000
PRICE REALISED RM 14,300
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Bayu Utomo Radjikin returns to the gas-mask man of his 1996 War Box, Lalang, Killing Tools but with the so-called merchant of death now in defence or precautionary mode, wearing a clinical mask. The particular contraption known for keeping out contagious elements in the air looks like a natural mutation in the face of the modern man who finds himself increasingly vulnerable to new deadly diseases. While a terrorist is the antithesis of Bayu’s pahlawan (warrior) archetypes, the profile of a terrorist as compared to Bayu’s 1996 model can be anybody - the boy next door, the jovial ‘uncle’ or even one’s own close relative. This may also be a line of thought in this work, that it is a daily hazard of modern living. However, labels can be deceptive, for the so-called terrorist himself could become “terrorised.”
Bayu is one of the founding member of Matahati which had its defining moment in the exhibition, For Your Pleasure, at Galeri Petronas in Kuala Lumpur in 2006. He sparked incredible interest upon his graduation with a BA (Sculpture Major) at Mara Institute of Technology in 1991. That year, he won the highly coveted Major Award in the Young Contemporary Artists Competition and followed it up with a Minor Award in the Salon Malaysia in 1991. He also won a Special Award in the One World - No War exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in 1991. Bayu is also a multidisciplinary artist involved in stage designs and installations. He set up and run the gallery cum artist’s residency space called House of Matahati, which also initiated the Malaysian Emerging Artists Awards.
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