Meet Darbotz, one of the most prolific street artists of Indonesia

Darbotz is one of the most well-known street artists in Indonesia. On most of his solo work, he forgoes the to-be-expected typographic approach of street graffiti that often appears in the form of “tags” or “throw-ups.” Instead, Dartbotz prefers to present his identity through his signature character: the cumi (meaning squid in Indonesian). Darbotz’s squid creature usually takes the form of a sphere with menacingly sharp, teeth-like tentacles, and it never looks quite the same throughout his work, but the inconsistency is purposeful – the ever-evolving, dynamic nature of the squid not only represents his progress as an artist but also serves as an ode to Jakarta, embodying the chaos and rapidly changing urban fabric of his beloved city. In recent years, Darbotz’s work has moved beyond the streets corners and bare walls of Jakarta, now appearing in exhibitions across the world, further narrowing the gap between street art and fine art.

Darbotz是印尼最著名的街头艺术家之一。不同于街头涂鸦中常见的文字签名Tag或Throw-up（只钩边的涂鸦），他更喜欢通过一只“cumi”(在印度尼西亚语中意为“乌贼”)来标明自己的身份。Cumi是他作品中的一个标志性角色，一只露出凶狠尖牙般触角的球形乌贼。Darbotz 创作的乌贼从来不会一成不变，但这种不一致性正是他有意为之的——不断变化的乌贼不仅是他表达自己成长与身份的艺术创作，同时也是致献雅加达的一个形象，因为它代表着这座他深爱的城市的混乱和快速变化的城市结构。近年来，Darbotz 超越了雅加达的街道和墙壁的限制，出现在世界各地的展览上，进一步缩小街头艺术和画廊艺术之间的差距。