Kelvin Atmadibrata (London, United Kingdom): I’ll be a Good Boy

I’ll be a Good Boy is a prayer calling for submission and to be dominated. A pair of hands clasped tightly, but their thumbs protruding out, hinting towards the thumbs-up gesture. Dangling beneath is a pair of clinking army dog tags attached to a string of common beaded necklace, almost as if they were a religious relic, a rosary perhaps. The performer is then accompanied by a synthesized voice uttering words of invocations filled with worship- but to whom this piety is petitioned for remains cryptic. The words are uttered in two languages- Indonesian and English; slightly rearranged from its source: a series of lewd messages the artist received from an unknown man.

BIO: Kelvin Atmadibrata recruits superpowers awakened by puberty and adolescent fantasy. Equipped by shōnen characters, kōhai hierarchy and macho ero-kawaii, he often personifies power and strength into partially canon and fan fiction antiheroes to contest the masculine and erotica in Southeast Asia. He works primarily with performances, often accompanied by and translated into drawings, mixed media collages and objects compiled as installations. Approached as bricolages, Kelvin translates narratives and recreates personifications based on RPGs (Role-playing video games) theories and pop mythologies. As an expansion of his postgraduate study, he is developing the language of queer abstraction and minimalist erotica in his illustration of the mecha and transhumanist fantasy. Apart from producing work full-time, he is also practicing the craft of tattooing. In 2017 he established Sepersepuluh, a performance-focused gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia which currently focuses as nomadic curatorial, collaborative and investigational project since he moved to London in 2018. He now lives and works between Jakarta and London having recently graduated with Master of Art in Contemporary Art Practice (Performance) from Royal College of Art. ARTIST’S WEBSITE