Bloggers and websites were covering the spoof fashion show in Berlin (most of the posts are now deleted), writing in response to the press release that circulated through a fake Adidas email address. The release, and everything it has to do with, turned out to be written and planned by culture-jamming activists’ duo The Yes Men.

While the said incident was particularly of the fashion world and, even more, built on grounds of distressing social narratives, the said trickster-like conduct in which The Yes Men brought together a fever-dreamish take of a brand while treading playfully, and also dangerously, on what is considered legal, somewhat made one think about Indonesia’s own ‘world of spoofs’, albeit belonging to a lighter nature of critiques and a whole different set of contexts. 

Well, that, and the fact that luxury brand GUCCI lost its trademark battle in Japan against a parody brand CUGGL (pronounced kyuguru).

The Lizards and the Jester

Late December 2022, Jakarta-based multidisciplinary brand Kamengski, run by artist-slash-avid mash-up practitioner Sulaiman Said, announced a release of a 12-inch vinyl picture disc of Australian psych rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. 

The announcement came across as quite monumental for people in the local independent music industry, as the band, at that point in time, was pretty much a big thing; it still is. Some people were gobbling the news of Kamengski’s release in awe, failing to notice the gag that was being delivered by the renowned jester; it is a bootleg release.

“It’s a bootleg, but it’s official,” Sulaiman cryptically mentioned to The Jakarta Post back in January. Fresh out of a meeting that extended well into the night, Sulaiman explained about the release in a generally-uninterested mannerism. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard actually allowed people to bootleg their releases in return for a number of copies, of the bootlegs, to be sold officially on their online store. 

How many copies, you ask? “Whatever you feel is fair trade is cool with us,” wrote the band on their website, which is quite reminiscent of the ‘egalitarian’ ways of DIY punk bands/labels in which they usually trade releases with each other.

“There are certain ones [that are allowed],” continued Sulaiman. “But these are the songs that we selected ourselves from the releases that are allowed [to be bootlegged]. Hence the ‘Best of the Best’ tagline. It’s our version of the best.”

I cracked a little laugh at the term “Best of the Best.” It is so blatant and gaudy that it is nonchalantly very on-brand. Kamengski has been a purveyor of the uncouth and deliberate-tackiness since 2008 and is currently running at the forefront of the spoof wave. 

Sulaiman’s gags and products are so well-known, they sometimes precede the brand itself. It did not take long before other real bootleggers started picking up on his designs and gags. 

Spoofers, spoofed

“Well, it’s a parody, so I think that’s a given,” said Sulaiman. “Gag shirts are pretty much common abroad, no? Not sure about whether they got in trouble for it though. It’s pretty much hit-or-miss.”

Kamengski and other players in the field of parody/spoof merchandise are pretty much meddling in making pastiches of known/renowned-works and pop culture references, be it from local or abroad. They are essentially playing inside the gray area, taking bits and pieces from copyrighted materials and appropriating them into different works that still, up until a certain point, remind you of the originals.

Sulaiman’s mashups can sometimes feel like very fertile ground for lawsuits, such as his mashup of local expedition JNE’s corporate logo with South Korean girl band BLACKPINK’s Jennie Kim (a trip down memory lane to that 2015’s DHL X Vetement collaboration?). 

Yet, instead of lawsuits, Sulaiman has been getting requests from brands and corporations, approaching him for potential collaborations. “Never,” he said. “No lawsuits.” His latest one was with British condom brand Durex in late 2022.

Sulaiman does not seem to show any care for bootleggers that are bootlegging his, strictly speaking, ‘bootleg’ merchandise, nor does he care about any possible future lawsuits, if any, as he is doing it “just for fun.”  Other lampoonists, however, have taken a more aggressive approach in handling their intellectual property.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, another lampoonist/parodist, Jakarta-based illustrator Michelle Sherrina, who releases her work under the moniker Sherchle, was gunning down a local brand that stole her illustrations for selling T-shirts. While Sulaiman’s works are more outright and almost-blatant in showing references (hence his indifference to being bootlegged in turn), Michelle’s works, instead, are more subtle and imbued due to the nature of her medium: illustrations. 

Together with the fact that most of her work that was being pirated were original characters, it was only logical that she went after her offender.

Toying around

The risk of being ‘spoofed’, however, is not the only threat. In 2016, Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) was hot on the trail of GoodGuysNeverWin (GGNW), an independent toy-making company based in Jakarta founded in 2005 and run by artist Cipta Croft Cusworth. 

The KPAI was enraged over a series of action figures that were made by GGNW based on Indonesian serial killers, “Indo Psychos.” It dubbed the series as “dangerous for children’s psychological development" in a 2016 interview with Detik. 

It was a pointless persecution, in my opinion. To begin with, the action figure was not meant for children in the first place, with “17+” clearly written on the packaging. The series was meant to be a ‘collectible item’ that is not being catered to masses, moreover to children. These days, GGNW runs its operations in Melbourne, Australia, aside from Jakarta. Their current most-notable work might be the series of Indonesian ghosts/specters action figures.

“Along with Susah Waras, GGNW might be the two ‘top of minds’ when it comes to bootleg toys,” said fellow toymaker and visual artist Mirfak Prabowo. He referred to Bandung, West Java-based toymaker Susah Waras, who was responsible for the viral ‘brick and mortar’ cookies. They faced a lot of plagiarism as well. 

Mirfak also runs a toy-making outfit named Ffu Space/Mirffu from his studio in Tangerang, Banten. Compared with GGNW or Kamengski’s somewhat stark approach, Mirfak shares a similar DNA with Michelle in the way that their work is more imbued or diffused in terms of references. Although he was reluctant in embracing the label ‘parodist’, Mirfak’s approach is definitely of one.

His figure series “Yo Face” takes reference from the famous Ghibli character No Face/Kaonashi from Spirited Away. The similarity ends there, however, and he always sets up a backstory for his characters, effortlessly infused with anything local. Mal-K, the stone-faced character wearing a varsity jacket and a hat, took the story of local legend Malin Kundang, but given today’s twist (a traveling musician in Mal-K’s case).

“I’m not that full-on parody, though. I’m just garing (dry humor)!” Mirfak said.

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