Asmudjo Jono Irianto
In his works, Radi presents five of such pesugihan supernatural creatures: babi ngepet, jaran panoleh (a horse whose head is invariably turned backward), nyupang ketek (a kind of monkey), bajul putih (a white crocodile), and ngipri ular (a creature that resembles a snake). Perhaps most audience will not be immediately aware that these are pesugihan supernatural creatures. One of the reasons might be because they appear cute, looking like cartoon characters, cheerful and in bright colors. In general, people usually think of such pesugihan creatures as fearful beings, whether or not people actually believe that these creatures exist. The pesugihan creatures exist in the realm of dark myth in the Javanese culture, residing on the frontier realm between the reality and imaginary. One thing is clear, however: these creatures exude the aura of fearsome black magic, believed to be related to the selling out of one’s soul to the dark forces. There is thus the assumption that the theme of pesugihan theme should actually be present in certain eerie atmosphere, just like the cheap horror films in Indonesia. However, Radi Arwinda is acutely aware that the strength of his works lies in the opposite direction, or in their flat and superficial aura. The method that Radi employs makes his works special.
