AN F1 CAR NAMED DESIRE

"'If' is a very long word in Formula One. In fact, 'if' is F1 spelled backwards." Murray Walker, British motorsport commentator.

It took German-born, Indonesian sculptor, Pintor Sirait three months, six assistants, and some 300kg of steel, to finish making an ostensibly life-sized model of an F1 racing car. But if you're thinking of calling it a replica - or, punningly, a repli-car: Don't.

Unlike the plethora of scale models and F1 merchandise being peddled out there, Sirait's creation is hardly a fanatic act of tribute, or a commercial attempt to cash in on the multi-billion-dollar industry itself. Instead, as its cold, shiny, metallic veneer intimates at, the sculpture detachedly questions contemporary Man's obsessions.

Sirait, 45 who is based in Bali, explains: " The reason I am appropriating an F1 car for my artwork is based on how F1 can be seen as global fetish; It is celebrated worldwide, regardless of ethnicity, gender and age group."

He adds that the F1 sport have come to be associated with and represent a wide variety of things: "From pioneering or advance automobile industry research, pushing the limits and our perception of speed; to the (re)-creation of heroes; to a strange connection with sexuality and other psychological traits."

"It seems to be so appropriate for questioning the values of our time."

Indeed, at first glance, it is easy to see how Sirait has taken the overt whiff of masculinity that surrounds F1 culture and inscribed it on the body of his sculpture. On the front panels of the car, there are images of a sexy girl with one finger put seductively to her lips. It is an ambiguous sign, which can be read as both signaling the stereotypical "mute" ideal of females in the racing milieu, as well as personifying the unspeakably magnetic desire that men feel towards these racing machines.

The nose or front part of the F-1 is covered or wrapped with steel sheets are riddled with some 600 bullet holes fired by the artist from a 38 calibre Colt handgun. Bullet holes are language that Sirait has been employing in his recent works, such as Kiss Me Long And Deep and Battle Ground (For a Kiss) - which allude to the implicit violence in our daily life, among other things.

In the case of the F1 car sculpture, however, there is the added dimension of the driver being "under seige" (in the artist's own words) in the course of the competition.

Adds Sirait: "It brings us back to an interesting place in history when warriors were riding chariots to go to war. This is also another element which is very male-oriented but makes reference to the wounded and surviving warrior." The bullet holes, explains the artist, are meant to bring the reality of these uncertain times - when the existence of violence or acts of terrorism have changed how we lead "normal" lives. Sirait's works, after the Sept 11 tragedy and Bali bombings, are an acknowledgement of the danger and unpredictability human face in a world in which terrorists increasingly target and at-