Kola

Michael Eliza Vrischika, best known as LKE-Kola or Kola Couatlicue (born June 9, 1991) is an Indonesian contemporary artist, researcher, and a furry artist from West Java, Indonesia. He graduated from Maranatha Christian University in 2014 with Bachelor of Fine Arts and in 2018 he graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology with Master of Fine Arts. His master's thesis was entitled "Ecstasy in Fantasy: A Representation through the shape of Anthropomorphic Characters".

= Fursona History =

Inspired by a classic movies like Homeward Bound (1993), Lassie (1994), and Babe (1995), some of his friends says that he was motivated by a figure and character of an Alaskan wonder dog, Balto and he always like anything about dog companions.

His fursona is a Border Collie spirit named Kola Couatlicue. Below is a background story that he made for his fursona.

"Kola Couatlicue is a border collie spirit. One of many "Guardian Shepherds" of the Spirit's world for dogs. His true appearance is a canine spirit, but most of the time he took a shape of either feral or anthropomorphic border collie in real world. While in his spirit form, he often travelling through all places in the world, watching life goes on in dogs. Thirsty with any kind of experiences that world could offer, when he intend to, he can see, hear, and feel every dog in the world. Guardian Shepherds can also be a shortcut to Spirit's world for departing dogs, so that every do spirits that travels through afterlife will need to see bypass the Guardian Shepherds so they can safely pass through the Land of Promise."

As a spirit with undefined shape, he found difficulty in explaining about his character appearance, in October 2017 he made two Facebook posts showing a couple illustrations about his character Kola Couatlicue.

"I always find it difficult to explain whenever my friends asked about the origin of my character, Kola Couatlicue. I created him in 1997 when I was a toddler, it's been 20 years since then. Apparently I made him to be a non-manifest character, hence his true form is undefined. A spirit form of a canine creature according to what I wrote about him. When he appears as either anthropomorphic or feral border collie, he is no longer my character because he has manifested, and so their appearances in psychical shapes are just metaphor and/or in some special occasions.. as a form of representation of myself as his creator. I think the best way to visualize Kola Couatlicue is "during" that moment when he's about to become an anthro doggo.

He also added :

''"I made my character, Kola Couatlicue, to be one of the least kind of cool character. According to what I wrote about him, he is one of the watcher for the souls of departing dogs that may have trouble finding way in afterlife, he, as a spirit shepherd should provide guidance for the neglected souls so they can safely arrive in the land of promise or the place across the rainbow bridge. His strict duty as a watcher has made him lost the ability to interact with other spirit shepherds, because of this he develop a reclusive personality. If Kola Couatlicue choose to manifest into a form of feral doggo for a reason, because the imitation of a dog in understanding reality by nature, he will suffer a cognitive dissonance between rational thinking and instinctive behavior that would make him unable to make smart decisions, often time his poor actions leads him into trouble, therefore whenever he choose to be on his feral form, he tend to isolate himself. I think the only reasonable purpose for Kola to go in feral form is for a Halloween parade.''

In January 2018, he mixed the appearance of his border collie character with the characteristic of a microscopic creature Tardigrade, later in November 2018 he said that his border collie character blood is actually consist of 42% of the extremophile creatures.

= Personal Life =

He began his artistic career as in 2007 at high school. After learning a lot about canine (especially dogs) and was active in dog rescue, he decided to pursue his artistic career professionally. In 2009 Kola turned his own house to a personal Art Gallery. Most of his older paintings exhibit animal anthropomorphic figures with the naration about spirituality and way of good life, such as "The Teachings" which tells about the harmony of Nature, Life, War, and Love. The teaching was exhibited on an joint exhibition in his University and attracted a lot of art appreciators, although this kind of movement (Anthropomorphic Art) is like something new among them. However, after the first exhibition was held, the curator asked Kola to keep the series as his personal artworks for more exhibitions in the future time and ever since the paintings became a permanent exhibit for his home gallery.

Kola first solo exhibition (2009) was at his studio somewhere near Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Displayed his very best painting atyear 2009 Real Balto which attended more than 50 people from his friends and family.

His painting style covers semi-realistic theme and often exhibit natural scenery background. His personal watercolor artworks often portrays anthropomorphic and feral canine characters.

Artistic Activity
Kola art movement was a mix movement between Expressionist and Surrealist. He works with traditional media such as watercolor on paper and oil paint on canvas. After he finished his B.F.A, he also involves in creating Contemporary Art in respond to stigma that often occurs on the local society in Indonesia about the fandom's negative side and how common people see furries as different and unusual. In September 2017, his former university invited him to be a guest speaker in an annual event Hajad Jagad, the main theme was about "Creative Industry" in which the purpose was to encourage young student and artists in pursuing their artistic career. During his master study in early 2018, he put concern about identity that becomes insecurity problem within local furries because the existence of furry fandom is not too contrast in Indonesia. While introducing the fandom he also involve in social service activity held by his institute to promote tolerance towards diversity of beliefs, racial, and culture as well as condemning discrimination towards minorities in Indonesia.

Exhibition Records

 * 2010: “URBAN FEST 2010” Art Exhibition – Ancol, Jakarta
 * 2011: “Mutual Art” Joint Exhibition – MCU Art Gallery, Bandung
 * 2011: “KineticanthropE” Solo Performance Art
 * 2011: “Evolusia 2012” Fashion Show &amp; Art Exhibition – Harris Hotel, Bandung
 * 2012: “URBAN FEST 2012” Art Exhibition – Ancol, Jakarta
 * 2012: “1st Out of Stock” Duet Art Exhibition
 * 2013: “A Little Bit About Us” Student Exhibition (Organizer) – MCU Art Gallery, Bandung
 * 2014: “Departure of the Hair” Solo Performance Art – MCU, Bandung
 * 2014: “Paperium #4 : Fiber to Paper” Art Exhibition – Museum Tekstil Indonesia, Jakarta
 * 2014: “Internal-Interaksi” Alumnus Joint Exhibition
 * 2016: “May Contain Critcisim” Group Exhibition
 * 2017: "Emang Jadi Omongan" Group Exhibition
 * 2017: "Emang Jadi Pilihan" Group Exhibition

=References=

= External links =
 * LKE-Kola on DeviantArt
 * Lkekola on Tumblr
 * Kola on Fur Affinity
 * Kola on Facebook
 * Kola on Twitter