After a short time at a Taman Siswa school in Batavia (now Jakarta), he studied design and worked as a surveyor while producing sketches and book covers.

However, the political climate of Indonesia soon made Resobowo's leftist leanings dangerous, and he went into exile beginning in the 1960s, ultimately settling in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

While in that city, Resobowo was active with the social organization Indonesia Muda, becoming the head of the Bandung Chapter and attending the group's 1937 conference in Surabaya.

[2] In 1938, Resobowo again returned to Batavia, finding a house in the Tangkiwood area of the city, in which many of the domestic film industry's stars lived.

In the meantime, he remained active in the visual arts, becoming a member of the Indonesian Visual Artists' Association (Persatuan Ahli Gambar Indonesia or PERSAGI) and designing book covers, including to Armijn Pane's translation of Door Duisternis tot Licht (Out of the Darkness Comes the Light), a collection of Kartini's letters.

[3] Resobowo was cast as the painter Basuki, who must work with the "Laughing Mask" in order to save his lover Minarsih from a lecherous rich man.

[3][6] During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, which lasted from 1942 and 1945, Resobowo spent time working for the visual arts division of the Cultural Centre (in Indonesian, Poesat Keboedajaan; in Japanese, Keimin Bunka Shidōsho (啓民文化指導所)), where he was tasked with writing radio broadcasts regarding the visual arts.

[1][2] However, he left this position in order to handle stage decor for various acting troupes, including Bintang Surabaya, Fifi Young's Pagoda, and Tjahaja Timur.

When he was living in Madiun he worked with Sudjojono, Sudibio, and Trisno Sumardjo to establish the Young Indonesian Artists (Seniman Indonesia Muda, or SIM); he remained active with this group even after moving to Surakarta and Yogyakarta.

[7] For three further films, Enam Djam di Djogdja (1951), Dosa Tak Berampun (1951), and Terimalah Laguku (1952), he again served as artistic director.

[2][9] He also contributed articles on the visual arts to such magazines as Budaya, Harian Rakyat, Indonesia, Seniman, Zaman Baru, and Zenith.

[2] Amidst a background of an increasingly unstable political situation in Indonesia, including conflicts between leftists (such as the PKI and Lekra) and rightists such as the military, in 1962 Resobowo left the country for China.

[1] He likewise remained politically active, participating in a hunger strike in 1992 against the threatened executions of Ruslan Wijayasastra and other former PKI members.

[11] When HB Jassin compiled Chairil Anwar Pelopor Angkatan '45, these two poems were combined as "Dua Sajak Buat Basuki Resobowo".