Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo

Born 1978 in Bandung, Java, Indonesia
Lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia

Sunaryo is dedicated to painting, pushing its boundaries with innovative techniques. He distills a passion for comic books, science fiction, and Japanese manga into abstract compositions animated by dynamic gesture, entropic progression, and alternating centrifugal and centripetal forces that gather and disperse pigments over the surface of his paintings. Rejecting the paintbrush in favor of direct application with his hands, Sunaryo then moved on to industrial methods. In 2008, his impatience with the prolonged drying time of oil paint, further protracted by the layered density of his application, led him to experiment with pigmented resin, which has become his signature material. In its natural, plant-derived form, resin connects with age-old methods of preservation, notably used in ancient Egyptian mummification and varnishes. Sunaryo uses synthetic resins to cast sleek, futuristic objects, combining the traditional and contemporary significance of this material with the aesthetic heroism of Abstract Expressionism.

In the series Cyan Magenta Yellow Black (2010), Sunaryo used only the base palette of mechanical color reproduction to make his expressionist abstractions. In the series Frozen Stratum (2012), he further developed his compositions to include layers of digital photographic material. The multiple planes in his poured resin paintings generate a curious dimensional quality, as a sequence of components becomes a flat, pristine, and unified composition. The material’s glossiness retains the trace of its fluid state. Sunaryo’s paintings capture shifts between solid and liquid, static and animated, synthetic and natural, and are rooted in the embrace of chance. In some works, what is ultimately displayed is the “underside” of the composition; when the resin dries, Sunaryo separates the painting from the ground and flips it over to reveal the finished work. Another way he attains flatness is by pressing glass against the still-wet resin, unpredictably altering the composition. Motivated in part by concerns around the waste products of such processes, Sunaryo has recently begun to repurpose resin remainders as material for sculptures.

CV
Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo studied fine art at Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia, graduating in 2001, and earned an MFA from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK in 2005.
Selected solo exhibitions are: "Ashfall" Equator Art Projects at the Gillman Barracks, Singapore (2013), "Frozen Stratum" at the Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia (2012), "Fluid Friction #2" at the SIGIarts Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia (2010) and "Fluid Friction" at the Artipoli Art Gallery, Noorden, The Netherlands (2007), "Unstable Ground" at the Toni Heath Gallery, London, UK (2006) and he exhibited at the Asian International Art Exhibition, Ayala Museum, Manila, Philippines (2005). He has participated in numerous group exhibitions including "No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (2013), "Marcel Duchamp in Southeast Asia" at the Equator Art Projects, Singapore (2012), "Post-Psychedelia" at the Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia (2010), "Manifesto" at the Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia (2008), "Imagining Asia: Understanding Diversity and Changes" at the 22nd Asian International Art Exhibition (AIAE), Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia (2007) and participated at the Bandung Biennale, Indonesia (2001).

Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo, Richter #5, Pigmented resin, merapi volcanic ash and PVC ink on plexiglass panel, Diameter 147 cm, SUNA0023

Exhibitions

"Sip! Indonesian Art Today" - Exhibition View at ARNDT Berlin, April - June 2013 | Click on image to see more

"Sip! Indonesian Art Today" - Exhibition View at ARNDT Berlin, April - June 2013

SIP! INDONESIAN ART TODAY / SENI RUPA INDONESIA KINI

The past three generations of Indonesian Contemporary Art

Group show by ARNDT Berlin

27 April to 01 June 2013
Tue – Sat, 11am – 6pm

Please click here to watch a video of the "Sip! Indonesian Art Today" show in Berlin.

The exhibition "Sip! Indonesian Art Today" and the accompanying publication results from ARNDT’s recent focus on Southeast Asian art and the new Asian and Pacific art markets. Over the past four years Matthias Arndt has worked in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia. His research, the past shows of Southeast Asian artists and the opening of ARNDT Singapore, the Asian showroom and office of ARNDT, makes Matthias Arndt one of the leading experts for contemporary Indonesian and Southeast Asian Art in Germany and Europe.

The exhibition "Sip! Indonesian Art Today", curated by Enin Supriyanto, is the 10th show dedicated to Southeast Asian art ARNDT is hosting in Singapore, Australia, Great Britain and Berlin. The 150 page publication "Sip! Indonesian Art Today" edited by Matthias Arndt and published at DISTANZ Verlag (ISBN 978-3-95476-007-7) is available in all bookstores.

The public talk "The last three decades of artistic production in Indonesia: 25 years of Cemeti Art House and the status of curating.” with Enin Supriyanto (curator) and Mella Jaarsma (artist), moderated by Katerina Valdivia Bruch (curator / critic) will take place at ARNDT Berlin on 27 April 2013 at 4 pm.

The exhibition presents over 40 works from all artistic mediums, painting, sculpture, installation, photography and film, by 16 contemporary artists from Indonesia. They belong to a larger community of artists who are actively shaping Indonesia’s dynamic developing contemporary art scene. If we consider their age and career development, the artists here represent 3 generations of contemporary art practice dating back from the late 1970s: beginning first with FX Harsono, one of the proponents of the Indonesian New Art Movement (Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru) founded in 1975 followed by a group of artists who emerged at a time when Indonesia was undergoing major socio-political transformations in its strive towards democracy during the late 1990s (Agung Kurniawan, Agus Suwage, Mella Jaarsma), the post-Reformasi (Reformation) generation of artists (Christine Ay Tjoe, Entang Wiharso, Rudi Mantofani, Handiwirman Saputra, Eko Nugroho, Syagini Ratna Wulan and Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo), and finally a generation of artists who have been active in the past decade, sophisticated operators of their own careers in a more or less stable and democratic Indonesia (Wedhar Riyadi, J. Ariadithya Pramuhendra, Wiyoga Muhardanto, Indieguerillas and Tromarama).

The generational differences do not only represent differing socio-political experiences in connection with the development of Indonesia’s society in the past three decades but also illustrates the differing socio-political contexts of the artists observations and artistic approaches that have changed and altered over the years.

The word “Sip” in Bahasa Indonesia may be a simple and modest one but it is full of meaning. While the origin of this word is unknown, it is a word that is used by nearly everyone every day. “Sip” is the briefest way to state that something – whether an art work, an event, an experience or anything – is good, of good quality, super or outstanding even. Like this word, and like the process of our ongoing global culture, we do not question the origin of an idea, but we consider how this idea can continue to grow and contribute to the interaction and civilization of the world. In a way, we can say that ‘Sip’ has no such thing as exotic cultural background, neither stereotypical cultural baggage. Whatever the case, the meaning is clear: good, great, outstanding.

For more information and images, please contact info@arndtberlin.com or +49 30 206 13870.

Please click here to download the press release as PDF file (English)

Please click here to download the press release as PDF file (German)