Eko Nugroho

Born 1977 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Eko Nugroho is one of the most acclaimed members of the young generation of Indonesian contemporary artists. He is part of the generation that came to maturity during the period of upheaval and reform that occurred in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the subsequent fall of the Suharto regime and the transition to democracy in Indonesia. He is deeply engaged with the culture of his time and is committed to making socio-political commentary in his work.
Nugroho grew up in Java and resides in one of the island’s major art centres, Yogyakarta. His works are grounded in both local traditions and global popular culture. In particular, he has cited the influence of traditional batik and embroidery styles. There is of course also a powerful inspiration from contemporary street art, graffiti and comics. In 2000, Nugroho founded Daging Tumbuh, a collaborative zine that invites participation from non-artists. In addition to drawings and painting, he works in a variety of other media, including murals, sculpture, animation, and tapestry.

“The central topic of my work since 2008 has been modern life in urban areas – My work is very much informed by my background in street art and I have always worked a lot in public space and with the local community. Many of the figures in my work, for instance, are masked in some way. In Java, the mask is a very symbolic part of traditional culture, and the tradition of shadow theatre has been an important influence for me. By changing the heads of the figures I convey my interpretation; this is the picture I end up with.” Eko Nugroho

CV
Eko Nugroho participated at the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2013 and at the Lyon Biennal, Lyon, France in 2009. He held solo exhibitions at the Singapore Tyler Print Institure, Singapore (2013), at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (2012), at the Peking Fine Art, Beijing, China (2009), at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland (2008) and at Artoteek, The Hague, The Netherlands (2005).

Group exhibitions include: "Landscape Anomaly", Salihara Art Center, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015), "ROOTS. Indonesian Contemporary Art", Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt (2016-15), "Encounters", Art Basel Hong Kong, curated by Alexie Glass, Hong Kong (2015), "Move on Asia" at the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (2013), "RALLY: Contemporary Indonesian Art" at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2012/2013), "Fantasy Islands" at Espace Louis Vuitton Singapore (2012) and "Something From Nothing" at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans (CACNO), New Orleans, USA (2008).

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, The Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Musée des Beaux-arts de Lyon, Artnow, International A3 Collection, San Fransisco, USA, Arario Collection, Cheonan, Korea, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Asia Society Museum, New York, USA.

EXHIBTIONS:
EKO NUGROHO: THREAT AS A FLAVOUR
28 April to 2 June 2012
Solo exhibition at ARNDT Berlin

ASIA: LOOKING SOUTH
10 September - 27 October 2011
Group exhibition at ARNDT Berlin

Eko Nugroho, Yesterday Talking About Tomorrow, 2015, Manual Embroidery, 261 × 166 cm, NUGR0254

Feb 21, 2012

Eko Nugroho solo exhibition: Témoin hybride, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (13/01/2012 - 17/06/2012)

Installation view: Eko Nugroho solo exhibition: Témoin hybride, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (13/01/2012 - 17/06/2012)

Apr 17, 2012

Current exhibition: Eko Nugroho "THREAT AS A FLAVOUR" at ARNDT Berlin

Eko Nugroho , Eko Nugroho - Threat as a Flavour, 2012 at ARNDT Berlin, installation view

EKO NUGROHO
THREAT AS A FLAVOUR

Please click here to view the online catalogue accompanying the exhibition

RUNNING TIME: 28 April to 31 May 2012

The Exhibition of Eko Nugroho takes place in our additional galleryspace on Tagesspiegel Areal, Entrance Potsdamer Strasse 87. On the Occasion of the Berlin Gallery Weekend you can also visit our exhibition of Gilbert & Georges “London Pictures” in the gallery on Potsdamer Strasse 96

ARNDT Berlin is proud to present the first solo exhibition of the Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho (born 1977 in Yogyakarta; lives and works in Yogyakarta) in Germany.
Eko Nugroho's work represents the daily life of Indonesian society, which is on one hand strongly hierarchical and Muslim-influenced and on the other hand influenced by globalization and the western value system. In his paintings this contrast is visualized by showing fantasy beings comprised of human limbs and machine elements with faces mostly hidden behind masks or helmets. By juxtaposing these images with humorous but also critical texts and sayings, Nugroho tries to entice especially the young Indonesian generation to deal with political issues. He develops his skills in as many mediums as he can, from painting to drawing and video to more traditional hand craft techniques such as hook rugging. He captures the noise and the frenzy of the street, the eye-contact, identity, attitudes. He translates this flow in his drawings and patterns which invade the space. All the means of creation are used to translate these meetings between Indonesia and the West, street culture and the art world, political stakes and intimate reflections. Although he was trained at the Indonesian Art Institute and presented in galleries and museums, Nugroho’s work is deeply anchored in the urban environment. For ten years he has edited the comic book review Daging Tumbuh open to artists of all persuasions, he directs a clothes business which he customises and has made from the cast-offs of his area, in an Indonesia struggling to find economic stability. Eko works in situ, collaborating with local communities, occupying all the surfaces which he is given, from the façade of the Sucrière during the Biennale de Lyon in 2009, to the Espace Louis Vuitton 2011.
In his exhibition at ARNDT, the artist takes possession of the space by covering the floor, walls and ceiling with mural paintings. He presents canvases with hybrid characters somewhere between monsters and teenagers, bringing an unsettling and ironic point of view. as well as imposing embroideries, a traditional technique hijacked by the artist, sculptures and characters seemingly from science-fiction and an animated film which is both playful and unsettling.

The artist will be present during the opening of the exhibition.
Interviews with Eko Nugroho are possible – please contact Lisa Polten (lisa@arndtberlin.com).

CV
Beside numerous solo exhibitions in Southeast Asia, he has been invited to several artist in residency programmes such as his most recent one at SAM Art Projects in Paris which was combined with a solo exhibition in the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2012); at the Lyon Biennal (2009), the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland (2008) or the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2011).
He staged several solo exhibitions such as Fantasy Islands at Espace Louis Vuitton Singapore (2012), Under the Shadow, Peking Fine Art, Beijing (2009) and Eko Nugroho, Artoteek, Den Haag (2005).
He has also taken part in numerous national and international group exhibitions including the “ASIA PASIFIC TRIENNALE 5” Queensland Art Gallery, Australia (2004); Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans (2004); “WIND FROM THE EAST”, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary, Helsinski, Finland (2007); “EXPENDITURE” Busan Biennale 2008, Busan, South Korea (2008); “CONTEMPORANEITY”, MOCA Shanghai, China (2010).

Exhibitions

ART BASEL HONG KONG 2015 - March 15 - 17, 2015

ARNDT is pleased to announce its participation at Art Basel Hong Kong 2015, taking place from March 15 - 17. We are looking forward to welcoming you at our BOOTH Hall 3 C30.

Participating Artists: Jumaldi Alfi, Stephan Balkenhol, Jigger Cruz, Wim Delvoye, Gilbert & George, Yang Jiechang, Heinz Mack, Rudi Mantofani, Vik Muniz, Eko Nugroho, Norberto Roldan, Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo, Rodel Tapaya and Qiu Zhijie.

Please click here to see a preliminary list of the exhibited artworks

Venue:
Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre
1 Harbour Road
Wan Chai, Hong Kong

ARNDT Berlin
Potsdamer Strasse 96
10785 Berlin
info@arndtberlin.com

Installation View | Art Basel Hong Kong | March 15 - 17, 2015

BAZAAR ART JAKARTA

ARNDT is pleased to announce its participation at 'BAZAAR ART JAKARTA', at The Ritz-Carlton, Jakarta, Pacific Place, Indonesia. Taking place from July 18-20.

VERNISSAGE, July 17, 2014, 07.00 PM

The exhibition shows the work of two contemporary artist.
From the Philippines, artist Rodel Tapaya and Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho.

ADDRESS
Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD)
Jalan Jenderal Sudirman No.52-53
Jakarta 12190
Indonesia

Installation view

Eko Nugroho
THREAT AS A FLAVOUR
at
ARNDT Berlin

Opening: 27 April, 6 - 9 p.m.
28 April - 2 June 2012

The show will be located across the gallery in the Tagesspiegel Areal.

"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)