PRESS RELEASE

ENTANG WIHARSO
TRILOGY

Solo exhibition at ARNDT Singapore
March 6 - May 4, 2014

Entang Wiharso and Matthias Arndt on "Trilogy" show at ARNDT Singapore

PRESS RELEASE

Entang Wiharso is an internationally acknowledged artist, particularly known for his large scale paintings, wall sculptures and installations. He is one of the most significant artists working in Southeast Asia today. His works have been exhibited extensively in various contexts: gallery shows, public and private collections displays as well as biennales and group shows in Indonesia and abroad. Wiharso’s solo exhibition ‘Trilogy’ will open on 5 March, 2014. ARNDT Singapore is pleased to be presenting a new body of work by the artist.
In Entang Wiharso’s work the artist’s own personal experiences are embedded with a strong examination of the predominant socio-political conditions of his home country. To him, creating work is a way of understanding the human condition, of heightening our ability to perceive, feel and understand human problems like love, hate, fanaticism, religion, and ideology. “I depict the condition of humans who are often divided by complex, multilayered political, ethnic, racial, and religious systems: they co-exist yet their communication is limited and indirect. Figures are interconnected by intuitive as well as intellectual linkages, including ornamental vegetation, tongues, tails, intestines, animal skin patterns, fences and detailed landscapes.“ (Entang Wiharso, 2011).
The name “Trilogy” stems from Entang Wiharso’s desire to re-examine and re-articulate the ideas presented in three recent solo exhibitions: Love Me or Die (Indonesian National Gallery, 2010), Untold Stories (ARNDT Berlin, 2012) and Geo-Portrait (Primae Noctis, Lugano, 2013 and Salihara, Jakarta, 2013). “Trilogy is three interconnected themes, issues urgent for me to talk about in this moment.
I created the work for awareness, as investigations and as an open question to myself.” The sculpture and paintings presented are intensely concerned with the complicated and elusive character of ‘reality’, which he seeks to represent in its fullness and multiplicity. He looks at events through the prism of his own experience and is both narrator and participant, blurring the line between observed truth and imagination. By mingling the sober reporting of an everyday event with the suddenly intruding vision of a dream, he offers us an understanding of the complex conditions of our own lives. “The Perfect Mirror” (2013-2014) came out of a conversation the artist had with his wife about the historical figure of Samuel Sewall, famous for his role as a judge in the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts in 1692. The notable aspect of Sewall’s life that attracted Wiharso to his story was his realization of the terrible mistake he made condemning 20 people to death on witchcraft charges, and then how he dealt with that knowledge the remainder of his life. Looking at his story and current events in Indonesia, the artist wanted to examine the impact of the failure of leadership to admit mistakes. He thought about the all too common situation when leaders do something terrible that has an incredible impact on the life of society and yet the individual refuses to acknowledge responsibility or express a sense of regret. Wiharso is interested in the alternative value and possibility of repentance; how a conscience is formed and manifested. The oval shape of a mirror that is often found in homes connects the public to the work, to give a sense of familiarity, understanding and ownership.
Entang Wiharso participated in the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, where his work constituted
a significant part of the Indonesian Pavilion. Wiharso’s work was also on view in several institutional shows, amongst most recently: “All You Need is LOVE” (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2013), Prague Biennale 6 (2013), “Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia” (Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2012).

Entang Wiharso was born 1967 in Tegal, Central Java, Indonesia. He studied painting at the Fine Art Department of the Indonesian Institute of Arts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He currently lives and works in Rhode Island, USA and Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ARTWORKS

PRESS: Art Asia Pacific Interview | March 2014 | Entang Wiharso

PRESS: Straits Times Interview | March 2014 | Entang Wiharso
 

Kindred by Choice #1

ARNDT Singapore at Gillman Barracks
4 July 2013 – 30 August 2013
Opening on 3 July, 6:30pm to 9:00pm

Please join Fair Director of Art Stage Singapore, Mr Lorenzo Rudolf, in conversation with Entang Wiharso and Matthias Arndt at the opening of Kindred by Choice #1.

Jumaldi Alfi – Martin Kippenberger
Fendry Ekel – Andy Warhol
Entang Wiharso – Daniel Richter

ARNDT Singapore is pleased to announce the 3rd project in its Gillman Barracks space, Kindred by Choice #1.
It is the first of a new series of shows which aims to showcase Asian artists face-à-face with one artist of their choice on the same platform. Goethe’s novel of the same title is also translated as Elective Affinities from the original German title, Die Wahlverwandtschaften. The terminology, elective affinities, is a “scientific law according to which elements of innate affinities will choose, or elect, to bond together, even if they must break out of previously formed unions in order to do so.”  The characters in the book, Kindred by Choice, were attracted by way of these elective affinities.
In the Singapore gallery, ARNDT aims to create a prolific juxtaposition by placing Indonesian artists in the same arena with artists from Germany and America, to demonstrate elective affinities or the kindred choices of today. In Kindred by Choice #1, three established Indonesian artists - Entang Wiharso, Fendry Ekel, and Jumaldi Alfi – will conduct a visual conversation with three artists they chose personally - Daniel Richter, Andy Warhol, and Martin Kippenberger.

Jumaldi Alfi (born 1972 in Lintau, West Sumatra, Indonesia; lives and works in Yogyakarta) is the co-founder and a member of the Jendela Art Group who in the early phase of their artistic career, dealing with themes which were distanced from socio-political issues as well as from artwork which capitalized on sophistication of a painterly execution of realist paintings, surprised their audience. Alfi will conduct a visual dialogue with Martin Kippenberger through their self-reflective oeuvres. How they conclude with their conversation is to be seen, through the handwritten messages from the artists, which will be revealed through the artists’ discourse.

Martin Kippenberger (born 1953 in Dortmund, Germany; died 1997 in Vienna, Austria). Kippenberger produced a rich and diverse body of work from the mid 1970s until his untimely death at the age of 44 and is now regarded as one of the most influential artists of his time. He was a master appropriator who consistently absorbed, challenged and transformed the world around him. His work draws on popular culture, art, architecture, music, politics, history and his own life – where no subject remained sacred.

Fendry Ekel (born 1971 in Jakarta, Indonesia; lives and works in Amsterdam, Berlin and Yogyakarta), explores the dark side of human ambition in his paintings. Often painted after black and white photographs which depict portraits and architecture, he investigates the use of art, architecture, and figuration as a means of propaganda for ideologies and confronts himself where the border of ethical and aesthetical values crossover, through his monumental, layered canvases. In Kindred by Choice #1, the artist, whose subject matter is at times, remnants of events occurring in the past, will have a conversation with Andy Warhol. Ekel appropriates images from our collective memory, as Warhol has in his famed prints, as if to conjure up memories of these frozen moments or personalities within the walls of our gallery space.

Andy Warhol (born 1928 in Pittsburgh, PA, died 1987 in New York City, NY) is a leading figure of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. He is known for his prints of mass-produced images from American pop culture such as Campbell’s soup cans, as well as portraits of celebrity figures such as Marilyn Monroe. His work was created in his studio, called the Factory, which became a hang-out for artists, actors, and musicians.

Entang Wiharso (born 1967 in Tegal, Zentral-Java, Indonesia; lives and works in Yogyakarta) is one of Indonesia’s most provocative and engaging artists of today, and is one of the artists representing Indonesia in the Venice Biennale this year. He creates paintings and installations which combine Javanese mythology with personal and public memories. Through his work, Entang casts a critical eye on multiple issues including international politics, environmental issues, and stereotypes prevalent in cultures. Entang will face Daniel Richter. Will Entang, with his distinct depiction of human figures, at times clothed, at times naked, clutching onto themselves for dear life or viscera loosely reaching out to other life forms, have a lesson to teach Richter, in all of his psychedelic depiction of the world?

Daniel Richter (born 1962 in Lütjenburg, Germany; lives and works in Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna) is a renowned German artist that works with an eclectic fusion of the genre of history painting and contemporary imagery taken from newspapers and magazines. His path to fame was launched with his “psychedelic” colorful abstract work in the 1990s, and shot to fame later on in the decade with this large-scale, figurative works.

Please click here to view a list of exhibited works.

For any further information or press images, please contact Mariko Owen (mariko@arndtberlin.com; +65 67340775).

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.

FX Harsono | Mella Jaarsma | Agung Kurniawan | Agus Suwage
Wedhar Riyadi | Christine Ay Tjoe | Eko Nugroho | Entang Wiharso
Handiwirman Saputra | Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo | Syagini Ratna Wulan | Rudi Mantofani
J. Ariadhitya Pramuhendra | Wiyoga Muhardanto | Indieguerrilas | Tromarama

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)
 

Entang Wiharso
Untold Stories
Opening: 9 June 2012 - all day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
10 June to 8 September 2012

Please click here to view a complete list of exhibited works.

This work was conceived as a self-portrait which links historic events with personal identity. The reliefs around the body of the gas tank depict episodes from Indonesian history from the colonial period through the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Without a beginning or end, the images reflect how past events can be reactivated by current experiences. The monumental scale of the work suggests the weight of history and events that are often beyond our control. The gas tank is a common object in Indonesian homes. Frequent news reports tell how defective units unexpectedly explode, killing or injuring people in their homes. These tragedies lead to talk of consumer protections and strategies to improve safety and accountability, but little changes and the risk remains. This latent risk mirrors Indonesian history, which has seen times of peace interspersed with violence and tragedy. The flowers speak to the desire to “decorate” or cover over dark episodes, attempts to either ignore or suppress anxiety and risks. Each of us is an embodiment of history, living on and manifesting in our daily lives.

About LOCK ROUTE
Taking inspiration from 9 Lock Road, the address of Gillman Barracks and traditional, 24km long route march common in the training of ‘graduating’ army recruits in Singapore, Lock Route invite visitors to traverse the knolls of this repurposed army barracks as part of their encounters with art. In a concoction of the eclectic, the urban and contemporary aesthetics from a line-up of international artists, this outdoor exhibition illicit both mental introspect and physical responses. Lock Route is currated by Khairuddin Hori.