SIP! – Indonesian Art Today
“Siiiiip!”—good, very good, great, splendid *
Editor Matthias Arndt
Language English
Format 23 x 27,5 cm
Features 152 pages, approx. 100 images, hardcover
ISBN 978-3-95476-007-7
Published by DISTANZ Verlag, Berlin
Release April 2013
€ 34,90

Please click here to view the Online Catalogue.

Indonesia is one of the countries where exciting art is still waiting to be discovered. Over the past ten years, a growing number of group exhibitions and survey shows have presented Indonesian art. What has been sorely lacking is a book about the country’s best-known artists.
“Sip!—Indonesian Art Today” closes that gap. The publication introduces readers to sixteen established and young artists, presenting each of them with three to five recent works. Farah Wardani, director of the Indonesian Visual Art Archive, Yogyakarta, has compiled brief texts shedding light on the artist’s conceptions. Biographical information, exhibition histories, bibliographies, and portraits of the artists complement the illustrations. The curator Enin Supriyanto, a leading expert on the Indonesian art scene, has contributed an essay examining the most recent developments in Indonesian art, tying them back to the art history of the past forty years and mapping them to the transformations in Indonesian society and politics during the same period. A timeline extending from the 1970s to the present additionally visualizes the most important moments in art, in Indonesia and abroad, making the book an indispensable compendium for collectors and curators, students of art and everyone who is interested.

The artists are divided into three generations:
First Generation (Masters)
FX Harsono, Mella Jaarsma, Agung Kurniawan, Agus Suwage
Second Generation (Emerging Artists)
Ay Tjoe Christine, Eko Nugroho, Handiwirman Saputra, Etang Wiharso
Third Generation (Promising Newcomers)
Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo, indieguerillas, Rudi Mantofani, Wiyoga Muhardanto,
J. Ariadhitya Pramuhendra, Syagini Ratna Wulan (called Gagi), Wedhar Riyadi, Tromarama

* “Siiiiip” is Indonesian slang; the more you lengthen the vowel, the greater the enthusiasm over a work of art or an exhibition it expresses.