Bahasa New painter
Contemporary Indonesian painting explores themes ranging from art history and the role of the artist, colonial imaging, sexuality and the body, to the place of the individual in the community. The four artists presented here approach painting from diverse positions; social-realism, Balinese painting traditions and the European art canon. Each work reveals a unique exploratory approach, excavating Indonesian art history yet grounded in the local.
The cartoonish figures and pop colours deployed by I Gak Ayu Kadek Murniasih (Murni) temper graphic representations that explore themes of sensuality, violence, gendered oppression and social and sexual norms. Presented with humour, bravery and irreverence, her often explicit subject matter and unusual colour palette go well beyond the traditional Pengoseken-style Balinese painting that she studied with I Dewa Putu Mokoh.
The oeuvre of Agus Suwage, one of the pre-eminent artists of his generation, includes painting, drawing, collage, sculpture and installation. He is known for his mastery of watercolour and, from the mid-1990s, his incorporation of self-portraiture. When combined with iconic images from Indonesian and Western art history and contemporary mass media, found objects and photographs, the resulting pastiche provides a lexicon for social- and self-critique that reveals the artist's curiosity, cynicism and sense of humour.
Zico Albaiquni confesses to a lifelong obsession with painting. He uses his chosen medium to promote discourse on social issues and the role of the artist, and to question ideas around representations of Indonesia. His theatrical kaleidoscopic paintings combine historical and contemporary motifs and scenes sourced from art collections and the artist's personal experiences and surroundings.
