Urban Dialogues #2
An exhibition featuring the works of prominent Indonesian graphic art illustrators.
Their works questions the reality, identity, and social structure that they encounter. All through the power of social media platform.
TEMPA, Sarkodit, and Phantasien are three of the namely graphic art illustrators that have reached fame through technology and social media advancement. From Instagram feeds to a curated exhibition, from magazine covers to international art fairs,
graphic illustrations have created its own place in the ever - changing art world.
A common denomination to these artists practices aside from the path of their creative journey is that their work reflects the zeitgeist of our era. Mundane self-absorbed pictures of normalcy amidst peculiar landscapes. Would it be one final D-Day or a slow but steady force that would fundamentally change how our society works? Whatever it might be, we are approaching ‘it’. The works of Urban Dialogue 2.0 artists are imaginations and speculations of what our post-human society would be.
Previously criticizing on the image fetishism of the internet society, TEMPA’s work features a collage of signs and symbols that seemed to depict the metaphysical landscape. Otherworldly and open to interpretation, the symbols are juxtaposed with floral imageries and tropical colours. The works TEMPA presents prompts multitudes of fantasy in our minds; from a possible spiritual society to an agrarian-punk civilization.
Sarkodit presents us with illustrations of human - machine - nature hybrid. Would our body one day evolve to allow maximum efficiency and comfort in production process such that we merge into a man-machine? The ultimate form of object - object relationship. Or would the future be a utopia where a balance is attained between the manmade, man, and environment?
Phantasien’s digital collages reminds us of eerily whimsical works by Hieronymus Bosch, with a dash of sandalpunk and steampunk added inside. On-trend with the speculative fiction themes, her work portrays scenes of medieval fantasia that makes us wonder how different our current society would be if it evolved from an alternative history.
