ORIGINS | 5 - 31 August 2022

Origins are the point or place where something begins, where the word "Origins" represents the beginning of the journey and includes root or ancestry, transition, beginning and end. Seeing exhibitions is essential in tracing the journey of Indonesian art; with the passage of time and the diversity of materials and experiences that are transferred through work into a new point of view to convey the journey or even create a unique experience and journey.

Celebrating 60^th year anniversary of Hotel Indonesia – Kempinski and ISA Art Gallery present “Origins”, a pop-up exhibition in the Hotel Indonesia - Kempinski featuring 20 Indonesian and 3 overseas artist who have diverse backgrounds in their cultural and artistic identity as a part of celebration of the theme of “Indonesia”. The Participating artist in this exhibition are Adam de Boer, A.D Pirous, Agus Suwage, Agung Eko Sutrisno, Anastasia Astika, A.Sebastianus, Arahmaiani Feisal, Chaerul Umam, Eddy Susanto, Eddi Prabandono, Eko Nugroho, FX Harsono, Gamelatron, Hardi Budi, I Made Wianta, Jim Alllen Abel, Jompet Kuswidananto, Nico Dharmajungen, Reza Kutjh, Sinta Tantra, Etza Meisyara, Gede Mahendra Yasa, Yunizar,

ISA Art Gallery has selected various Indonesian artists and overseas artists that have explored different cultural contexts through diverse mediums of art, starting from the conventional medium of painting and sculpture and the new media art as sound-kinetic sculpture, photographies, mixed media paintings, etching, weavings & embroidery.

From conventional medium to contemporary paintings in this exhibition, A.D Pirous is best known for his calligraphy painting inspired by Islamic scripture. Arahmaini is a performance artist from Indonesia. Besides Arahmaini's performance, she also paints with the theme of responding to social problems around him and with the paintings of Agus Suwage, a leading Indonesian artist. A young artist who carries the theme of Indonesian politics by presenting elements of chandeliers in her work, namely Astika. Yunizar, an Indonesian artist of the Seni Rupa Jendela, raises the idea offormalism and creates paintings with naive objects. Eddy Susanto, who played with aksara, became a painting with his narrations. From Bali, there are also I Made Wianta and Gede Mahendra Yasa, whose works are formed from the agrarian and portraiture Balinese tradition.

Turning to paint with various media, there is Etza Meisyara, a young artist from Bandung who incised his paintings using etching, acrylic, and burning with the aluminium plate as the medium. On the one hand, there is A.Sebastian who creates his visuals through weaving, and Senior Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho with eco linen on paper as the media. The overseas artist in the exhibition is Adam De Boer, who travelled throughout Indonesia ten years ago. His recent work employs imagery and traditional crafts from the region to connect his artistic practice with those of his distant cultural forebears. Unlike the case with Sinta Tantra, an artist from Bali who is now domiciled in London, his works talk more about composition and architecture inspired by Indonesian culture.

Photography entered Indonesia in the 18th century, pioneered by Kasian Cephas, who was recognized as Indonesia's first photographer, in the 18th to 19th centuries, photography was limited to commercial interests, and there were limited powers. As time passed, photography developed to show idealistic works of photographers; to Jim Supangkat, "The art of photography is not just a recording of what is from the real world, but becomes a complex work of art.". In this exhibition, several photographic works with their narratives, such as Agung Eko Sutrisno, Jim Allen Abel and FX Harsono, who captured themselves performing art, Chaerul Umam with his Indonesian landscape captures, Reza Kutjh, Hardi Budi who is a surrealist photographer and senior photographer Nico Dharmajungen.

Art installations have become an essential creation in modern art. Its' origin traces back to the 1960s but became prominent during the following decade. It often uses a large room to showcase the artwork, leaving many spaces for the audience to engage and interact with the work presented. Gamelatron is Aaron Taylor Kuffner's project. He immersed himself in studying Indonesian Gamelan music and developed his electronic notation system. Jompet Kuswidananto started as a musician, producing records and performances. In his visual art, he has used his knowledge in traditional shadow theatre and other performing arts to develop a personal style of multimedia specialization. Eddi Prabandono involves many workers: to create designs and even work plans that need [careful] calculation. However, his pieces do not turn into merely structural things because of the way he incorporated the evolution of languages of expressions in creating them.