Art Front Selection : Summer 2024

Eko NUGROHO "Nowhere is My Destination (1)" 2019, acrylic on canvas, 2335x3398mm

Born in 1977 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Eko Nugroho began his artistic career in the late 1990s when he was still a student at the Indonesian Art Institute. He now works across the globe as one of the most prominent Indonesian contemporary artists. Nugroho is a member of the “reformasi generation”, experiencing the democratising social reforms in the wake of the collapse of the Suharto regime triggered by the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. The privilege of freedom of expression, which suddenly became a reality, has allowed him to create a wide range of artworks while projecting his own socio-political views.

Two elements, Indonesian tradition and references to contemporary pop culture can be seen as contribution to Nugroho’s works, which are created in Yogyakarta, the artistic centre of art on Java island. While introducing traditional batik and embroideries, his artworks reveals strong influences from contemporary art forms such as street art, graffiti and comics. He creates artworks in various media, from drawings and paintings to murals, sculpture, animation and tapestry.

Tadashi Kawamata "Tsumari No.30" 2023, plywood, chopsticks, acryilic, 730x780x137mm
The work shown here is one of the works Kawamata created during his public residency in Echigo-Tsumari last year.
Kawamata's studio, built within the Tsumari Archive Centre as one of Kawamata's bases in Japan for the 2022 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, is home to one of the largest maquettes in Japan. Kawamata's series, commonly referred to as Site Plans, are plans designed for imaginary buildings and places, rather than plans made for actual spaces. Just as a painter makes drawings to try out new things, Kawamata makes plans for these imaginary sites as a practice on a regular basis. Unlike the plans for the real site, these works seem to be a manifestation of the artist's feelings at the time, the movements of the world and the changing circumstances around him. In particular, this series, called Tsumari, uses green and brown paints, and some of them look like the landscape of the region.

Mounir Fatmi "Maximum Sensation" 2023, skateboards, rug for prayer, 140x810x210mm each
Maximum Sensation is composed of skateboards with colorful prayer rug and is in the collection of American museum and of European corporation. According to Fatmi, he met with a girl in Islamic dress in Afghanistan who drove her skateboard which was allowed for girls unlike bikes and bicycles. The artist was impressed with her courage for progressive change and created this piece as “homage to Afghan girl”. The title has double meaning of maximum sensation which people acquire through praying and other ritual action, or the bodily sensation we get by skateboard.
This work was exhibited in show window at the occasion of Setouchi Triennale 2016.
If Afghanistan is peripheral vis-à-vis Europe and its culture, the same can be said foro Japan. The artist emphasize the vision from periphery, since another vision has always elaborated and enlarged our thinking. Fatmi tries to, through his art, minimize the distance between countries or culture, or between the religion and ordinary lives of ourselves.

Shinji Ohmaki "Gravity and Grace - moment 19/10/2023 (15)", 2023, Photogram, RC paper, aluminum mount, 1310x1062x24mm