Re_ | Close to Home 02.07.2021 — 14.07.2021

About The Exhibition

Re_ by STPI is a series of multi-platform viewing rooms. It brings together a selection of works from STPI’s inventory, placing them in new constellations for us to relook at them in fresh contexts. These will take place on our website and Artsy, as well as in-person. With a different focus for each iteration, the presentations will be refreshed regularly throughout the year. In the spirit of re-presenting these artworks in new situations, our first 3 viewing rooms will take place at the dynamic ArtSpace @ HeluTrans from 18 June to 26 July 2021.

We invite you to come down, or visit us online, to Re_Visit, Re_View and Re_Connect with us through our second viewing room, Close to Home.

Close to Home

Close to Home presents eminent artists in the Indonesian art scene: Jumaldi Alfi, Eko Nugroho, Handiwirman Saputra, Melati Suryodarmo, Entang Wiharso, Srihadi Soedarsono* and Sunaryo Soetono*. From modern painting to performance art, from the personal and cultural to the universal and philosophical, the practitioners here demonstrate the plurality of practices and artistic concerns arising from the archipelago. In this manner, Close to Home is an ode to the distinct utterances of the country’s energetic artistic landscape. 

*Book an appointment to view.

ON-SITE

See the works in person:

2 to 14 July 2021, 11.00AM to 7.00PM daily

ArtSpace @ HeluTrans
39 Keppel Road, #01-05 Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Singapore 089065
Click here for directions.

Complimentary guided tours take place every Saturday and Sunday at 2.00PM. Click here to book your slot.

Jumaldi Alfi moves from painting to print and paper at STPI to explore familiar visual iconographies such as the myth of Sisyphus, whose eternal struggle of moving a boulder uphill is something the artist strongly resonates with. The revisitation of these motifs provides us a penetrative look into the emotive gestures and symbolism that sheds light on the artist’s interiority and when extrapolated, channel an intimate aspect of the human condition.

With STPI, Eko Nugroho furthers his exploration of masks as images, objects and second skins, as well as the notion of “masking” as a form of concealment or disguise. Producing over 70 works during his residency, a prominent series is his wearable, full-face paper masks that took inspiration from his observations of Singapore’s socio-political conditions.

In bringing his unusual, instinctive and tactile way of working, Handiwirman Saputra, in collaboration with STPI’s workshop team, transformed the conventional use of paper by exploring its rich physical potential as a medium and object. Through Saputra’s interplay with light, form, textures and colours with paper, his work aspires to evoke beauty and wonder in overlooked, everyday experiences that are taken for granted.

A bold leap from her distinctively performance-based oeuvre, Melati Suryodarmo’s new explorations in print and paper during her residency at STPI are examinations into the volatile relationship between matter and memory, and personal expressions of displacement. A particular inspiration is her own childhood familial homes which have since been demolished or abandoned.

Universally resonant yet rooted in cultural milieu, Indonesian contemporary artist Entang Wiharso creates provocative works that speaks volumes about the human condition. From issues of power, loss and love to broader categories of ideology, philosophy and identity, Entang delivers personal reflections and social critique by integrating Javanese narrative tools of wayang kulit with contemporary materials in his diverse body of work created at STPI’s workshop.

One of the greatest masters of modern Indonesian painting, Srihadi Soedarsono brings his expressionistic interpretations of vast landscapes and glorious horizons that inspire feelings of spirituality to STPI. Through various printmaking techniques such as lithography and screenprinting, the prints continue his studied observations of the monumental Borobudur temple complex and the horizons of Java, alongside incorporating the familiar skyline of Singapore into his distinctive visual language.

Abstract or figurative, Sunaryo Soetono’s works have always been known for their formal strength and inventiveness, while centering on social, environmental and spiritual issues & goals. His works produced at STPI focuses on the tensions between his personal experiences as a human being and his social experiences as a Javanese through a range of imageries including reworking his Batik motifs, relating to his belief that culture always changes.