I W A N E F F E N D I: @Kendra Gallery: Indonesian Disjunction, curated by: Rain Rosidi

INDONESIAN DISJUNCTION

Fine Art Exhibition

Works of: Arie Dyanto, Darbotz, Agus Yulianto, Farid Stevy Asta, dan Iwan Effendi

In the present 'globalization', according to Arjun Appadurai, what was occurred is not merely a cultural homogenization. Through the same instrument in the modern world, in terms of technology, ideas, and the media, it is very possible a heterogeneous cultural space emerged. There are numbers of discontinuity in a culture that gives space for a different form of cultures, which is referred to Appadurai as a Disjuncture. This thought view the global community through the movement of the human configuration, technology, media, finance, and ideas that affect the way people think today. Humans’ landscape is conditioned by a changing world, through the movement of the tourist, immigrant, refugees, fugitives, and expatriates. In technoscape, the global configuration of the technology becomes very flowingly, flowing from one area to another are also conditioning the way we think. Media, finance, and ideology are also distributed and conditioned our thinking in imagine the world. Great ideas about democracy, human rights, civil society, and sovereignty become an important part in today's landscape of human ideas.

Fine arts as part of contemporary culture are facing its meeting and junctions at once. Traffic of art workers is a part of the human traffic that passes from a particular region to other regions with faster mobility. So does the traffic of idea. They establish a more intensive relationship with the various art workers on the other side of the world. Distribution of information between them facilitated by global instruments, such as art fairs, biennal, triennial, books, internet, magazines, and various other cultural instruments. Exchanges of artists through artist in residency projects, support the creation of global communication in the development of fine arts.

Those meetings were not having a single face. Among that was occurred on the surface and through big events, there are also exchanges under the surface. This phenomenon is passed by groups outside the major cultural who exchange ideas and visit each other outside the main routes. The most prominent phenomenon of meeting in globalization is in the urban society. They are in a landscape that meets all the requirements of that meeting, such as urban residents who movable around the world, movements of ideas, and technology movements which are very flowingly.

On the other hand, young people begin to have a greater awareness to involve the life and style of their daily lives in an artwork. This phenomenon not only in terms of theme and narration of their works, but also on the creation method and visual range that they use. This young people use idioms which close to their everyday world in everyday life. Some aspects that structure their works; for example; the world of visual comics, artwork in the world of music (band), cartoons, animation, design and industries. It is then differentiate them with other artist in contemporary art.

Culture of urban life also associated with the accompanying technological developments. The movement of industrial products has become very flowingly and able crossing various countries border. Acceleration of the industrial products movement contributed in providing a new perspective on urban society in view the cultural world. Society sees the world through how they consume and accept the results of the culture industry culturally. At least five artists on this exhibition provide a picture of it.

Iwan Effendi

Iwan Effendi is one of the young artists in Yogyakarta who are looking for artistic solution through the different references from previous artists. They are no longer taking history art major as part of a discourse that is developed, but dig a reference from the spirit of lowbrow art that develop in America and other forms of artistic expression other underground art. Among his colleagues, Iwan known as messengers, because Iwan was first known artists who later became their friend, such as Eko Nugroho and together with his friends, Iwan explores new artistic possibilities through the composition, technique, color, and ideas taken.

Based on those references, Iwan develop his works which pleasure imagination. Iwan does not display shapes common human figure, but strange figures which also live in the unreal setting. By imaginative characters of works, works of Iwan is also often used by various publications and books as an illustration

Besides painting and drawing, Iwan also involved as an artist of Puppet Theater. Together with his wife Maria, Iwan set up a Papermoon puppet theater. Iwan design the puppets and also make it fit the required size. This group, the only one puppet theater in Indonesia has done performances and workshops to various countries.

In his recent works Iwan realize that the artistic problem-solving process should be developed into a broader issue. Iwan started to combine between his activities in puppet theater and fine arts. Started from here, Iwan’s works began to discuss the themes that are also intensely carry out by Papermoon. Iwan's latest work is concerning the sensitive theme of the 1965 event in Indonesia. Political violence and social events were visualized in the same way with his previous works that indulgence imagination. As by his dolls which able to discuss all things more comfortable, figures in his paintings can also comment on various issues without burden. According to Iwan, for his generation that events are very distant. But the fairy tale about the events that involve millions of lives and suffering of millions of other victims and perpetrators must remain narrated. Although it is a way that mastered, the language of young people today.

Rain Rosidi