Kindred by Choice #1 is the first of a new series of shows which aims to showcase Asian artists face-à-face with one artist of their choice on the same platform. Goethe’s novel of the same title is also translated as Elective Affinities from the original German title, Die Wahlverwandtschaften. The terminology, elective affinities, is a “scientific law according to which elements of innate affinities will choose, or elect, to bond together, even if they must break out of previously formed unions in order to do so.” The characters in the book, Kindred by Choice, were attracted by way of these elective affinities.
In the Singapore gallery, ARNDT aims to create a prolific juxtaposition by placing Indonesian artists in the same arena with artists from Germany and America, to demonstrate elective affinities or the kindred choices of today. In Kindred by Choice #1, three established Indonesian artists - Entang Wiharso, Fendry Ekel, and Jumaldi Alfi – will conduct a visual conversation with three artists they chose personally - Daniel Richter, Andy Warhol, and Martin Kippenberger.
About the artists:
Jumaldi Alfi (born 1972 in Lintau, West Sumatra, Indonesia; lives and works in Yogyakarta) is the co-founder and a member of the Jendela Art Group who in the early phase of their artistic career, dealing with themes which were distanced from socio-political issues as well as from artwork which capitalized on sophistication of a painterly execution of realist paintings, surprised their audience. Alfi will conduct a visual dialogue with Martin Kippenberger through their self-reflective oeuvres. How they conclude with their conversation is to be seen, through the handwritten messages from the artists, which will be revealed through the artists’ discourse.
Fendry Ekel (born 1971 in Jakarta, Indonesia; lives and works in Amsterdam, Berlin and Yogyakarta), explores the dark side of human ambition in his paintings. Often painted after black and white photographs which depict portraits and architecture, he investigates the use of art, architecture, and figuration as a means of propaganda for ideologies and confronts himself where the border of ethical and aesthetical values crossover, through his monumental, layered canvases. In Kindred by Choice #1, the artist, whose subject matter is at times, remnants of events occurring in the past, will have a conversation with Andy Warhol. Ekel appropriates images from our collective memory, as Warhol has in his famed prints, as if to conjure up memories of these frozen moments or personalities within the walls of our gallery space.
Entang Wiharso (born 1967 in Tegal, Zentral-Java, Indonesia; lives and works in Yogyakarta) is one of Indonesia’s most provocative and engaging artists of today, and is one of the artists representing Indonesia in the Venice Biennale this year. He creates paintings and installations which combine Javanese mythology with personal and public memories. Through his work, Entang casts a critical eye on multiple issues including international politics, environmental issues, and stereotypes prevalent in cultures. Entang will face Daniel Richter. Will Entang, with his distinct depiction of human figures, at times clothed, at times naked, clutching onto themselves for dear life or viscera loosely reaching out to other life forms, have a lesson to teach Richter, in all of his psychedelic depiction of the world?
Image: © Jumaldi Alfi, ARNDT
