For his solo exhibition at RKFA, Deden Hendan Durahman presents his new series Amorphous Amours (2014): multi-layered choreographies of serial de/re-constructed and morphed bodies. Reconstruction on the level of the pixel opens up the possible of the possible; therefore, there is an element of contingency of what actual forms a concept takes – a pixilated flux of becoming. The element of contingency of a pixilated flux of becoming necessitates seriality. If actualizations of disparate fragments is not to unravel in such a way that all that remains are fractures of the possible then working in series is needed. A series offers a sense of unity – and meaning – to fragments. The method of working in/on serial de/re-constructed bodies also implies repetition. And repetition is key in performativity: body is an unstable category – body as medium and concept in the work of Deden – over time, gestural permutations allow for changes to occur. The mediated bodies in Deden’s work are indexes of performativity. Our bodies are the primary sites of the expanded field of knowing and remembering – or: ontology of the flesh. Memory leaves imprints in and on our bodies. One body remembers and reminds another; memory moves from body to body, re-touching us sensually, re-touching the unfathomable geography of our bodies – to paraphrase Walt Whitman: For every pixel belonging to me as good belongs to you...

About the artist:

Deden Hendan Durahman (Majalaya, Indonesia, 1974) received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) at the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1997, graduating in printmaking. In 2005, he obtained a Diploma in Fine Art from the Braunschweig University of Art in Germany, before going on to graduate with a Meisterschüler from the same institution. He then returned to Indonesia where he has lived and worked since as an artist, graphic designer, photographer, and lecturer at the Faculty of Art and Design at the Bandung Institute of Technology, where he founded the intermedia studio. Deden's artworks are in the collections of various public institutions, including the Tama Art Museum in Tokyo and the Print Room of the Art and History Museum in Geneva. His work has been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Indonesia, Germany, South Korea, Ireland, Belgium, China, Switzerland, Japan, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Singapore and Thailand. Deden won the Silver Prize in the Polaroid Transfer Photography Competition in 2004 in Hanover, and he was also the recipient of the Juror Candidate Award at the Tama Tokyo Print Triennial in 2005.

-Richard Koh Fine Art

Image: © Deden Hendan Durahman
Courtesy of the artist and Richard Koh Fine Art