Amongst the increasingly popular new media works in the contemporary art scene today, Syllabus’ paintings of imaginary landscapes stand out. In disquieting, entropic mis-en-scenes, this Bengkulu-born, Yogya-based artist limits the boundaries between the real and the 'unknown.' His paintings combine scenographic drawings and characters that hint at unworldly dimensions. Whether found or created, Syllabus’ “environmental imageries” are melancholic yet highly charged narrative containing echoes of other lived spaces and realities, which oscillate between the real, the imaginary and the phantasmic.

In this exhibition, Lugas explores a currently prevalent theme of nomadic life and the question if our identity is formed by where we came from or by where we travel to. In the work “From Sumatra, where shall I go?” the stooped figure is a picture of his experience as a child who witnessed how powerful old men hunched up and down mountains with a coffee cart on his shoulders. The hunch could be due the heavy burden constantly on his shoulders while the volcano Krakatoa is a symbol which separates the land of his origin (Sumatra) and shoreline land of Java, where he is currently based. He also questions if globalization and uniformity in society today has become the accepted norm and if we are slowly creating a homogeneous culture.

The exhibition "From Sumatra, Where Shall I Go?" consists of 12 paintings and 1 sculpture

-Element Art Space

Image: © Lugas Syllabus 
The Tree of Life
2013
Acrylic on linen
90 x 120cm