Tembi Contemporary is delighted to present Malaysian artist Kow Leong Kiang's first solo exhibition in Yogyakarta. Since winning the Grand Prize at the Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards (1998) with his controversial painting, 'Mr. Foreign Speculator, Stop Damaging Our Country', the artist has gone on to create some of the most memorable images of rural Malaysia. He is best known for his masterful portraits of East Coast beauty, encapsulating its pathos and nostalgia.

Kow arrived in Yogyakarta sometime around June 2008 on a residency programme organised by Valentine Willie Fine Art. He has since taken to task the formidable project of capturing the lively and informal communal atmosphere of its art scene in a series of portraiture on seminal contemporary artists living in Yogyakarta.

Agus Suwage, Arahmaini, Jumaldi Alfi, Angki Purbandono, Eko Nugroho, Ugo Untoro, Handiwirman Saputra, Putu Sutawijaya and many other household names not only became fast friends but also iconic subjects under the virtuosity of Kow's brushwork.

Yogyakarta, called home by artists who come from all over Indonesia, is today recognised internationally as an artistic centre in the Southeast Asian region. These portraits collectively reveal an artistic community that is distinguished by the wit, intelligence, honesty and dedication of the colourful characters that constitute its creative capital, underlining the communal bonds within an artistic constellation, captured in its element.

By turns funny, poignant, michievious and lyrical, Jogja Constellation affirms Kow's inimitable status as Malaysia's foremost figurative painter.