Anis Ekowindu explores issues surrounding the body and human psyche across twelve new paintings in his most recent solo exhibition at Valentine Willie Fine Art Kuala Lumpur. Presenting psychological tensions between figures and space he introduces audiences to a cast of sinister and playful characters set against dramatic voids.

This is not self-portraiture as audiences may assume. Instead the artist paints his younger brother Arya Maruf who serves as a compelling symbol for his aesthetic and psychological needs. Exaggerated faces, figures, gestures, texts and other complementary objects, are made into an important narrative device to deliver observation and opinion. Grinning faces shift between psychosis and humour, bodies are incomplete, puppet masters strain to control their raucous charges that create a vast spectrum or "politics of meaning". In this way bodies transcend mere physicality to become social-entities that look at notions of communal critique.

The Artist’s Javanese heritage clearly resonates through his translation of Wayang Purwa, or shadow puppet culture. Anis’s surreal ‘dalang’ manipulates puppets who wear the same face as their master. Representing the struggle of inner emotions, the cultural legacy of wayang, as absorbed through daily life by the Javanese, emerges here as a new form of creative awareness. Other works show singular figures, their faces flushed deep red wearing curious crowns, school uniforms and in taunting positions. This sense of provocation disturbs and destabilizes audiences to consider their own sense of Self and the Artist’s personal Indonesian context as well as universal notions of society.