放下武器跟我走 (Lay down your weapon, follow me), 2016. Boedi WIDJAJA.
Installation: 28 pecis, brass, chrome, foam, vintage camera tripod; and 28 peci pinhole negatives on Ilford paper in individual frames
Installation: 1.2 x 1.7 x 1.8m
Peci pinhole negatives: 23 x 32cm each
On view at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore, 13-24 January 2016.
Conceived by contemporary artist Boedi WIDJAJA for his solo exhibition
Imaginary Homeland: 我是不是該安静地走開 as part of the Singapore Art Week, the artwork is an installation of 28
pecis (Bahasa Indonesia for caps popularised by Sukarno as a symbol of nationalism) arrayed on a vintage camera tripod and custom brass support. The artist approached CushCush to collaborate on the design of the brass support system, which CushCush proceeded to fabricate. Inspired by the aesthetics and rigour of photography, Widjaja and CushCush share a commitment to the beauty of craft. In designing the brass support system, material, finishing, weight and the size of each element are carefully selected. Besides this installation, CushCush also designed and fabricated a cross-bar support for the artist’s drawing in this exhibition.
About the artist
Born in Solo City, Indonesia, Widjaja is an emerging artist based in Singapore. Trained as an architect, he spent his young adulthood in graphic design, and turned to art in his thirties. The artist’s works, concerning diaspora, hybridity, travel and isolation, are often made through an oblique, autobiographical gaze. Many of his artworks involve his family, especially his father and daughter. The artistic outcomes are processual and conceptually-charged, ranging from drawings to video, installations and live art; the last emphasises the liveness of the present artist invites the audience to directly engage with the work.
Recent accolades include: Finalist, Sovereign Asian Art Prize (2015); ArtReview Asia FutureGreats (2014) selected by Louis Ho; Grand Prize (Sound Arts; with David Letellier), Bains Numeriques, France (2012); First Prize, Land Transport Authority Art Competition Beauty World Station (2012); and Highly Commended Award, UOB Painting of the Year (2012). He has had solo exhibitions at Jendela Visual Arts Space, Esplanade (2014), The U Factory, Gillman Barracks (2014), The Substation as its Visual Arts Open Call recipient (2012), and Yellow River Arts Centre Singapore base at the opening of Gillman Barracks (2012); and forthcoming solo exhibitions at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film (2016) and the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (2016). He has shown in group exhibitions at the San Diego Art Institute, ArtJog 8, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, Centrale Montemartini in Rome and the Museum of Sydney.
About the exhibition
Imaginary Homeland: 我是不是該安静地走開 looks at mass media and their impact in our remembering and re-forming of personal narratives. Having left his hometown of Solo City, Indonesia due to ethnic tensions at the age of 9, the artist’s historicisation of his former country was mostly through images and the imagined. The process started with the artist drawing negative images of press photographs of Indonesian politics in pre-Suharto (1945-1968) and post-Suharto (1998-present) periods. The drawings are then photographed into positive prints. Shifting between the modality of drawing and photography, the artist reflects viscerally upon the imagery of his personal history, seeking agency.
Selected press features of the exhibition:
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