Jogja surrealist artist Ivan Sagita presents a new body of work at Gillman Barracks, Singapore, exploring existential issues through traditional and popular myths.
“they lay their heads on a soft place”, solo exhibition by Ivan Sagita 22 August – 18 September 2014. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Equator Art Projects is holding Indonesian artist Ivan Sagita’s (b. 1957, Lawang, East Java) first solo exhibition at the gallery, entitled “Ivan Sagita: they lay their heads on a soft place” (PDF download), running until 18 September 2014 at their Gillman Barracks space in Singapore.
A versatile artist with a diverse artistic practice, Sagita is one of the most prominent artists associated with the Jogja surrealism movement of Indonesian art in the 1980s. This exhibition features his latest series of work, ranging from painting to photography and sculpture.
Ivan Sagita, ‘I am returning to the earth’, 2011, watercolour on paper, 40 x 30cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Jogja surrealism
Jogja surrealism refers to a surrealist art style that originated in the 1980s in Jogja (also known as Yogyakarta or Jogjakarta). As Indonesian artist Jumaldi Alfi explained, it is different from western Surrealism: it is not just the art that is surreal, but the local situation is surreal. People live a modern life with modern ways while also believing in traditional and folk myths and observing mysticism.
Ivan Sagita, ‘is it as simple and as easy as this?’, 2014, oil on canvas, 65 x 65cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Jogja surrealism explores the merging of these elements of modernity and tradition. This movement is often seen as a reaction against the shift towards a restrictive decorativism or realism during the Suharto era. As explained in the exhibition press release, Jogja surrealism often takes a satirical mood and is charged with symbolism that examines themes of humanity and societal issues.
Ivan Sagita, ‘once upon a time there was a procession’, 2011-3, oil on canvas, 200 x 155cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Exploring existentialism through myth
Sagita explores human, existential issues through traditional mythology. This latest series of work is inspired by a phenomenon called Pulung Gantung. Originating from Gunung Kid, an area south of Jogja notorious for its high suicidal rate, Pulung Gantung refers to a mysterious orb-like red light that is a premonition of a suicide, usually by hanging, when seen descending upon a home.
Ivan Sagita, ‘procession 2′, 2013, oil on canvas, 110 x 134cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
In the catalogue essay, curator Tony Godfrey writes:
Sagita […] wants to think about what death is and what the relationship between dying and living is. […] Sagita comes to painting death not merely as an awkward problem in how to paint, nor as an easy to shock subject matter, but as a reason to paint. For him life and death are intertwined opposites: a constant observer of life, he ponders on how death is connected to us.
Ivan Sagita, ‘she lays her head on a soft place’, 2014, local stone and stainless steel, 46 x 46 x 138cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Empty Indonesian landscapes
Sagita’s timeless spaces depict empty, eerie Indonesian landscapes in which elongated, almost alien-like figures float, rendered in hyperrealistic details. His compositions transmit a sense of transience, a haunting moment suspended in time between reality and imagination.
Ivan Sagita, ‘she lays her head on a soft place’, 2014, local stone and stainless steel, 46 x 46 x 138cm (detail). Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Ivan Sagita, ‘two destinations, two pairs of legs on one body’, 2014, stainless steel, 87 x 45 x 19cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Touching emptiness
Some of Sagita’s sculptures explore the concept of ‘touch’ and emptiness:
If we look at the beginning of creation, there was no touch involved. But we see that touching is a primary sense to a human being […] We get to understand that issues of space, presence and whatever are attached to the act of touching […] From its basic instincts of touch and touching, we can become aware of our own presence.
“they lay their heads on a soft place”, solo exhibition by Ivan Sagita 22 August – 18 September 2014. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
Voids or portals often appear in Sagita’s work, as though depicting the possibility to see beyond the veil or curtain into another world, beyond the self:
The human being is in a separated dimension from the creator. And also a good metaphor for it would be a curtain or veil. It’s a layer which we can open. It creates a barrier between the dimension of emptiness and the dimension of our world.
Ivan Sagita, ‘death’s embrace’, 2011, watercolour on paper, 40 x 30 cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
More about the artist
Born in 1957 in Lawang, East Java, Sagita graduated with a BFA from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI), Jogjakarta in 1985. He has won numerous awards, such as at the Indonesian Painting Biennale (1987 and 1989), a Silver Medal at the Osaka Triennale (1996) and the Mainichi Broadcasting System Prize at the Osaka Sculpture Triennale (1998). He has exhibited extensively at home and abroad at pivotal events and institutions like APT1 in Brisbane (1993), the 12th Jakarta Biennale (2006), the National Gallery in Jakarta and the Singapore Art Museum.
Ivan Sagita, something that always follows them’, 2011, oil on canvas, 142 x 200cm. Image courtesy the artist and Equator Art Projects.
C. A. Xuan Mai Ardia
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Related Topics: Indonesian artists, surrealism, painting, sculpture, photography, gallery shows, picture feasts, events in Singapore
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