Entang Wiharso

The gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Indonesian artist Entang Wiharso. Internationally acknowledged as one of the most significant of his generation, this will be the artist’s first gallery exhibition in New York.

Wiharso speaks with a heightened sense of urgency, through many mediums: painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance. The artist’s own experience living in both Indonesia and the US are deeply embedded in this body of work. Through this lens he examines the political and cultural landscape of his country. At its core is a deep understanding of the human condition. Upon viewing this work one is compelled to question the dipoles of love and hate, spirituality and ideology and different cultural perspectives. Often ambiguous, his work suggests a much larger and richer narrative.

“I depict the condition of humans who are often divided by complex, multilayered political, ethnic, racial, and religious systems: they co-exist yet their communication is limited and indirect. Figures are interconnected by intuitive as well as intellectual linkages, including ornamental vegetation, tongues, tails, intestines, animal skin patterns, fences and detailed landscapes.”

Entang Wiharso was born 1967 in Tegal, Central Java, Indonesia. He studied painting at the Fine Art Department of the Indonesian Institute of Arts,Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He currently lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Rhode Island, US. In 2013, he one was of five artists representing Indonesia in the 55th Venice Biennial. He was included in the Prague Biennale 6, in 2014 Selected solo exhibitions include “Crush Me” at the Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai, China (2013) and “Love Me or Die” at the Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia (2010). He has been included in numerous group shows including, “From Chagall to Kusama and Hatsune Miku” at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2013), “Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia” at the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2012), and “Beyond the East – Indonesian Contemporary Art” at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Rome, Italy (2011).

Entang Wiharso is represented by Marc Straus Gallery, New York, Arndt in Berlin and Singapore, Primo Marelli, Milan, Italy and Pearl Lam, Hong Kong.