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Artists take on facets of purity at ICAD 2017
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The exhibition, which runs until Nov. 15 in grandkemang Hotel in South Jakarta, displays the work of over 50 artists through every nook and cranny of the hotel's ground floor. (JP/Liza Yosephine)
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rtists interpret the meaning of purity at the 8th annual Indonesian Contemporary Art and Design (ICAD), which opened on Oct. 4 at the grandkemang Hotel in South Jakarta.
The exhibition, which would run until Nov. 15, displays the work of over 50 local artists through every nook and cranny of the hotel's ground floor.
Harry Purwanto, ICAD art director and curator, said the event this year takes on the theme of "murni", which means pure.
Intense discussions with each artists throughout the preparation process, Harry said, sought to address ways to best convey the individual's idealism on the interpretation of the theme itself against the challenge in the setting of the exhibition.
"Unlike other exhibitions in general, the unique identity and specification of ICAD is that each work responds to each facility or public space in the hotel without changing its initial function," Harry said during a press conference on the opening night of the exhibition.
Throughout the hotel's ground floor are displayed various artworks, ranging from an essay of images propped up on a wall to elaborate installations taking up its own room.
Read also: Art Jakarta 2017: The rise of youthful forces
Organizing works into categories, ICAD hosts professional artists in its statement exhibition segment, such as Denny R. Priyatna's Appalstered (Appalling + Upholstered Furniture), which challenges the meaning of pure with depictions of flaws in physical wounds and scars that are inevitable in life.
"I am here trying to question purity itself, because inside ourselves, we always try to be perfect, pure, clean, but as in here, there are circumstances where the imperfection, or in occurrences where we are tarnished, it can not be avoided," Denny told The Jakarta Post.
Opening the stage to beyond the conventional artists, ICAD also provides a zone for special appearances from creators diving head first into the art world for the first time.
Actor Reza Rahadian, best known for his starring role in the biopic of Indonesia's third president, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, in Habibie & Ainun, took on the challenge with a video installation titled Mother Earth.
"Purity comes from within," Reza told the Post.
In his piece, Reza presented a video image of a baby in a womb with its umbilical cord connected to the roots of a plant, which extends physically to a set of leaves propped above the LCD screen.
The Earth provides humans with every facilities, Reza said, adding that as a human being we must remember to give back to Earth. (kes)
