The hotel's annual Artnight event, which enters its sixth installment this year, coincides with the group's 25th anniversary since starting operations in Indonesia.

Taking place on the hotel's L ground, the exhibition featuring 15 pieces of artwork showcases two different techniques, namely Erwin Windu Pranata's aesthetic sculptures and wall installations, alongside Yogie A. Ginanjar's semi-abstract paintings.

Curator Axel Ridzky said the exhibition's title, Interlude, refered to the chronological process of how both of the artists expressed their responses to socio-cultural changes. 

In a commentary on technology's intertwined presence in private life through social media, Erwin's work includes bright-colored capsule-shaped installations. Each capsule presents a face in the center on a digital screen. 

"With people exposing more and more of their personal lives on social media, I wanted to show how at the core of it is a person's identity that becomes the base of whatever they project to the outside. This what the capsule represents," Erwin said during the opening night of the exhibition on Monday evening.

He further added that the illustrations and colors that enveloped the capsule was a personal expression of the person featured on the capsule itself, which he transformed through digital art methods to fit the capsule. 

Read also: 2018 Indonesian Contemporary Art and Design: A celebration of stories

Another installation, meanwhile, is also inspired by a digital aspect closely intertwined in Erwin's own everyday life: the GPS. 

"I took the shape of the route which I travel on for work every day and used a muted shade of purple to reflect its dark and mundane nature, and combine it with a route on leisure travels throughout a month, which I illustrate with a bright and fun orange color," Erwin said. 

Meanwhile, abstract artist Yogie plays with colors and mixed medium on a canvas to express his personal anxieties in response to socio-political phenomenon, illustrating his response whether in agreement or against various cases he observed.

"My work 'Love Explosion', for example, is drawn from my anxieties from seeing hate speech and conflict on social media, which made me upset. But it made me think that this hatred exists because there is a lack of love, that's why I wanted to illustrate explosions of love," Yogie said. "The pink, for example, symbolizes a tender heart, while the yellow reflects an explosive love. So, my response in this case is actually an antithesis to the condition," he added.

Rhys Challenger, general manager of Pullman Jakarta Central Park, said Pullman hotels and resorts worldwide had a strong commitment to design, art and the rich local culture. The hotel aims to bring a vibrant excitement connecting its guests to art and to enjoy art pieces that complement and energize the existing pop-art theme throughout the hotel, Challenger added.

"The two artists involved this year were chosen as they represent what our hotel represents in Jakarta and in the art scene and we really want to be a home of art," Challenger said. 

Garth Simmons, chief operating officer of AccorHotels Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, said the event was an opportunity to showcase art and local emerging talents in Indonesia, with art being a strong part of Pullman Hotel's identity, from which it inspires from. (wng)

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