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Dey Irfanto: Show spans divide between urban and natural
Culture clash: Crop Rotation by artist Dey Irfanto, whose works reflects the clash between urban living and nature
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Culture clash: Crop Rotation by artist Dey Irfanto, whose works reflects the clash between urban living and nature.(Courtesy of Dey Irfanto) (Courtesy of Dey Irfanto)
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span class="inline inline-center">Culture clash: Crop Rotation by artist Dey Irfanto, whose works reflects the clash between urban living and nature.(Courtesy of Dey Irfanto)
Bandung artist Dey Irfan's latest exhibition, 'The Map is Not the Territory', features the artist's characteristic multimedia art, which mixes elements of oil and watercolor-based paintings with a variety of installation materials including embroidery and graphite.
The exhibition, his first solo show in the capital, runs for two weeks beginning Dec. 12 at the Suar Artspace in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta. Seventeen paintings are on display, as well as a number of installations.
The 26-year-old artist admits that his works on the show were inspired by 'nature and landscape photography' and that because of that, those particular elements will be the dominant theme and visual throughout the show.
'The background for this concept is [Polish-American scholar] Alfred Korzybski's thought regarding perception and reality. I saw that urbanization was a concrete example of that phenomenon,' explained Dey.
The artist was born in Jakarta but found his true calling in the arts after moving to the West Java capital Bandung during high school, becoming enamored with the city's thriving independent creative and art scene and eventually infusing himself into it.
A good number of the displayed paintings, in particular those that form the series The Enclosure is Not the Habitat, have previously been displayed by Dey.
Still, he insists that the works feature a running thread that ties them to the territory theme. This thread, he explains, is 'houses and homes', an ostensible symbol of success and achieved dreams in these times and especially between urbanites. Territory claims to comprise such elements, in particular plants that represent growth and flowers that represent dreams.
Dey is a graduate of Singapore's La Salle College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, with a respective Honorary Bachelor degree in fine arts and a diploma in sculpting, which explains why most of his early exhibitions took place in that country, including galleries such as Flaneur, Maya, MICA Building and The Arts House.
His flourishing professional career can be seen by the prices his pieces are now selling for. While they may not be major numbers in contrast to big art players, the fact that Dey's pieces are able to fetch up to US$1,000 (for Kilometer 76; 2014, acrylic on canvas) is significant for a young Indonesian artist.
These pieces often showcase a direct relationship between Dey's favorite theme of nature with modernist shapes and patterns. His visual work often consists of monochromatic landscape photos ' both urban and natural ' layered with abstract renderings, mostly 3D.
A Exhibition press release claims that Dey's travel abroad lends the exhibition a 'personal touch' that spoke to Suar Artspace.
'I think [Dey's themes] are relevant to a lot of people; we are all trying to achieve our dreams and find a home wherever we may be,' suggests Nin Djani from Suar Artspace. It's a feeling we all know too well.
