Jakarta-born artist Fendry Ekel is holding a solo painting exhibition at Galeri Nasional in Jakarta starting Feb 12 to 21, which will also be his first solo show at the art gallery.

The exhibition titled '1987' showcases 21 oil paintings by Fendry, curated by Suwarno Wisetrotomo. The show features a series of monumental ships inspired by the naval genre as well as other related works from 2012 to 2016.

The title 1987 was chosen as it was the year when Fendry, as a teenager, migrated to the Netherlands along with his mother. During that year, Fendry had to leave behind not only his home country Indonesia, but almost everything that is vitally important to a young man in search of his identity: from school, best friends, a first girlfriend to his mother tongue and culture.

At the '1987' opening ceremony, Fendry said he lost an overall system of reference that he blindly trusted at that time, but admitted that he might not have become an artist if he didn'€™t experience that significant rupture.

Stepping inside the exhibition room, visitors are immediately greeted by large paintings of naval ships on each side of the wall. The excursion into naval paintings doesn't come as a complete surprise especially for those who are acquainted with Fendry's journey as an artist.

Most of the time, Fendry's works are based on photographs. As long as the original image intrigues him intellectually, there is no limit to what he can paint on the canvas. German-born art historian cum writer, Astrid Honold, wrote in an essay that the ships portrayed in Fendry Ekel's 1987 were clearly a representation of those that sit on a firm wooden base plate.

'€‹It doesn't take much imagination or knowledge to recognize that the sailing ships in many of Fendry's paintings serve as a kind of metaphor.

A ship symbolizes that there is no steady ground and no escape once you're aboard, you must go on no matter what. You must keep your balance in spite of whatever else is on board. Although this might be true for every human being, but it rings especially true in the case of Fendry.

'€‹Fendry, who studied fine art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the esteemed Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, has referred to his entire oeuvre as a self-portrait that says, "look at my work and you will know who I am".

His works are clearly a reflection on constructed projection, especially sentimental memory, but they also serve as some kind of autobiographical souvenir. The 1987 exhibition delivers the messages of self-reflection and a memorable journey successfully.

'€‹Fendry Ekel has exhibited his works internationally and has had regular solo exhibitions in Amsterdam, Jakarta, Milan, Valencia, Mexico City and New York. As an outcome of his solo exhibition at Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA) in New York back in 2010, he was invited to participate in the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York in 2011. '€‹

His multilayered monumental paintings explore the relationship between man and memory. Fendry has also been dubbed a pictor doctus; one who critically investigates the power of art, figuration and representation by appropriating iconic images from our collective memory.(bbn)

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