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Timeless Creativity combines art and furniture in an avant-garde exhibition
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Meet the artist: Bunga Yuridespita stands next to her cabinet, 'Each of Us Is A Bricklayer'.(JP/Sylviana Hamdani) (JP/Sylviana Hamdani)
Murai Art Projects presents a unique exhibition that combines artistic flair and functional furniture designs.
Creativity is key to survival in this ever-changing world. As the world spins and evolves, humans adapt and develop their capacity to thrive.
In the same way, the world of art is also changing. Nowadays, artists are no longer confined to their usual media and techniques but are encouraged to traverse and cocreate with experts of many different disciplines. This new phenomenon enriches art and enhances how connoisseurs see and savor objets d’art.
Timeless Creativity: A Different Kind of Canvas, an exhibition by Murai Art Projects, perfectly portrays the new phenomenon. The show, which takes place until Nov. 4 in Senayan City, South Jakarta, presents tasteful artwork and home furnishing, a collaboration between a seasoned furniture designer and two emerging young painters.
“The exhibition showcases a collaboration between art, function and technology in creating works of art that are not only highly aesthetic but also functional,” Yudi Wanandi, cofounder of Murai Art Projects, CEO of The Jakarta Post, cofounder of Larasati Auctioneers and Board of Young Art Collectors at Art Jakarta, said at the opening of the exhibition on Oct. 27.
“We hope that the exhibition will inspire other Indonesian artists to explore their creativity.”
Murai Art Projects is an art initiative established by Yudi Wanandi and Ari Sanjaya, cofounders of Ku Casa Furniture in Jakarta in 2021.
“Murai Art Projects provides a platform for artists to collaborate and marry their talents,” Ari Sanjaya said.
The exhibition features two dining tables and five cabinets designed by Ku Casa’s creative director and furniture designer Laurence Howell and two young Indonesian emerging artists, Naufal Abshar and Bunga Yuridespita.
“Since the start of the company, I’ve always wanted to explore the idea of having artists apply their talent in finishing up our furniture uniquely and beautifully,” Howell said. “And it was an honor to find two fantastic artists, Noufal and Bunga, who were energetic in applying their creative, fun spirit to this project.”
Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Howell had been living and heading an interior design studio in Singapore for 25 years before coming to Jakarta and setting up Ku Casa with Ari Sanjaya in 2013.
The two young Indonesian artists collaborating on this project were selected based on their portfolio, style and suitability of their artwork when applied to furniture.
“Both Naufal and Bunga are emerging young artists whose work is highly appreciated by the public,” Ari said. “And we saw that their styles would be suitable to our [furniture] designs.”
Coming out of the comfort zone
Discussions for the project had already started since early 2020.
“The process was interesting and urged us to come out of our comfort zone,” Naufal Abshar said.
The artist, born in Bandung in 1993, is renowned for his paintings that combine facial sketches and thought-provoking texts. Trained at LaSalle College of the Arts and Goldsmith University of London, Naufal has participated in various group exhibitions in Yogyakarta, Singapore, Venice and Lithuania. The artist also won first prize in a live painting competition at the Indonesia Arts Festival in Jakarta in 2013.
In this exhibition, Naufal presents his paintings on two dining tables and a gentleman’s watch cabinet.
The rectangular dining table (2800 x 1200 x 750 mm), made of Quadra Surface’s sintered stone slab sitting on a pair of brass legs, features Naufal’s sketches of various facial expressions on a collage of old newspapers and tabloids.
“I’m inspired by the stories we usually share when dining with family and friends,” Naufal said.
Naufal created a collage from his collection of old New York Times newspapers and British tabloids to make the table. The artist then painted on its surface, took a picture of his work, digitized it and sent the file to Quadra Surface’s office.
Using the file, Quadra Surface technicians printed the design onto the sintered stone slab.
“When [the stone] has cooled down on the printer, I made my finishing touches directly on the slab,” Naufal said. “And then, they fired [the stone] again at 1,200 degrees Celsius.”
Ari Sanjaya, who watched the artist working at Quadra Surface’s factory, was very impressed with the process.
“For Naufal, the factory stopped their production line for five hours,” Ari said. “Naufal then went up on the ladder and crouched down for hours to add his finishing strokes on the slab.”
With technology, Naufal’s work on the dining tables are meant to be timeless.
“This dining table – because of our technology – can sit outside in the sun, in the rain and [the painting] will last,” Willie Low, CEO of Quadra Surface, said.
“So, it’s not like putting an ordinary canvas outside, [where] it’ll be drenched by rain [and] discolored by the sun. Pak [Mr.] Naufal's drawings on our slabs will last for a long, long time.”
The art of process
Bunga Yuridespita also enjoyed the project a lot.
“For me, it’s the art of process,” she said. “As an artist, I usually work on my intuition and personal working system. But in this project, we have to brainstorm and discuss a lot. I must understand and consider Laurence’s [furniture] concepts and adapt to them.”
In this exhibition, Bunga has adorned three drink cabinets and one watch cabinet with her vibrant geometric designs.
“My work speaks a lot about my identity,” Bunga explained. “Through my work, I record floor plans of the rooms and spaces from my childhood, deconstruct and draw them with a bird’s eye view.”
The Bandung-based artist graduated from architecture studies at Pelita Harapan University in 2013. She then worked for a couple of years as a junior architect before taking a master’s degree in fine arts at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in 2015. Today, as a full-time artist, Bunga has maintained her architectural touch. Many of her works feature geometric shapes and three-dimensional designs.
The drink cabinet, titled Each of Us Is a Bricklayer (1000 x 500 x 1400 mm), the artist experimented with patina and special furniture paint to create the impression of rust on its surface. The result is an elegant vintage-looking cabinet that would be a statement piece in a modern house.
On another drink cabinet, titled Distorted Normphic (1500 x 515 x 1550 mm), the artist created a clever optical illusion with her geometric designs that partly conceal a recess at its center.
All items in the exhibition are for sale between Rp 145 million (US$9,200) and Rp 350 million.
“They’re quite affordable prices for artwork,” Ari said.
During the opening day, Indonesia’s celebrities and socialites filled the GF-10 exhibition room at Senayan City.
“It’s a privilege for us to host such a great event,” Jaclyn Halim, Senayan City leasing and marketing general manager, said. “We hope the exhibition can inspire visitors and many other young artists with its unique innovation and creativity. And hopefully, the exhibition will become an annual event.”
