Gilang Fradika "Staging Conflict, Hacking Diversity"（SINGAPORE）

Solo exhibition by Gilang Fradika

 

Mizuma Gallery is pleased to present Staging Conflict, Hacking Diversity, a solo exhibition by Gilang Fradika.

 

Like a collage, the configuration of objects and signs in Gilang Fradika’s paintings is a strategy he employed for putting together a series of knowledge and life experiences. This exploratory configuration triggers the memory of the viewer through an indexical relationship with the subject it represents. Although the visualisation of the objects appears to be imaginative, these works literally ‘traverse’ the real world. Objects and signs are stacked in layers, implying that the acquired knowledge and experience serve as models and methods: to enrich our aesthetic experiences, build ideas, find artistic tactics, and appreciate the creative process itself.

 

In catastrophism, Gilang’s works traverse the binary narrative of the individual struggle over identity and the excessive behaviour. This is shown in the melancholic narrative of the work, such as questions about existence, celebration of tragedy, the unstable society, ambiguity of conditions, and habitual escapism. Consciously, he sees life in a liminal space, whereby facts about objects overlap with their representations, imaginations, and associations. Painting becomes a space of indexicality where ideas are conveyed and memories embedded, summaries are drawn and questions asked, conclusions are dismissed and possibilities grown. With this awareness of the liminal space, Gilang’s painting incites a bodily experience, the psychological and the viewing experience. He employs local thinking for reading the global phenomenon, and all the dualities that arise. Instead of guiding and judging them, he chose to ‘stage’ every contradiction, staging conflict – hacking diversity. For viewers, this tactic can be understood as a critical self-awareness of the artist’s power over his works, as well as an experimental space for the viewer’s interpretation.

 

The idea of ‘staging’ is raised by Gilang in the visual landscape of his painting. Contradictory fragments along with the gesture of the performative subject were chosen to present the narrative of the work to make it more alive. Stage and performativity are two terms that often take place in our lives but we are rarely conscious of them, and Gilang cleverly uses them as the foundation of his artistic choices. These two things also coincide with his background of agricultural society, where identity problems manifest in the grey areas of attitudes and daily behaviour.

 

Gilang’s works are immersive. Memory and experience work on a less personal level, but they are able to capture nuances and retain certain moments of specific cultural or historical events. These moments are remembered through a network of objects that is closer to a visual index rather than just symbols or icons in the semiotic tradition. The traces identified in Gilang’s works are, to some extent, related to the themes of ‘loss’ and ‘absence’. However, by allowing each sign to find its own interpretation, Gilang’s works allow us a space for release while at the same time leading us to explore the reality of the many crossroads in life that we have to choose and face.

 

Staging Conflict, Hacking Diversityshowcases new paintings by Gilang Fradika and marks his first solo exhibition in Singapore. The exhibition will run from 16 April till 22 May 2022. In conjunction with the exhibition, Mizuma Gallery will publish an e-catalogue with images of artworks by Gilang Fradika and an exhibition text written by Hendra Himawan.

 

About the Artist

 

Gilang Fradika (b. 1988 in Majenang, Indonesia) graduated from UNY (Yogyakarta State University), Department of Fine Arts, with a major in Graphic Arts in 2012. Gilang works mostly with two-dimensional surfaces, particularly in painting and etching. His solo exhibitions include A long way and secret garden at DGTMB versus in Yogyakarta (2015), and (UN)COVER at RUCI Art Space, Jakarta (2021). Gilang took part in projects such as Pameran POSKAD SG50 in Gillman Barracks, Singapore (2015); Folkloristics (2018) and Hopes & Dialogues in Rumah Kijang Mizuma (2019) at Mizuma Gallery, Singapore; and ARTJOG: RESILIENCE in Yogyakarta (2020). Gilang Fradika lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

 

 

 

> Press Release

> E-Catalogue