Entang Wiharso
1967 born in Tegal, Zentral-Java, Indonesia
Lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
In Entang Wiharso’s work the artist’s own personal experiences are embedded with a strong examination of the predominant socio-political conditions of his home country. To him, creating work is a way of understanding the human condition, of heightening our ability to perceive, feel and understand human problems like love, hate, fanaticism, religion, and ideology. “I depict the condition of humans who are often divided by complex, multilayered political, ethnic, racial, and religious systems: they co-exist yet their communication is limited and indirect. Figures are interconnected by intuitive as well as intellectual linkages, including ornamental vegetation, tongues, tails, intestines, animal skin patterns, fences and detailed landscapes.“ (Entang Wiharso, 2011).
This is particularly visible in Wiharso’s painting “Second skin and second landscape”. Like a stage set, the scene provides the storyline and shows the relationship between our external and internal landscapes. Recently, an
increasing use of written text has entered his works: slogans, signs, philosophy or common phrases are collected from newspapers, political campaigns, quotes from important or influential people or characters from TV or films. Used directly or altered by i.e. changing the punch line, underlying meanings are exposed and add a further component to the complex artistic language of his work.
Entang Wiharso studied Painting at the Fine Art Department of the Indonesian Institute of Arts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In 2010 his solo show “Love Me or Die” took place at the Galeri Nasional Indonesia as well as following group shows: “Rainbow Asia” at the Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, Korea, “The Grass Looks Greener Where You Water It” at Art Paris Guest, Grand Palais-Champs Elysees, Paris, France, “Contemporaneity-Indonesian Contemporary Art” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, Bergamo, Italy and at the Prague Biennale 4, Prague, Czech Republic.
EXHIBTION:
ASIA: LOOKING SOUTH
10 September - 27 October 2011
Group exhibition at ARNDT Berlin
Entang Wiharso, Second skin and second landscape, 2011, Oil on canvas, 277 x 480 cm | 109.06 x 188.98 in, WIHA0006; photo: studionoMADEN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia