e-catalog-x-a-duo-exhibtion by Philo Art Space

A DUO EXHIBITION

JANGE RAE & IRMAN A. RAHMAN 1

Xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx JANGE RAE & IRMAN A. RAHMAN

july 13 - August 13, 2013

Mutant ada di mana-mana: tumbuh-tumbuhan, binatang dan manusia, sebenarnya sebuah cerita lama sekali, dalam mitologi pun kita bisa ketemu. Mutant muncul menjadi cerita yang sangat menarik khususnya bagi sebagian manusia modern karena dianggap sebagai anomali dalam evolusi species. Bagi manusia modern, terutama mereka yang mengamini teori evolusi Darwin menganggap bahwa manusia adalah puncak evolusi dan sudah selesai sedangkan Friedrich Nietzsche dan penganutnya masih menganggap manusia belum selesai karena akan muncul darinya species tertinggi, “manusia unggul” (superman). Dalam filmfilm superhero Hollywood merekalah yang disebut mutant sesungguhnya, sangat nietzschean! Tapi, apakah ada mutant sesungguhnya dalam definisi? Para ahli pun belum ada kesepakatan tunggal atas jawaban ini dan mungkin memang tidak dibutuhkan. Yang jelas, mutant adalah sebuah cerita yang bukan saja sangat menarik namun juga menantang dan akan terus demikian sepanjang sejarah!

Judul pameran lukisan di Philo Art Space kali ini adalah X sebuah kode yang biasanya dikenakan pada mutant dan dari sana lalu muncullah atau suka disebut berbagai istilah misalnya ‘generation-X’. Idea pameran tentang mutant ini berawal dari usaha kolaboratif dari dua pelukis, Jange Rae dan Irman Anas Rahman, keduanya berasal dari Bandung. Bagaimanapun dalam pameran lukisan ini tak ada maksud untuk menelusuri secara biologis yang ilmiah, apa arti sebenarnya

Mutants are everywhere: in the plants, in animals, and in human. Mutants are actually ancient story, even in mythology we are to find them. Mutants emerge as a captivating story especially to the modern human, as they are considered to be anomalies in the evolution of the species. To the modern human, more over to those who uphold the Darwin’s theory, human is the ultimate evolution; the final outcome. But to Friedrich Nietzsche and his followers, human is not the end result as from human there would emerge the ‘super man’. In Hollywood’s superhero movies, they are the true mutant, and that make them so Nietzschean! But what is mutant by definition? Even the experts are not in agreement for a single answer to the question. And perhaps, a single answer is not needed. Clearly, the story on mutants is a very fascinating one, and it will remain so for the rest of our history.

The title for the painting exhibition in Philo Art Space this time is X – a code that is usually applied to mutant, and from there comes the various uses of the code, such in ‘Generation-X’. The idea of mutant as theme for the exhibition came from the collaborated initiative of two painters: Jange Rae and Irman Anas Rahman, both from Bandung. There is no intention whatsoever for the exhibition to trace the scientific biology of what mutants really are, except to imaginatively responding to the

Dalam Pameran X ini, Jange Rae dan Irman Anas Rahman pada hematnya mengajak kita melihat kembali sejarah kemanusiaan yang sangat mungkin muncul dari pertanyaan yang sangat mendasar ini; siapakah sebenarnya aku? Aku yang bertubuh? Aku yang memiliki tubuh? Atau aku yang dikendalmutant itu, kecuali dengan maksud meresponnya secara imajinatif. Lagi pula kasus atau isu mutant ini sudah menjadi bagian dari kehidupan manusia secara luas yakni budaya. Mutant mendesak kita untuk lebih memiliki kesadaran akan eksistensi dan kebertubuhan secara kongkrit. Sekali lagi mutant bisa muncul pada diri sendiri dan orang-orang yang sangat dekat dengan kita. Ia bukan lagi sebuah kasus yang dengan mudah kita isolasikan demi menjaga keberlangsungan esensi kemanusiaan. Bahkan ia mendorong pertanyaan filosofis, apakah dengan adanya mutant maka kita masih percaya pada sabda keras tentang hakekat kemanusiaan berdasarkan biologis yang sudah melekat pada manusia selama ini? Optimisme soal kesempurnaan tubuh manusia sepertinya perlu kita dorong kuat-kuat lagi. Manusia belum berakhir! Jange Rae memanfaatkan soal keberadaan mutant sebagai upaya memahami aktivitas manusia yang acuh tak acuh atas ruang dan waktu. Mereka hanya peduli dengan performansi bagaimana diri semampumampunya eksis. Sebagaimana mutant, soal esensi tak relevan dikemukakan dan justru dengan demikian ruang dan waktu menjadi sangat lentur antara nostalgia dan masa depan. Kita bisa menghadirkannya di dalam performan di mana saja kita berada.

Jange Rae mengartikan mutant itu sebagai sebuah proses yang luas, apakah sebagai rekayasa teknologis ataupun secara alamiah genetika. Sudah tentu mutant adalah persoalan proses genetik dan di sinilah muncul persoalan pelik memahaminya secara definitif bahwa genetik dengan kecanggihan teknologi terkini mampu menjadikan tubuh manusia menjadi apa saja termasuk merubahnya menjadi setengah robot, cyborg. Apakah mutant identik dengan cyborg? Sementara pada pemahaman awalnya mutant adalah proses genetik yang terjadi secara alamiah dan wajar dalam evolusi manusia. Mutant seperti konsepsi Jange Rae pada fungsinya jelas hadir secara estetik. Peralihan secara genetik memang sertamerta menghadirkan ketegangan visual yang barangkali hanya sementara 4

concept of mutants. We are already quite familiar with the issues of mutants in our lives and in our culture. Mutants have forced us to have more awareness of existence and body-being in a concrete way. Lest we forget that mutants can be evident in our own self and in the people dear to us. They are no longer a case that we can isolate easily for the sake of safeguarding the sustainability of the essence of humanity. Instead, they have propelled the philosophical question: with the existence of mutants, shall we cling to the rigid commandment of humanity’s core based on biology that we have believed for so long? We should push forward the optimism on the perfection of the human body! Human is not yet final! Jange Rae uses the existence of mutants as a mean to understand human activities that are indifferent to their space and time. What they care about is only performance: how their own self shall exist. As with mutants, issues on essence is irrelevant to be brought forward and it is because of that, the space and time become pliable between the nostalgia and the future. We can make them present in our performance wherever we are.

Jange Rae interprets mutants as a broad process: either as a scientific engineering or as natural genetic. Of course mutants are an issue of genetic process, hence comes the complicated problem of definitively understanding it: that the genetics, with the advances in cutting-edge technology, are capable of turning the human bodies into whatever they desires, including turning them into half-robot, cyborg. Are mutants identical to cyborg? – while in the initial understanding, mutants are result of genetic process that occur naturally in the human evolution.

Mutants, according to the concept of Jange Rae, in their function are aesthetically presented. Genetic diversion would absolutely bring forward visual tension – but perhaps for only a while. It will soon be replaced by an awareness that mutants are a generation whose inner self is aware of the binary relation and they perhaps even exceed it. And therefore they become a generation –X. Furthermore, Jange Rae emphasizes that mutants are no other than urban aesthetics!

Irman Rachman put more emphasize on the functionality of the head and body in mutants. The history of civilization has its unique way of looking at human from two different main points: the head and the body. This we can surmise as Platonic legacy with Aristotelian presence: that the head and the body

X e s i g i

a g u i u -

waktu lalu berganti kesadaran bahwa mutant merupakan generasi yang juga dalam dirinya memiliki kesadaran akan relasi biner atau bahkan jauh mengatasinya dan dengan alasan ini maka mereka menjadi sebuah generasi-X. Lebih jauh, Jange Rae ingin menegaskan, mutant tak lain merupakan estetika urban! Sementara Irman Anas Rahman lebih menegaskan sosok mutant dari keberfungsiannya antara kepala dan tubuh. Sejarah peradaban memang kekhasannya melihat manusia menjadi dua bagian besar, kepala dan tubuh, yang bisa saja kita baca sebagai warisan Platonik berwajah Aristotelian bahwa kepala dan tubuh memiliki metafor antara dunia abstraksi dan dunia kenikmatan, namun bagaimanapun keduanya menyatu dalam entitas yang disebut sebagai manusia! Pada mutant, kepala memang menjadi sesuatu yang sangat menyolok. Dari berbagai kasus kita bisa menyaksikan kepala mutant yang menyerupai tikus, orang utan, kelelawar, singa, dengan temperamen memelas, meradang, menyeramkan, dan sebagainya. Begitu pula tubuh yang bisa menyerupai kadal, pohon, keledai, dan sebagainya. Mutant pada hematnya merupakan mahluk yang sangat imajinatif dengan performan visual yang menakjubkan. Irman membidik mutant dari imaji imanensi di atas bahwa kita dan mutant merupakan persoalan dalam dunia kehidupan itu sendiri. Kita dan mutant berseliweran di segala penjuru, bisa bertindak sama dan berbeda, merusak lingkungan, mengejar dan menindas musuh, dan kembali pada relasi tubuh dengan kepala, keduanya memang sering atau kadang berpadu juga beradu.

epitomize the metaphor of abstract realm and the realm of pleasure, and yet, both are merged in the entity that is called human. In mutants, their heads are indeed conspicuous. We can see various example of mutants head that resemble mouse, orang utan, bat, lion with pathetic, agitated, scary, and other temperaments. We can also see bodies in resemblance of lizard, tree, donkey, and many others. Mutants, in short, are acutely imaginative beings with remarkable visual performance. Irman sees mutants from the immanence image above â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that we and mutants are the problems in our own world of life. We and mutants are all over the place, either performing the same or different thing, destructing the environment, chasing and destroying the enemies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we get back to the relation of the head and the body. That both may occasionally or sometimes in agreement or in contest. In this X exhibition, both Jange Rae and Irman Anas Rahman are basically inviting us to look back at the history of mankind, back to the most basic questions: who am I, actually? The bodily I? The I that owns the body? The I that is controlled by the body?

Tommy F. Awuy Curator

JANGE RAE

ANOTHER VICTIM / 120 x 100 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

CENTAUROBO / 180 x 140 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

MERMAIDE 8

/ 180 x 140 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

TRANSMUTATIONSCAPE # 1 80 x 120 cm Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013 9

TRANSMUTATIONSCAPE # 2 80 x 120 cm Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013 10

TRANSMUTATIONSCAPE # 3 80 x 120 cm Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013 11

Jange Rae interprets mutants as a broad process: either as a scientific engineering or as natural genetic. Of course mutants are an issue of genetic process, hence comes the complicated problem of definitively understanding it: that the genetics, with the advances in cutting-edge technology, are capable of turning the human bodies into whatever they desires, including turning them into half-robot, cyborg. Are mutants identical to cyborg? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; while in the initial understanding, mutants are result of genetic process that occur naturally in the human evolution.

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL 12

180 x 120 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

Monkey Bussines

(work on progress) 200 x 150 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

DEERWALK

(work on progress) 150 x 130 cm Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013 13

THE PLAYER

/ 185 x 185 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

SHOW TIME

/ 180 x 120 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

C R P S A r N t l m p s a o m a o m e i c p c o w t m f A

LABOUR STOP 100 x 80 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2013

Copy Rights ÂŠ Philo Art Space All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photography, recording or otherwise, without the written permission from Philo Art Space IRMAN A. RAHMAN

AKAR TELINGA / Digital Print on Canvas / 90 x 120 cm / 2013 17

Irman Anas Rahman put more emphasize on the functionality of the head and body in mutants. The history of civilization has its unique way of looking at human from two different main points: the head and the body. This we can surmise as Platonic legacy with Aristotelian presence: that the head and the body epitomize the metaphor of abstract realm and the realm of pleasure, and yet, both are merged in the entity that is called human.

SELAMATKAN BUMI KITA Mixed Media on Lichdruck Paper / 90 x 120 cm / 2013 18

KENANGAN MANIS / 100 x 200 cm / Mixed Media on Canvas / 2012

KEPALA AKAR / Mixed Media, Digital Print on Canvas / 90 x 120 cm / 2013 19

KEPALA POHON / Mixed Media on Lichdruck Paper / 90 x 120 cm / 2013

KEPALA TANGAN / Mixed Media on Lichdruck Paper / 90 x 120 cm / 2013

UNTITLED #01 / Mixed Media on Lichdruck Paper / 90 x 120 cm / 2013 21

KEPALA PISTOL / Mixed Media, Digital Print on Canvas / 90 x 120 cm / 2013

TEROPONG KEPALA / Mixed Media on Lichdruck Paper / 90 x 120 cm / 2013 23

UNTITLED #3 / Mixed Media, Digital Print on Canvas / 90 x 120 cm / 2013

UNTITLED #02 / Mixed Media on Lichdruck Paper / 90 x 120 cm / 2013 25

JANGE RAE

Bandung, January 26, 1974

Solo Exhibitions : 2012 Solo Exhibition at YAYAA warung & Art space,Bali 2009 Solo Exhibition at Soka Gallery, Kemang Jakarta 2006 Solo Exhibition at Utterly Art Gallery, Singapore Selected Group Exhibitions : 2013 “X”, Philo Art Space, Jakarta, Indonesia “Picturing Pictures”, Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Museum, Vietnam “Gado-Gado”, A Mixture Of Fine Indonesia { ART } Delicacy’, The Gallery At Star Hill, KL Malaysia “Asia Contemporary Art Show”, JW MARRIOTT HOTEL, Hongkong “The Idol Of The Things”, House Of Sampoerna Gallery – Surabaya, Indonesia “Multeity In Unity”, Art Xchange, Ion Art Gallery, Singapore “Beyond Graffiti”, Ion Art Gallery, Singapore 2012 “Art For A Cure”,because artspace, Naples, Italy “Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair”, Hongkong “Spoon Art Fair HK 12”, Hongkong “Asia Contemporary art Show”, Hongkong “Affordable Art Fair”, Singapore, “Art Fair Malaysia”, Malaysia 2011 “Urban In Between”, Philo Art Space, Jakarta Indonesia “Expo For Mattia”, Naples, Italy “Private exhibition at Hall” in Tirol, Austria 2010 “Packaging”,Philo Art Space,jakarta “Menilik Akar”, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta “Subject Expose (s)”, Arslonga Gallery, Jakarta 2008 “Jali-jali Jakarta”, Rumah Jawa, Kemang, Jakarta “Silence of the City”, Denindo Art House , Jakarta 2007 Karya terbaik Kompetisi Jawa Barat,Galeri Kita Bandung 1999 “Bunga-bunga Bali”, Bali Cliff Hotel, BaliJava

IRMAN A. RAHMAN Bandung, July 16, 1970

ART, SENI RUPA KORAN PROJECT,BANDUNG “REBORN” H2 Art Gallery, semarang “GRIP” Art District, Beijing, China Bandung Initiative, Rumah Rupa, Jakarta “COMMON SENSE”, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta 2008 “MANIFESTO”, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta “RENDEZVOUS”: Sehari Bersama 13+ Seniman Bandung, CG artspace, Jakarta 2007 “GLOBAL WARMING KUNSTKAMERA” , GWK, Bali 2006 “21st Asian International Art Exhibition, Singapore Museum Of Art, Singapore 2005 “20th Asian International art Exhibition, Ayala Museum, Manila, Philipina 2004 “Dialogue” C+ Gallery, Bandung

Awards 2006 2001 1999 1998

The Big Five of JABAR Art Competition The Best Ten of Philip Morris Indonesian Art Awards The Big Five of Winsor & Newton Indonesian Art Awards The Big Five of Philip Morris Indonesian Art Awards

Solo Exhibitions : 2008 “Notabilia” Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (Bale Tonggoh), Bandung 2005 “Index of Sign” CP Artspace, Jakarta

Selected Group Exhibitions : 2013 “X”, Philo Art Space, Jakarta, Indonesia 2011 “ART MOTORING” Galeri Nasional, jakarta “AESTHETIC RESPONS” Elcana Gallery, jakarta 2010 “HALIMUN the mist”, Lawang Wangi Art & Science Estate, Bandung “EXODUS OF BANDUNG”, The Aryaseni Art Gallery, Singapore “DEEP IN STORE”, CG Artspace, Jakarta “PERCAKAPAN MASA” Galeri Nasional, Jakarta “Korean International Art Fair (KIAF), Korea “UNNATURAL SELECTION” Kendra Gallery, Bali 2009 “FROM THE WORLD WITH LOVE”,INTERNATIONAL MAIL

2003 “Interpellation” CP Open Biennale, National Gallery, Jakarta 2002 “10th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh”, Dhaka, Bangladesh “Eksplorasi Medium, Eksplorasi Gagasan”, Bantara Budaya, Jakarta “17th Asian International Art Exhibition”, Daejeon Municipal Museum Of Art, Daejeon, Korea 2001 “RE FLECTION”, Edwin Gallary, Jakarta “The Unstable logic” Soemardja Gallery, FSRD ITB, Bandung; Edwin Gallery, Jakarta “Biennale Bandung Art Event”, Nu Art Sculpture Park, Bandung “8th Philip Morris Indonesian Art Awards”, National Gallery, Jakarta 1999 “Winsor & Newton Indonesian Art Competition” Hidayat Gallery, Bandung “Winsor & Newton International Art Competition”, Mall Gallery, London; World Trade Centre,Stockholm; United Nation, New York 1998 “5th Philip Morris Indonesian Art Awards”, National Gallery, Jakarta “5th Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards”, Opera House, Hanoi, Vietnam “Kepada x”, Cipta Gallery, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta 27

Copy Rights © Copy Philo Art Space © Philo Art All rights reserved. rights No part of reserved. this pubof this lication publimay be recation produced, reproduced, stored in a retrievin a real system trievsysor transtem or mitted in transany form in any form or or by any by means, elecelectrontronic, mechanic, meical, chanical, photography, photograrecording or phy, reothercording or wise, withotherwise, out the written without permisthe writsion from ten perPhilo mission from Philo Art Space This catalogue is published in

w: www.philoartspace.com

conjunction with a duo exhibi-

Jl Kemang Timur 90 C

Curator: Tommy F Awuy

tion “X”

South Jakarta 12730

Special thanks: JOKO ANWAR,

Jange Rae & Irman A. Rahman,

Indonesia

JANGE RAE, IRMAN A. RAHMAN

July 13

t/f: (62 21) 719 84 48,

Photography of Artworks: Artist

m: +62 811 10 60 47

Translator : Andira Sampurno

e: info@philoartspace.com

Design : milovtrisno@gmail.com

August 13, 2013

Published by Philo Art Space 038/2013

Copy Rights © Philo Art Space All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photography, recording or otherwise, without the written permission from Philo Art Space