W.O.Y.M.?
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EDROGER ROSILI
inside spread (cropped); Apa Kata Dunia (Black Sea) computer keyboard keycaps / 8.5 x 4 ft / 2013
W.O.Y.M?
_
EDROGER ROSILI
_
_
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND, EDROGER?
THE CHOICE OF ATTENTION– THE MESSAGE FROM THE OTHER SIDE
RACHEL JENAGARATNAM
AZZAD DIAH AHMAD ZABIDI
ESSAY
ESSAY
left; Revelation 1 / plastic fonts on mounted canvas / 5 x 5 ft / 2013 right; Revelation 2 / plastic fonts on mounted canvas / 5 x 5 ft / 2013
previous page; Mutation 1 / wood / 7 x 3.5 ft / 2013 this page; Mutation 2 / wood / 7 x 3.5 ft / 2013
Ironmat / acrylics on canvas / 4.5 x 5 ft / 2013
The best is yet to come / acrylics on canvas / 7 x 4 ft / 2013
top row, left & right; The Great Debati 1A / The Great Debati 1B bottom row, left & right; The Great Debati 2A / The Great Debati 2B each; acrylics on canvas 3 x 3 ft / 2013
Edroger has been on some adventures in his studio recently, where he has been working on works for W.O.Y.M.? The artist’s first solo exhibition, the works in this debut are varied and stand autonomously from each other. “I don’t have one single story,” admits the artist, explaining that the gestations and gestures for W.O.Y.M.? are made up of fragments from his thoughts. There are six painted canvases resting aside six objects, and fittingly, W.O.Y.M.? stands for ‘What’s on your mind?’, that teasing question that greets us every time we log onto Facebook. In this solo exhibition, the artist divulges exactly what’s on his. What is on Edroger’s mind? Multiple things, really. For one, there are the considerations about politics and people today. In works such as The Best is Yet to Come, we see the heads of Malaysian politicians plastered amusingly atop the bodies of Linkin Park members, and in Mutation I & II, the logo of corporate giant McDonald’s is used in place of the crescent moon and star in an abstracted version of the Malaysian flag. Both works examine the hype and blurred lines that politics and pop culture now have between them, and how the advent of social media and our digital age have made these categorisations even more fragmented. But beyond examining each individual work in W.O.Y.M.?, there’s a deeperrooted theme that needs to be told and it’s related to the artist himself; Edroger may be expressing the bulk of what’s on his mind in this solo exhibition, but there are some untold tales from the recesses of his heart that aren’t apparent in the art that you see.
The early road It might help if we started at the very beginning and traced Edroger’s artistic path. The journey to W.O.Y.M.? was full of experimentation and Edroger’s earliest works were seen in exhibitions like Young & Curious, where we proffered photorealistic paintings of people caught in casual moments. And, for the Bakat Muda Sezaman competition in 2010, he dabbled in an installation piece that featured a small table and a sketch titled ‘Introduction to Painting for Zombies’. Indeed, this 2010 installation called Seni Rupa & Kebodohan Saya Tentangnya (Art and My Ignorance Of It) sets the tone for what you see today. Related to the artist’s own background, the installation is a metaphor for his relationship with his family in Sarawak and how they – and everyone else from his village – cannot comprehend how he’s chosen the path of an artist despite having gained a tertiary education. This sounds like just about every other Asian parent’s hang-up, but the significance with Edroger lies much deeper; Edroger is among one of the first from his village to have even attended university.
.The artist’s milestones started even earlier, in fact. The earliest and most definitive was when he left Lundu, Sarawak in the first place. A three-hour drive from Kuching and bordering Kalimantan, Lundu is a small provincial village that lies close to the heart of the Bornean jungles and the place is, like many rural areas in Malaysia, battling sweeping change and urbanisation. Before, explains the artist, a family wouldn’t be recognised by the community if they didn’t own and work a paddy field. Today, individual lands have shrunk in size and modernization is overthrowing animistic beliefs and old traditions at a rapid pace. Even its people have been affected, and Edroger was himself a product of this change; in his teens, he was selected to participate in a governmental cultural integration programme and he left Lundu for the promise land of Malaysia’s capital. The impact of this history shouldn’t be viewed lightly, as Edroger himself divulges that the very first time that he saw modern life was at the Kuching airport, right before he boarded that fateful flight in the nineties.
This background gives Edroger an interesting place in the Malaysian art scene. Is he an outsider or is he an assimilated member of the community? Do we view his artworks differently because of his identity, or place different emotions upon them because of his cultural heritage? Like the artist’s works, Edroger’s identity gives us food for thought and the artist’s arguments about cultural transactions, of Malaysia grappling with the West, can really be read as a metaphor for his own inner grapples with West Malaysia and the world. The work Iron Mat, a satirical poke about a man wearing the garb of a traditional Malay but bearing Western sensibilities, illustrates this well. And, like the artist’s very intention behind W.O.Y.M.?, this dualism isn’t something to condemn, but merely an issue that begs to be pondered.
What’s on Edroger’s mind Still, there are stirrings of guilt and confusion that have lingered with the artist and W.O.Y.M.?’s multiplicity can be read as an unresolved emotion, although the artist’s visual language has changed drastically from his early days. “Today, I try to be simple, straightforward, and honest,” says the artist, who leaves his narratives open-ended enough for viewers to figure out what’s on their own minds. And, without the stress of a style or formal doctrine, Ed leaves room for a touch of the unexpected. This spontaneity has been key to W.O.Y.M.? and if we couple this with the title of the exhibition and its provenance in Facebook, we’ll see how Edroger is really a product of our times, where social media platforms give us opportunities to express exactly what’s going on inside our heads or in our lives. We see what other’s have had for breakfast, learn of our colleagues’ political swayings, and know exactly what music our friends are listening to in real-time. But really, despite this constant stream of information, do we actually know what’s on people’s minds? Do we actually know what they are feeling?
All this will resonate with Edroger and there’s a painting of a globe in W.O.Y.M.? that speaks volumes. Edroger explains that it’s based on a globe balloon that his parents gave him when he was a child and how, even then, he held a deep fascination for our planet. “Is this a still life, a landscape, or an abstraction?” he asks, turning the earth around in his head, as he raises this question when we meet. Whatever it is, its make-up and its people have set the cogwheels in motion and Edroger’s mind has been a veritable minefield of exploration and thought. Who is he – a Malaysian, an urban fellow of Sarawakian descent, or a citizen of the world? Perhaps these categories don’t matter. As Edroger’s smorgasbord of works seem to hint, there is more to life today than classic categories or linearity. And, as the artist’s egalitarian goes, let’s celebrate and think about it rather than dismiss things entirely. This adventure that Edroger is on will continue beyond his studio and then back again, but along the way, he will surely find himself, discover more, and develop a potent artistic language that he can confidently call his own.
_ WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND, EDROGER?
RACHEL JENAGARATNAM ESSAY
As we enjoy our evening Yamcha session, there is someone who haven’t taste the food for days. As we surrounded by family and friends, there is someone somewhere who experience the tragic loss of family member and friends caused by war. I am very fortunate as this writing was produced in the convenience of my comfort zone – away from the hiatus aforementioned. We live in this paradoxical dimension, in which both of the event exist to compensate one another– to justify their true meaning. Binary opposition explained a certain paradoxes in our lives. This term made popular by the structuralist thought, derived from the idea of contradiction– good/bad, rich/poor, left/right, young/old, etc. Structuralist centered on the fundamental nature of these binary divisions to human thinking, seeing them as a part of the ‘’deep” or hidden structure of human creations. We rely upon on a context in order to justify two opposite objects. This explained how we can relate to a certain situation, even though were not directly experiencing it. If there is bad thing, for sure there is a good thing happen.
_ THE CHOICE OF ATTENTION– THE MESSAGE FROM THE OTHER SIDE AZZAD DIAH AHMAD ZABIDI ESSAY
In Edroger’s case, he try to conjure up his experience in the complexity of his surroundings. Born and raised in Sarawak, everything is different in peninsular. It was a new experience for him. Everything move in fast pace. Now, having established himself as urban denizens, everything becoming dull and mundane. “I like comics,” recalled him. “For me it is the way to escape from the bitter reality I live in”. But it was rather the way how he utilize the reality in such imaginative way. “I picked up fine art hoping to be a comic artist”. Instead he become a fine art artist.
“I don’t think there is any clash of identity regarding to the profession as a fine art artist or a comic artist. Both deals with visual representation,” he added. This explained his application on different materials to depict different ideas. “For me it is how can utilize the object around you and becoming the tools to convey meaning,” he added. Experience gradually create consciousness, often reflect upon our behavior. Reflection – essential in art vocabulary – just as popcorn to a cinema. The term ‘reflection’ espouse with psychology. Often we heard how a certain artwork are the reflection of the artist experience but how it really work, is anyone guess. Then, come a job for art historian and scholars to excavate the underlying meaning behind produced artwork. Still, the subjectivity in each individual artworks expand the understanding about art and humanism – ourselves in particular. Reflection is another form of statement, perspectives and opinion based on various contexts.
There is sense of familiarity in Edroger’s artwork, yet contrary to any preconceived notion in reading its content. The familiarity in his work are the result of his daily routine in dealing with the everydayness. “We tend to take things for granted, that’s nature. I’m in position to identify a certain quality confined in this whole everydayness system. It all depends on your choice of attention”, he reiterate. It is true that we’ve interpret image or object based on our subjectivity or experience – indirectly leave an open-ended discussion around it.
Edroger’s body of work deals with the contemporary situation, consisting from a cultural amalgamation, satirical in sociopolitic situation and globalization. These are the current take on our purview within the proliferation into a modern and sophisticated world. The work Apa kata dunia? (Black sand) (2013) and Apa kata dunia? (Black sea) (2013) exemplified his fascination on the universality. While, The best is yet to come (2013) depicting Malaysia’s political icon strike a pose a la popular boy band, are not the calling for unity among them (even it is visually suggestive), but more on the idea of glorification and idolization of popular local political figures. Ironmat (2013) and Mutation (2013) is a prevailing assimilation of popular (read: Western) and local culture. Interestingly, this cultural transaction, as described by the artist, have already permeating our behavior and action.
Charles Jenks’ in his book Critical Modernism (2007) has lay down an interesting point regarding to the shift of our contemporary situation. It is best to describe an artistic direction taken by Edroger throughout his body of work. Quoting from his book, “And finally there is the most exciting intellectual shift of our time, the big wave advancing beneath the surface wars of fundamentalism, that slow but inexorable movement from a traditional religious world-view to something more universal, cosmic and, in a cases even spiritual…Such a movements under way towards a more hybrid, integrated world– a mongrelized globe from one point of view – a world in constant and instantaneous communication across its boundaries.”
inside spread (cropped); Apa Kata Dunia (Black Sand) computer keyboard keycaps / 8.5 x 4 ft / 2013
W.O.Y.M.?
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EDROGER ROSILI
ISBN 978 - 981- 07- 798 PAPERBACK
978 - 981- 07- 798 E-BOOK
Essay Rachel Jenagaratnam Azzad Diah Ahmad Zabidi Graphic Design Jeffrey Lim / Studio 25 Printer Unico Services Artworks & Images Š 2013 Edroger Rosili This publication may be reproduced in any form for academic, editorial and/or non-commercial purposes without special permission from the artist(s) and gallery, with acknowledgement of the source. For other purposes, prior consent is needed.
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WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND, EDROGER?
THE CHOICE OF ATTENTION– THE MESSAGE FROM THE OTHER SIDE
RACHEL JENAGARATNAM
AZZAD DIAH AHMAD ZABIDI
ESSAY
ESSAY
_ ISBN 978 - 981- 07- 7986-3 PAPERBACK
978 - 981- 07- 7987-0 E-BOOK
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cover; The Spaceship (Indian Ocean view) acrylics on canvas / 4.5 x 4.5 ft / 2013 flap (cropped); The Spaceship (Atlantic Ocean view) acrylics on canvas / 4.5 x 4.5 ft / 2013
TAKSU is a leading contemporary art gallery and specialist in Southeast Asia. Representing selections of fine art with distinctive urban edge, we are at the forefront of contemporary art in this region. TAKSU works to forge a platform for established and emerging artists to share their pool of creativity and knowledge through its residency programs and exhibitions. Encapsulating the true meaning of the word TAKSU; divine inspiration, energy, and spirit. Suherwan Abu Director, TAKSU Galleries