Tyler Rollins Fine Art is pleased to present Agus Suwage’s first solo exhibition in the United States. One of the giants of Indonesian contemporary art, Suwage is among the most respected and highly acclaimed contemporary artists from Southeast Asia.
The exhibition, entitled The End Is Just Beginning Is the End, features a new series of paintings and sculptures especially conceived for the gallery. Suwage has long been fascinated with the unique properties of unusual materials, and for this exhibition he has for the first time created a body of work using sheets of zinc. He makes use of the dappled, monochromatic surface of the metal panels, manipulating them to create contrasting areas of dark, rough patina, the whole suggesting at times a sandy beach or a rocky outcropping. On this backdrop, he paints enigmatic scenes that make reference to some familiar motifs of his work, such as the human skeleton and his own self-portrait. Images of the artist emerge from the raw metallic surfaces, transforming into skeletons that slowly fall apart and fade into the natural environment. For Suwage, these works are a meditation on birth, life, death, and nature, embodying his search for meaning that transcends dogma and ideology. Like a vein of rock that has been split open to reveal fossils of strange creatures, these works give us an insight into the artist’s own inner world of dreams that hover between past and future, life and death.
Over the past few decades, Suwage’s works have been shown in a number of international biennials, such as the Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia (1996), the Gwangju Biennial (2000), and the Singapore Biennial (2006). He has been featured in almost 150 museum and gallery exhibitions around the world, and his works are included in most comprehensive collections of Southeast Asian contemporary art. In 2009, the Jogja National Museum in Indonesia devoted all three floors of its building to a major retrospective of Suwage’s works of the past 25 years, including paintings, sculptures, and installations. A 670-page monograph of his work, Still Crazy After All These Years, was recently published.
The past year has garnered much international attention for Suwage, with eager anticipation of his New York debut. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal mentions the intense interest in Southeast Asian art in 2010, going on to report that “among the most coveted names was Agus Suwage, who has been busy in his Jogyakarta studio preparing for his first New York show, due to open in March at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, one of the city’s top venues and the only major gallery in New York featuring top contemporary Southeast Asian works.” Despite his international reputation, Suwage’s work has so far been little seen in the US, and we hope that The End Is Just Beginning Is the End will mark an important opportunity for American audiences to become familiar with his art.
The public is cordially invited to attend the opening reception for the artist, taking place this Thursday, March 10, from 6 – 8:30 pm. In addition, Suwage will present a public talk about his work, taking place in the gallery this Saturday, March 12, at 3 pm.
EXHIBITION DATES: March 3 – April 23, 2011
LOCATION: 529 West 20th Street, 10W, New York, NY 10011
GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm
CONTACT: info@trfineart.com; tel +1 212 229 9100
