Adam de Boer Debut UK solo exhibition

Monday1 April - Saturday 4 May


Dawn at Modi Bhawan, Adam de Boer © Riflemaker


American-Indonesian artist Adam de Boer addresses his hybrid cultural identity through hybrid paintings. By bringing Javanese folk art techniques together with contemporary lo-fi aesthetics and highly traditional subject matter with strikingly modern scenes, he expresses the disjuncture of coming from two quite disparate cultures. Thus we see a traditional religious procession, rendered in delicate gouache, and a couple, caught in the act of making love, in another. They are in contemporary dress, but de Boer has used an ancient batik technique to render their clothing.

"The ongoing series of work examines my Eurasian heritage as a way to help me better understand a part of my cultural identity that I have had trouble connecting to throughout my life", says de Boer. "Most importantly, it is helping me to know how that identity influences my participation in the world". De Boer (b. 1984) revisited his father's birthplace in Purwokerto, Central Java, to search for locations and landscapes that appear in old family photo albums and met with distant family friends, observing and participating in their lifestyles. This led him to spend time living and working with Javanese folk artists, with whom he studied the Javanese crafts of gouache, Eurasian-batik, textiles and woodcarving. He has applied the latter to the framing of his series of work on display at Riflemaker, with ornate animal figurines supporting the frames. De Boer's melding of techniques take art history head-on, questioning the use of iconography and the historical image in the present day and offering a return to the lo-fi aesthetic in an age of high-definition and subjects that are informed by a modern, transient Western culture.

De Boer, who won the prestigious Arts For India scholarship in 2011 to support his post-graduate studies at London's Chelsea College of Art and Design, participated in a studio residency at the International Institute of Fine Arts in Modinagar, India in 2012. His work will also be on show at ART 13 in London, Olympia 1-3 March.


Press information: Alice Broughton at Theresa Simon & Partners 020 7734 4800 alice@theresasimon.com

Notes to Editor: Adam de Boer (b. Riverside, California 1984) graduated from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2006. He has received awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Cultural Development Corporation, the Santa Barbara Arts Fund, and in 2011 he won the prestigious Arts for India Scholarship to support his post-graduate studies at London's Chelsea College of Art and Design. In 2012 he participated in a studio residency at the International Institute of Fine Arts in Modinagar, India.

Visitor information: Opening hours: Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm, Saturday 11am - 6pm Riflemaker 79 Beak Street, London W1 020 7439 0000 www.riflemaker.org Riflemaker is co-directed by Virginia Damtsa & Tot Taylor.