Indonesian artist Entang Wiharso explores the complex social milieu of his home country’s multicultural metropolises in his current solo show at Marc Straus Gallery in Manhattan, which is on view through February 8. “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,” wrote Wiharso about the show.
Wiharso’s latest exhibition features surreal paintings, relief sculptures, and an installation. He fills his large-scale, complex works with dreamlike conglomerations of imagery. His human characters wade through an uncertain world, grasping at their tenuous connections with one another. “Figures are interconnected by intuitive as well as intellectual linkages,” he described, “including ornamental vegetation, tongues, tails, intestines, animal skin patterns, fences and detailed landscapes.” Richly detailed and highly symbolic, Wiharso’s maximalist works leave the viewer with many possible interpretations to explore.
