| Wendt Gallery's Annual Summer Exhibition Tue 31 Aug 2010 10:00AM - 06:00PM |
Title: Seneca
Size: 60 x 80 inches (152 2/5 x 203 cm)
Medium: Oil
Artist Bio
Born 1967 in Singaraja, Bali, has been intensively learning about the history and discourses of Western painting. This is, generally, what drives his effort forward. He needs the important painters from the riches of the history of the Western
modern contemporary painting as his sparring partners. One cannot deny the fact that Mahendra Yasa makes use of the appropriation method. One can say that the appropriation method has been the means or the vehicle for Mahendra Yasa to revisit painting itself. His intensive study on the realism approach and the concepts of the modern masters has taken him to a unique method of appropriation, an achievement that is evident in the works he has created so far.
While taking courses in the Architecture faculty of ITS Surabaya from 1986 to 1988, Mahendra Yasa had been exposed by the theories of design and composition of Bauhaus, Neo-plastic, Cubism (especially Le Corbusier), and was mesmerized by the proto-cubism of Paul Cezanne whose had such a solid, compositional and architectural visual construct of paintings. This exposure is the start of his journey into art. After learning non-formally within 1988 - 1998 period, he tried to analyze his practical and theoretical knowledge on art through academy in ISI Denpasar. This ironically ended at 2002, when at the end of his study, he took a critical stance to the art practices in Bali, which has cost him a dropped out verdict from the faculty. However, it is evident that this incident had not hindered him as much as propelled him into his journey to continuously seeking out the "last frontier" of the paintings, from its thematic, aesthetic, images, conception and even its literal definition.
Solo Southeast Asian Art Exhibitions
2009 - "Hendra's Woman: Reframing De Kooning", Langgeng Gallery, Magelang
2008 - "The Painter's Palette," The Aryaseni Art Gallery, Singapore
"White Series: Allegory of Painting", Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
2007 - "Hendra Membaca Pollock", Emitan Fine Art Gallery, Surabaya, East Java
Group Southeast Asian Art Exhibitions
2009 – "Objective Border", Srisasanti Art House, Jakarta
"Hybridization" North Art Space, Jakarta
"Post-Tsunami Art Emerging Artists from South East Asia," Primo Marella Gallery Milan, Italia
"Friendship Code," Syang Art Space Magelang
2008 – Taxu 2008 : Painting Rejuvenation SIGIarts Jakarta
Space Semarang Gallery, Semarang Central Java
Manifesto, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta
2007 – Kuota, Galeri Nasional Jakarta
On Appropriation, Galery Semarang central Java
2006 – Surface, Emitan Gallery Surabaya East Java
Langgeng Contemporary Art Festival, Langgeng Gallery, Central Java
Taxu Art Clinic 2006, CP Art Space Jakarta
2005 – Urban Culture, CP Biennale II 2005, Museum Bank Indonesia Jakarta
Trans-it, Biasa Art Space, Bali
Sreading REALISM, Nava Gallery Denpasar Bali
2004 – Tamarinds in Pursuit of Identity, Nava Gallery Denpasar Bali
Cooking & History, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta
2003 – CP Open Biennale, National Gallery Jakarta
Caution!!! There is A Taxu Ceremony, Klinik Seni ( Art Clinic ) Taxu Denpasar
2001 – Against Bali Art Festival in front of Latta Mahosadi Museum Indonesian Art
College Denpasar
To Breaking Down Hegemony, KAMASRA (The Association of Visual Art Students)
of Indonesian Art College, Denpasar
2000 – Democracy in Visual Expression, the 8th Anniversary of Denpasar Bali