ARTIST PROFILE: AGUS WIJAYA

Earlier this year Agus Wijaya chatted with Claire de Carteret about his work, giving insight into his highly anticipated solo exhibition Tata Reka.

Dear San, Mixed Media, 2022

Installation view, Main gallery, 2022

de C: Is there a significance to the play with 2D and 3D elements of your work? 

W: So one of many things I wasn’t comfortable with but slowly learned to open up about is my belief in ‘beings’. (I use ‘beings’ to avoid specifying).

There are many things beyond my understanding, but maybe they could cross planes and dimensions. In Indonesia we sometimes say they’re “from another dimension”.

For example, the horse parade is known as the ‘empty horse’ parade because we can’t see anyone riding it. People say an invisible ‘elder’ rides the horse (not sure I use the correct term. It’s like ‘Guan Yu’ in Chinese culture; a historical people that some people still worship). ‘Dear San’ plays with this ‘invisibility’ as you can see the portrait from one side, but not from others. The 2D and 3D somewhat play with these different planes and dimensions

de C: Can you talk about the significance of symbolism as a device to express and explore personal and cultural histories?

W: I use symbolism when trying to address certain things that I can't openly talk about. These could be personal or political, eg. 1965 or 1998.

I also use 'mimicry', because I might never be considered a 'real' Chinese / Sundanese / Indonesian by some, partly thanks to a certain 'divide and conquer' strategy dating back centuries ago.

Installation view, Procession (left), Yi (right), 2022 

de C: This work blends multiple mediums. Can you talk about the process of making, were there many experiments before you came to the final form? 

W: There were. Tata Reka has always had a multi-medium/ hybrid nature. Some are trickier to do, some I still can’t do. Connected to the previous question, I’d like to think that things around us could manifest in different forms or beings taking different bodies.

Also, when creating, I try to respect the medium, but not see it as boundaries. Maybe because I have an ambivalent feeling towards how the medium is perceived by some. “What’s the medium?” sometimes reminds me of “what’s your background?”, “oh you’re pretty you should be an actress” or “you do data entry you can’t be creative”.)

Born in Cianjur, a small town in West Java, Indonesia, Wijaya has been working professionally across illustration and graphic design for many years. Yearning for a more personal and contemplative matter, Wijaya returned to artmaking six years ago. His works have been selected as award finalists in the Fisher’s Ghost, Grace Cossington Smith and North Sydney Art Prize. Wijaya’s works have been included in art publications and are in private collections in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

Image: Agus Wijaya (right)

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