INTERVIEW: Entang Wiharso

The series of works by Entang Wiharso ‘’Perfect Mirror’’, that are on exhibition at the Bernier/Eliades Gallery, are multilayered and contain within them the admixture of the old with the new, the past with the future, the East with the West, the globalization with the local culture. Like himself as a personality, since he is Indonesian but lives and works between US and Indonesia, he is a student of the very important artist Bob Wilson, his work however is the mirror of himself…

By Dimitris Lempesis & Efi Michalarou
Photo: Bernier/Eliades Gallery Archive

We know that you have done different residence, not only in Asia, what means the residence, for you? In one of them, you had as teacher, the very important artist Bob Wilson, would you like to tell us your experience?
Well, I think as an artist, I want to be part of the discussion on the art. Not only in Asia but also in the globe, an artist breaks the race. To connect with other people, other cultures on other different situation. Well you know every institution, every artist residency it’s very different now. They have a different philosophy. There is a different core, different program.
How important was for you the experience to live and work in U.S.A? Moreover, why do you decide to leave and go back to Indonesia?
I live in America as well. In America it is an over calculation. Because all we work very hard and then become like robots. My wife is American. Therefore, she bring her own perspective and see things on perspective, but we moved to Indonesia, because life is more normal, close to nature.
As we can see, the couples play a major role in all your work.
I did not really like the emotional, but you know I am always working how to deal with that differences between people so that’s why use a lot of couple hugging but sometimes, this is very tense in terms of situation. I like to record all the emotional ups and downs, such as sickness, melancholy, unpredictability. Because our life is a lot of mystery and destiny and sometime we understand it but sometime we don’t know anything. For me I like to keep the mystery alive, to give something exciting.
You are using different media to express your ideas, your concept, your work. What means for the media pluralism?
All these reflect my culture, with the many and different religion and a lot of ethnicity and it is very rich, very complex. I feel like always in transition so that is changing my ideas, is reflecting my life and affects me as an artist. So the different media help my ideas to evolve, they play an important role in the synthesis and the final visual result. Reflect myself.
Your sculptures are very close to Ancient Culture, especially Indonesian. Is history a source of inspiration for you?
I think it is very important, in the beginning, I want to talk about identity and then for the contemporary world and the changes. There is always a fighting between new and old. The most important is art to be able to communicate the new using the history and the past. Therefore, my work is a mix between history and the present day.
How do you see the future of the Asian contemporary art?
Well. It is better. I think for now, art in Asia is changing now because of the globalization, we are well connected. Contemporary art, has not only one direction, has so many things and practices. Dealing with identity, dealing with the politic, dealing with local politics, dealing with aesthetic. Synthesize the current face and dream of artists in Asia, in my opinion, this encourages art to involve.
On your artwork, you are using: iron, bronze, aluminum and you make stories with wires, can you explain us, how important is the use of these media?
The integration of my ideas and then after finishing, communicating with the public that is the most important. You know that there is a wealth of material, which helps us to build, that what we want…
At first, your artworks seems hard from the materials, but your purpose is different. As we know, it is like meditation for you. Do you think that meditation will help us?
Well, I think meditation is a good tool, as all mediums, meditation reflects ourselves.
How important are the long hair to your culture and history? Βecause as we can see, all of your characters have long hair.
The hair both in Islam, and in the Japanese culture, are sacred, so nobody can touch them, is a sin. It is very taboo. At some point, I use them a lot, because they are part of a symbol or metaphor of my culture. Mission of young people is to pay attention to the old and the new, the way the culture is mixed, that all religions (Islam and Christianity) and traditions are a mixture and are moving together.
We know that you are interesting about the everyday problems and themes, which is the most important problem for you, these days, at first national and secondary international?
I think we are all, facing the same problem. Globalization is a very nice thing, we all are connected in the web, this give us the opportunity to communicate, is a very handy tool, but we must be careful not stop thinking. The big problem, which is Global, is the tolerance. Any tolerance, the physical tolerance and also the psychological tolerance.
How do you see your work to appear in the future?
I have a dream or I have a planning but sometimes my planning can be changing. I want this or that but what finally I want, is to be close to nature. Because our plans, needs, everything around us, are changing, but I don’t want to be a calculator, nor my work, nor my thoughts (!)

 

First Publication: www.dreamideamachine.com
© Interview – Efi Michalarou & Dimitris Lembesis

Info: “Perfect Mirror”, Bernier/Eliades Gallery, 11 Eptachalkou Street, Athens, Duration: 22/1-26/2/15, Days & Hours: Tue.-Fri: 10:30-18:30, Sat:12:00-16:00, http://bernier-eliades.gr