Abdi Setiawan’s work is installation-based, and features half or life-size sculptures of everyday Indonesians in various social settings. A very skillful wood carver, he makes mainly wooden sculptures along with fibre glass hand-painted unique replicas or editions. His rendering of the figures are not only realistic but also infused with humorous satire.
Born:
29 Desember 1971, Pariaman, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia
Education:
ISI Yogyakarta, Jurusan Seni Kriya, 2003
Abdi Setiawan’s sculptures return to the skill of wood carving while deploying the artist’s entire imagination and perception to depict the Indonesian human figure. The work takes form as a spatial arrangement, which presents the atmosphere of a city corner such as a waiting room, bus terminal or shopping mall; a representation of a fragment of the activities of city dwellers – which wait, come and go – just wryly. The realistic rendering of the figures pokes us with satire so that we smile away our embarrassment in recognising our own behaviour reflected. Today’s life and culture are those of the city – with all its complexity of problems: population explosion, insufficient dwelling space, transportation, excessive consumption, crime and poverty. The advancement of modernity and its related humanitarian problems are becoming obvious in urban life. Direct involvement in attempt to familiarise himself with the atmospheres of certain corners of the city as well as the characters of the people there, almost always prevails in Setiawan’s process of making works. Setiawan understands the emotional experiences that have their shares in shaping the characters of the figures he intends to offer by means of his sculptures. However, in the making and finishing of his works the artist transcends the experiences and observations. He knows he needs to add his personal interpretations and judgments to the various recorded physiognomic data of his figures. He reclaims his humanitarian intention and interest to critically understand what is going on around him. And he has to deal with discovering and defining the various formal aspects in his works so as to contain all his ideas and thoughts. Abdi Setiawan carefully calculates the elements necessary to represent in his sculpture figures. The teak wood he carves roughly so as to produce unlevelled surface. The acrylic colours enforced to mix on the surface of the polyester casts of his wood sculptures are effecting detailed accessories and clothing, and through gestures and poses (arms crossed, gripping a hand phone), facial expressions, gazes and glances – all elements which add to the rich physiognomic images in his works. Tattoos, clothing patterns and brands, graphical T-shirt imprints and other attributes from popular culture make strong references to art history. Not always Setiawan feels the need to give his figures life sizes. He has already arrived at the plane where he gives prominence to rich physiognomic images rather than merely anatomic precisions. – Enin Supriyanto
