Entang Wiharso is an Indonesian artist who uses paintings as a medium of expression that is equal to other mediums. Despite he also makes installation, painting has a special character because it can record his sensibility and explosive energy which play such an important role in the shaping of his representations. This expressivity in his paintings must be seen as an attempt to build intentions in the form of intentional representation.

All of Entang’s works presented in CP Artspace question a wild social behavior that exists as absurdity in Indonesia. The emergence of wild social behavior in Indonesia became phenomenal since it is related to the increase in ‘freedom’, both as an issue and an actuality. This issue of ‘freedom’ reflects the desire for a radical change from the repressive conditions of a totalitarian regime that took power for more than 30 years. This is the basic idea of the sociopolitical reforms in Indonesia which have taken place since May 1998. However, the issue of freedom, which has become the label of sociopolitical reform in Indonesia has changed into clashes between groups that celebrate together the vanishing of dominant repressive control. Social group rivalries and clashes that involve killings emerge from such situations.

The background of Entang Wiharso’s works shows that he has confronted a kind of collectivity, in which he has been absorbed, that has no obvious identity. He faces the collectivity of a traditional society whose members are experiencing change but do not realize the signs of it.

In the signifying process, Entang does not limit his experiences in facing the reality in Indonesia. He included his experiences living in many different societies, including in America where he once lived. Amok is not the one and only manifestation of wild social behavior, but what is generally seen as aggressive behavior, has many manifestations and exists everywhere. In Entang’s representation, this behavior can be seen as having a connection with the globalization and the domination of the techno-industrial regime of signs.

Jim Supangkat | Curator

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