Ada Apa Dengan Tengkorak – Solo Exhibition by Bayu Utomo Radjikin

PUBLISHED January 6th, 2015 06:32 am | UPDATED May 9th, 2018 03:13 am

Chan Hampe Galleries is pleased to present Ada Apa Dengan Tengkorak (Translation: What’s with the skull?) an exhibition of new work by Malaysian artist Bayu Utomo Radjikin. In his 2011 solo exhibition, Bayu considered contemporary male identity through the guise of the anonymous soldier, the artist’s new series returns to the more organic, earthbound, and uniquely individual facets of existence. Animal horn, a long-standing visual metaphor for male power and strength, factors prominently in most of the works, its twisted presence both beautiful and burdensome.

According to Bayu, a horn is symbolic of a king’s crown, an icon of not only pride and position, but responsibility as well. In this case, the responsibility of being virtuous in life; as horn or bone remains long after the body is destroyed, so do actions resonate beyond mortal life. Currently a temporary resident of Australia, Bayu has been amazed by wide wild landscapes extending to infinity, hence the strong horizontal canvases. Working in both painting and charcoal, with these works Bayu extends his well-known skill at figurative realism into the realm of the surreal.

Ada Apa Dengan Tengkorak runs from Tuesday, 10 February to Sunday, 8 March 2015 at Chan Hampe Galleries.

The exhibition is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am – 7pm. Admission is free. For enquires please call 6338 1962.