Modern Life through People Nowadays
In the current modern era, our social life is inseparable from the globalization. Therefore, an art exhibition called People Nowadays was held from October 1-7, 2016 at Semeru Gallery, Malang. On October 2nd People Nowadays held an Artist and Curator Talk event with the theme of “Modern Life is …” Globalization, which occurs due to the rapid development of information and communication technology. It was also the theme that was carried out in each of the artworks displayed in the exhibition, said Iqbal Romijan as the curator of People Nowadays art exhibition.
The exhibition displayed three-dimensional and two-dimensional artworks from artists which are Bintang Priyadmadi, Raja Gama Era, and Faizal Rahadi. The artist and curator talk began at 8 pm and they discussed about the inspiration and the motivation behind the exhibition. Bintang said that his works wanted to display internet’s negative impact to society and it showed through one of his painting which depicted a headless woman figure who sat on her bed while holding her phone, like she was waiting on a message to arrive. In contrast with Bintang’s works, Faizal through his work, was trying to explain capitalism, and the disability of modern people nowadays behind selfie culture as a cultural form which could be seen as a negative side effect of modern life. He interpreted it through a painting in which people with melted faces are shown.
Meanwhile, Raja Gama Era, thought that modern life has made people nowadays becoming homogeneous, not only homogeneous in the state of mind but also in how people define the purpose of life. It made the life in modern life now less alive and exciting. Gama called his work as an autocritic, that means that he is often found himself swept into the flow of modern life. Fortunately it allowed him to do the work on his painting quicker than usual due to the rapid flow of informations and inspirations he got from the modern life. The 3D and 2D installations that were displayed represent the inner thoughts of these young artists about their interpretation of People Nowadays. It might be only be a beginning, but we are sure that a bigger and better art exhibition from young talents in Malang could be held in the future.
Writer: Dahlia Cahyasakti
Editor: Novita Widia
