After Illusion: Tropical Echoes

Rangga Aputra

After Illusion: Tropical Echoes

Primo Marella Gallery Milano

Primo Marella Gallery Milan is pleased to present Rangga Aputra’s solo exhibition, "After Illusion: Tropical Echoes", opening Thursday, September 26 at 6.30 PM.

Rangga Aputra explores the idea of the eye's refractive illusion, both figuratively, psychologically and literally, into a harmonious whole. More specifically, when Rangga started to work on this new series of paintings, he saw worms wriggling when direct sunlight darkened drastically by moving to a darker room and in that moment, he let his works flow. Only after the work had taken a certain form, did he find a resemblance with elements of flora, tropical leaves around the canvas and also threads of hanging stems.

Rangga's paintings move through countless repetitions. The artist seems to continue to build and peel back previous movements. Freedom and control overlap like layers of paint. The complexity of texture and color is combined with the drips and sweat of oil paint. This register feelings, touch, and sensory emotional nuances. These paintings are, in fact, made over a long period of time because of the inspiration/creation process and his signature oil technique.

Rangga's intuitive approach to painting translates the world's lived experiences onto canvas, creating compositions that are complex and full of life. Remarkably layered, scraped, carefully re-articulated over several months – his artworks recall the fiery vitality of the abstract expressionist painters while retaining a distinct quality.

Southeast Asia is home to a rich diversity of local cultures. Tropical spices and colors are certainly very strong, whether you realize it or not. Tropical echoes have become a new attraction for Rangga Aputra, seen from the visual shift which is slowly becoming more and more colorful and emerging which suggests tropical nature and plants intertwining with each other on the canvas.

For Rangga, painting is an act of contemplation, exploration and self-expression in the creative process. This is influenced by intuition and new knowledge that continues to enter, affecting his work over time. What’s more interesting is that 'accidents' in the creative process also influence the interpretation and final outcome. From this, it should be clear that the final result is not the main focus for Rangga, but rather the process is equally important, because through this Rangga Aputra strives to self-actualize.

About the artist:

Born in 1995, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Living and working in Yogyakarta

Rangga Aputra graduated at the Indonesian Institute of Arts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Since his childhood, Rangga Aputra has been interested in painting: painting is purepleasure for him. He started to paint when he was at Senior High School.

Monochrome colors are his typical landmark, whereas colors bring the nuance of deep reflection. Rangga uses different tools, depending on the needs of the visual language to be delivered. Alongside acrylic and oil paint, he likes to play with texture and explore new materials such as asphalt, bitumen, car paint and spray, to get different results such as the color of the soil.

After Illusion: Tropical Echoes: Rangga Aputra

Rangga Aputra