Aperture | ROH

ROH is pleased to present Aperture and Labyrinths (Libraries), two concurrent solo exhibitions respectively showing the works of Davy Linggar (b. 1974, Jakarta) in Gallery 🍎 and Heman Chong (b. 1977, Malaysia, raised in Singapore) in Gallery 🍊. This is the first solo exhibition of both artists with the gallery.

Aperture presents new paintings by Davy Linggar that encompass a wide range of what his eyes have been observing with precise detail in his mind within the breadth of an extended period of time from many different places and contexts. Painted on identical sized wood panels, the paintings take the viewer into hybrid dream states that blur the boundaries between reality and the imaginary.

In the case of this exhibition, Linggar places a special emphasis on the exploration of small paintings. The intention behind his paintings is to understand the connection between himself and certain memories related to moments in time and space in his work. Many of the compositions are more photographical while others incorporate elements of abstraction, and layers of pencil drawings upon the paintings. Though each work is painted on seemingly identical 20 x 20 cm wood panels, the wood grain on each panel are distinctive to their organic, natural growth lines. The exhibition presents an array of 50 of these works that speak to each other in conversation, almost forming a singular installation of Linggar’s aesthetic expressions.

Color, hue and saturation are also an integral aspect of Aperture. Some of the paintings, such as Vogue, Respite, and Lustrate are decidedly monochromatic, in which the interplay between raw contrast and texture becomes a focal point, a nod perhaps to Linggar’s own black and white photography.

Some of the paintings, such as Red Hot and Unlikely, wash the compositions in single colors, strongly accentuating a certain intention in the work to express very sharp, specific moods. Other works like Journey, Vague, Bliss, Rapture, are expressed in more organic, natural colors — browns, greens, and cream — that correspond to the wood panels the paintings are made upon. The journey into the multicolor perseveres deeper into the realm of pastel hues in Jolly and Sheer and reaches a rainbow crescendo of sorts in Jaded and Boiling.

Aside from the above points, there are actually a plethora of possible entry points to understand Aperture, as each individual painting communicates a multitude. To look at the idea of portraiture and reconsider its more current context or how the images portray the more cosmopolitan life and culture are two of the many ways one could perceive his works in the exhibition.

At the same time, perhaps Linggar also invites the viewer to also experience the paintings in a very visceral, human way. To begin to learn the subtle act of looking at Aperture with the mind, while also feeling the much more inexplicable nature of his paintings.

Born 1974, Jakarta, Indonesia
Lives and works in Jakarta, Indonesia

Davy Linggar is a celebrated Indonesian artist who works primarily through the mediums of photography and painting. There is a substantial breadth to his practice in his investigation of the things that constitute an image and its interrelatedness to perception, memory, form, feeling, and experience. His acute sensibilities are then translated into a diverse array of possibilities – be it through moving images, photographs, paintings, or drawings. In establishing a distinctive aesthetic vernacular, Linggar engages with and through architecture, popular culture, fashion, and nature. He deftly negotiates, and finds balance, between many different forms of energies and forces.

Linggar finished his training at the Faculty of Fine Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia in 1995 and at UGH Essen, Essen, Germany in 1997. Selected solo exhibitions include View Finder at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2024); Aperture at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2022); Cut at AAAAHHH!!! Paris Internationale, Paris, France (2022); FILM at The Papilion, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015); Sketch, Photo, Image at Ark Galerie, Jakarta, Indonesia (2008); and Black&White at Gallery Cahya, Jakarta, Indonesia (1998). Linggar has been part of local and international exhibitions, including Transposition 1: Observing The Walking Patterns at Whistle, Seoul, South Korea (2024); Unbearable Lightness at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2024); Frieze Seoul with ROH at Coex Convention & Exhibition Center, Seoul, South Korea (2023); Art Basel Hong Kong with ROH at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong (2023); Companion at Art Basel Hong Kong Satellite, Hong Kong (2021) in collaboration with Gary-Ross Pastrana and Tromarama; iso at AAAAHHH!!! Paris Internationale, Paris, France (2020) with Aditya Novali; After Utopia: Revisiting The Ideal in Asian Contemporary Art, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2015); Pink Swing Park in CP Biennale: Urban/Culture at Museum Bank Indonesia (2005) with Agus Suwage; and the 11th Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2004).

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