ROH is pleased to present blacklight, a body of new works by Aditya Novali (b. 1978 Surakarta, Indonesia) for Paris Internationale 2023, in which the artist attempts to reconstitute the notion of a formless shadow, and posits the conceptual possibility of this shadow bearing its own weight and viscosity, to the point that a skeletal structure of sorts begins to appear. What happens in this paradox notion of a light source emanating black light, with its own frequency of light waves and discrete particles of energy. In this alternative proposition of reality, can shadows be light, and therefore light, and its reflection, act in its consequence as shadow?

As an extension of thinking in relation to those things that are destined, or fated to be, the proposition presented in blacklight is as follows: if by its very own nature a source of light hits an object and casts a shadow by the necessity of its constituent occurrences, can it be the reverse of occurrences instead be attempted, where the shadow begins as the first occurrence that thereafter shapes the form of the object that is being interacted by light? Novali attempts in blacklight to reverse the relationship between an event and its antecedent through firstly introducing the shadow. In the consequence of creating shadows in his transparent compositions, the works react to its surroundings by deflecting light, shifting the notions of what can be seen by the eye as a certain form of abstract formations. But furthermore, the shadows being depicted in the paintings thereafter create a cascading consequence of more shadows depending on the circumstances of light at any given moment throughout the presentation. This context is made more apparent in the context of Paris Internationale’s current spatial context and its everchanging natural light circumstances.

Novali first began to develop more cohesively a body of work pertaining to the utilization of plexiglass as its fundamental medium in 2016 for his exhibition ACRYLIC, wherein the artist began to build a specific lexicon that was fundamentally abstract and devoid of reference towards any specific image. The exhibition expressed a very pure relationship between the light coming into and within the gallery space and the interplay of pigmentation Novali rendered upon various scales of transparent plexiglass sheets. Novali more intuitively explored many different possibilities and permutations within quite a strict corridor of constraints, in which each work in the show deliberately looks empty until the work interacts with light and shadows begin to emerge on its secondary surface underneath.

Copyright belongs to The Artist

Photography by Margot Montigny

Courtesy of The Artist and ROH