Maruto manifests in luang – which means “vacant”, the ways we manage and project what may be viewed as ideal. Practical ideals are often manifested through various impressions of things and methods that are suitable. Thus is the natural way of how humans work that preserves the energy and mind. The human is the systemized and the most efficient, so that the hands and the head may imagine explorations and breakthroughs, or the next convenience.
Order is a non-existent, abstract objective. It would be the rights of all, and arrives from random origins. Its traces, determined by exploring attempts to achieve a certain manifestation. Maruto takes from the simplicity of how workers – craftsmen – achieve certain technical goals as fragments of imagined idealisation. The matter of suitability, for those who are limited in access yet expected to complete their works, has become a matter of hacking, and thus produced devices that have deviated from their original design, and are alienated from quality standards. However, hacking has also created a vacuum and grey area, a space to be free of labour that is also defined by labour. And thus, leisure time, albeit personal, is also alienated, and only its traces may be identified and reverse-engineered to actualize what and whom had been present.
Artist
Born 1992, Bandung, Indonesia
Lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia
Maruto Ardi is a multidisciplinary conceptual artist who utilizes ready-mades and assemblage into building a complex lexicon that looks into the ontological nature of utility and function. There is an interest in the aesthetic of the mass produced, in relation to how one thereafter interacts as well as perceives, as well as how human behavior plays initially a role in defining the design of the objects around them, but also how these objects then permeate in turn our daily consciousness.
Maruto received his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art, majoring in printmaking, from the Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia in 2016. His solo exhibitions include Luang, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia (2021); Liste Showtime, ROH Projects, Basel, Switzerland (2021); site-specific project at Jalan Surabaya 66, Jakarta, Indonesia (2019); and Gallery Specific #01: Lir Space, Lir Space, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2018). Selected group exhibitions include Onsen Confidential: The Final!! at Mujin-to Production, Tokyo, Japan (2024); Biennale Jogja 17: TITEN at Bibis Monument, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2023); Art Basel Hong Kong with ROH, Hong Kong (2023) Art Fair Asia Fukuoka, Japan (2022); To Draw A Line: Reflections on Drawing as Form, ADM Gallery NTU, Singapore (2021); Art Jakarta Virtual (2020-2021), S.E.A. Focus, ROH Projects, Singapore (2020); and ARTJOG MMXIX, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2019).
View ArtistThe copyright in each artwork belongs to the respective Artist
Photos by The Artist and Andika Auditya
Text by Yacobus Ari R.
Courtesy of The Artist, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, and ROH