This is not an apple...

ROH is pleased to present Faisal Habibi’s first solo exhibition This is not an Apple... After following Faisal’s progress these past few years, we have noticed a strong sense of conceptual progression in terms of what he aims to communicate through his works. We were first drawn to his ability to transform objects that people are familiar with, such as chairs, tables, brushes, hammers, and other things we commonly determine to be necessarily utilitarian, into sculptures that appear ‘alive’, or personified through manipulations of structural configurations.

In this show, however, Faisal takes his explorations deeper with regards to associations with material culture embedded within our subconscious states of mind. There is a sense of concision in his work in terms of stripping his works to their most basic of components, and engaging with the viewer’s inner psyche. It is no longer the extraction or reduction of function in context of objects that Faisal is most interested in, but rather an exploration of raw forms, colors, and more importantly concepts that call for more natural intellectual interactions. What do these forms symbolize? And where do these ideas originate from? To what extent are we still able to identify relationships between forms as
they are reintroduced to us in a new context?

We consider it a privilege to show this imaginative series of work and hope you enjoy the show.

Born 1984, Jakarta, Indonesia
Lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia

Since the start of his career, Faisal Habibi has been concerned with material culture; to interrogate its culture by playfully yet critically positing and creating alterations of familiar everyday objects, thus enticing the viewers to reignite conversation with the objects.

Habibi received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia in 2008 with concentration in sculpture. He has exhibited his works in Bandung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta and also abroad in Singapore, Berlin, Germany and Australia. Habibi’s first solo exhibition, This is not an apple… was held at ROH Projects in 2015. Selected solo exhibitions include Stretch & Fold at Jarmuschek+Partner gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021), fillet at Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore (2018) and nonsuch at Art Basel Hong Kong with ROH, Hong Kong (2018). Selected group exhibitions include Transposition 1: Observing The Walking Patterns at Whistle, Seoul, South Korea (2024); Surakusuma Mangkunegaran Art Garden at Pracima Tuin Pura Mangkunegaran, Surakarta, Indonesia; murmur at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2023); Art Cologne with Jarmuschek+Partner gallery (2022), Identität Nicht Nachgewiesen (Identity Not Proven) at Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany (2022); Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia at National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia (2019); as well as group shows both online and offline, including Art Jakarta with ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2022); Art Basel Hong Kong OVR with ROH (2021); AORA:III (2021); Art Basel Online Viewing Room with ROH (2020); Papers: Position at Brandshof Hamburg, Berlin, Germany (2021); Art Jakarta with ROH Projects, Jakarta, Indonesia (2019); ARTJOG 10: Changing Perspective at Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Biennale Jogja XIV Equator #4 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2017). Faisal’s works have been featured in many art awards, including Kompetisi Karya Trimatra Salihara (first prize winner), Indonesia Art Award (juror’s choice), and Bandung Contemporary Art Awards (special mention). He was awarded a three-month residency program at the Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZKU – Center for Art and Urbanistics) in Berlin. Faisal’s work is a part of the Contemporary Art Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany.

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