Curated by Alia Swastika

Equator Art Projects is delighted to open its 2015 Exhibition Programme with Sauce for Contemporary Art Problems, a solo exhibition by Indonesian artist, Uji ‘Hahan’ Handoko Eko Saputro.

One of the most promising emerging young talents from the Indonesian art scene, Hahan, as he is referred to affectionately, is known for his playful style and his striking painterly language characterised by vivid colours spilling out of thick black outlines with a highly detailed finish. Hahan’s work is reflective of a younger generation of contemporary artists in Indonesia who grew up during the shift of political situation marked by Reformasi in 1998.

Graduating in 2009 from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) in Jogjakarta, Hahan has maintained a broad set of interests that shape his artistic practice, which include popular culture, comics, street art, music and performance. His visual language is shaped from his proximity to popular culture, which he feels is the melee he belongs in.

Though he clearly revels in being part of the youth culture and the glamour that surrounds it, Hahan continuously questions his own practice as an artist and relates it to ideas about the role of artists in society. Also, having witnessed the rapid development of the Indonesian art market after the art boom of mid 2000s, he often makes critical commentaries on the market and how artists respond to the new art scene.

Sauce for Contemporary Art Problems is Hahan’s much-awaited second solo exhibition at Equator Art Projects. The artist continues to explore and question the complexity of global art scene today – a recurring theme in his work.  Having exhibited abroad extensively, Hahan embraces the plurality of the industry and the apparent contradictions between the international art system, one that is developed out of a specifically Western context, and his experiences in Indonesia. These intersections of market and discourse, international and local, conceptual and formalist, traditional and contemporary are the “third reality” encountered by his generation. With this new series, Hahan’s practice has evolved from his tendency to focus on one character in his drawings or paintings, into more various and celebrated figures in the art world. He also explores further the idea of incorporating daily objects into his sculptures, transforming them into a playful and interactive installation.