TONY ALBERT

Tony Albert + Timoteus Anggawan Kusno features a new body of work by Sullivan+Strumpf artist Tony Albert and an ongoing project by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno. Both artists were selected for the 2016 edition of Kerjasama, a reciprocal exchange residency program supported by the Australian Government through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program, an initiative of the department of foreign affairs and trade.

Tony Albert’s new series Crop Circles of Yogya was developed during this residency at Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta. Albert appropriates farmer’s conical hats into wearable UFOs, takes portraits of Yogyakarta locals wearing the objects, and then highly embellishes the subsequent photographic prints with stickers of widely recognisable pop culture symbolism. Notions of otherness – the ‘Alien’ – are subverted through the saturation of Western iconography adorning these images. Exploring how developing countries engage with the Western world, and vice versa, Albert interrogates imagined and constructed understanding of otherness. Situating himself as a visitor, Albert engages local tradition, personal narrative, and collectively relatable symbolism, to ask – who is the Alien here?

Timoteus Anggawan Kusno (Angga) developed an ongoing project in 2013 which resulted in a fictional institution named Centre for Tanah Runcuk Studies (CTRS) which challenges the dominant discourse in the context of post-colonial Indonesia. Using the medium of storytelling in his work, Angga blurs the fictional narrative in the texts and artifacts of an unknown land in Dutch East Indies called Tanah Runcuk. Combining collage, drawing and photogrs, Angga authenticates the fiction of Tanah Runcuk into a realistic narrative.

Opening: Saturday 25 March, 5-7pm | Artist talks 4pm

Venue: Sullivan+Strumpf, 5 Lock Road #01-06 Gillman Barracks 108933 Singapore

When: 25 Feb - 26 Mar 2017, 5pm - 7pm

By: Sullivan+Strumpf