Lombard Freid Projects

Photography Wassim Serhan

Yesterday evening I attended the Lombard Freid Projects opening "Snobs Behind Ketchup", Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho's premiere solo exhibition in New York.

Th self-made artist Nugroho works in a diverse range of media including paintings, embroidery, sculpture, site-specific murals, shadow puppets and video projections. He finds inspiration in his homeland, with images and installations all reflecting Indonesia's politically charged environment and artistic history. Surreal characters that fuse human, machine, animal and plant populate his uncanny and darkly humorous milieus.

His idioms subtly articulate the dysfunctions of contemporary Indonesian society, as well as the tribulations of the world at large. Nugroho leaves the interpolation of his artwork open to the viewer, allowing their many meanings to be peeled back as individuals feel appropriate. The art  speaks of hope and violence, generating a compelling dialogue between the artwork and the viewer. His work has come to international attention in the past several years with recent exhibitions and residencies including; Transfiguration & Contemporary Mythologies, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, 2011 France; 10th Lyon Biennale, France; Beyond the Dutch, Centraal Museum, Netherlands; SAM Art Projects, Villa Raffet, Pairs France; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Daging Tumbuh Pop-Up Store

The back gallery will be transformed into a Daging Tumbuh pop-up store for the duration of "Snobs Behind Ketchup". The Daging Tumbuh (or the diseased tumor) Comic Collective was founded by Eko Nugroho in 2000 as a community of Indonesian artists collaborating to produce limited edition works such as figurines, t-shirts, notebooks and patches. The collective also publishes the Daging Tumbuh book project where photocopying is the printing method of choice in order to make intellectual property available to a wider majority of people. Lombard Freid Projects will also host the American launch of "Eko(Space)Nugroho", a limited edition book by the artist.

Exhibition runs through

9 September 2011 - 15 October 2011