Gajah Gallery is delighted to announce its participation in Art Jakarta Gardens 2025, taking place from 22 to 27 April at Hutan Kota Plataran. Located at Tent B, Booth B2, the gallery proudly presents Currents of Contemplation: A Daily Unfolding of Artistic Dialogues, an innovative exhibition concept that highlights the fluid and evolving nature of contemporary artistic discourse.
Art is never static—it is a conversation, a continuum, a force that shifts and transforms with time and interpretation. Currents of Contemplation embodies this philosophy through a dynamic curatorial approach: each day, a different artist takes centre stage, reshaping the space with their distinct perspective and practice. This evolving presentation encourages fresh encounters, inviting audiences to engage with art as an ongoing dialogue rather than a fixed moment in time.
The Daily Unfolding
Day 1 | 22 April 2025 – Rosit Mulyadi
Opening the series, Rosit Mulyadi appropriates and reinterprets visual elements from Baroque, Neoclassical, and early Post-Impressionist paintings. His works borrow heavily from the American Illustration style and Pop Art—artistic movements deeply rooted in urban capitalist narratives. Employing industrial-ready colours and combining silkscreen techniques with oil painting, Mulyadi’s works present a visual critique of capitalist structures, redirected to express sentiments of waiting, uncertainty, and the ever-shifting policies of the pandemic era.
Day 2 | 23 April 2025 – Mahalakshmi Kanappan & Dini Nur Aghnia
On the second day, a special dual presentation highlights two emerging female artists, Mahalakshmi Kanappan and Dini Nur Aghnia. Kanappan’s works unearth the internal complexities of existence through material experimentation, challenging traditional notions of medium. Straddling the pictorial and the sculptural, she compels materials to transcend their natural states, creating unexpected yet striking compositions. Meanwhile, Aghnia’s practice reflects a fascination with the landscapes of Indonesia—from rugged mountains to expansive fields that shift with the passing light. Rather than rendering these scenes with photorealistic precision, she reimagines landscapes through her inner world, incorporating negative space, as well as clay and resin pixels, to evoke a sense of memory and subjectivity.
Day 3 | 24 April 2025 – Fika Ria Santika
For Fika Ria Santika, nature has long been an inexhaustible source of inspiration, shaping both her artistic practice and personal philosophy. Deeply influenced by the Minangkabau proverb Alam Takambang Jadi Guru (nature is an eternal teacher), Santika questions its contemporary relevance among today’s younger generation. Through her artistic explorations, she examines cycles, growth, layers, transitions, and uncertainties—elements that profoundly shape her visual language.
Day 4 | 25 April 2025 – Jemana Murti
Jemana Murti’s practice is deeply informed by his interest in technology and his lived experiences as a Balinese artist. His work explores the intersection of tradition and modernity, reflecting on the religious and cultural landscapes of Bali through diverse media, including wall-based pieces, sculptures, and large-scale installations.
Day 5 | 26 April 2025 – Kayleigh Goh
A moment of calm within the unfolding narrative, Kayleigh Goh’s minimal, meditative works introduce a space for introspection. Exploring themes of memory, solitude, and spatial experience, her art encourages viewers to pause, reflect, and engage with the nuances of stillness and structure.
Day 6 | 27 April 2025 – Ridho Rizki
Closing the series, Ridho Rizki’s paintings echo the qualities of still-life compositions, yet his focus extends beyond symbolism to explore the dramatic and optical properties of objects. By merging elements of pointillism, impressionism, and still-life painting, Rizki has garnered recognition for his technical precision and refined execution. While his earlier works were primarily monochromatic, he now experiments with solid colour particles to emulate the way the human eye perceives form—an ongoing investigation into visual perception.
This innovative presentation mirrors the organic rhythm of Art Jakarta Gardens itself—each day a new tide, each artist a distinct current within a greater artistic movement. Currents of Contemplation invites visitors to immerse themselves in an ever-evolving exchange, experiencing art as a living entity shaped by perspective, material, and time.
At the heart of the presentation stands Yunizar’s monumental bronze sculpture, Ayam Jantan (Rooster), prominently placed within the garden. As a symbol of resilience, renewal, and ritual, the rooster marks the rhythm of time, echoing the exhibition’s thematic essence—each day a new dawn, each artist a new voice in an unfolding narrative.
Yunizar’s intuitive, gestural paintings distil life’s essence into expressive marks and whimsical forms. Rooted in instinct and imagination, his practice celebrates the beauty of simplicity and the quiet power of personal mythology. Over the years, his motifs have evolved, further blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy. From domestic structures to mythical beings such as the Garuda—a symbol deeply embedded in Indonesia’s national identity—his works transcend the everyday. In 2012, Yunizar expanded his artistic practice to include sculpture, bringing his surreal subjects to life in bronze. Whether depicting village gangsters or primordial creatures, his sculptures echo the same playful yet profound approach that defines his paintings. Solid and confronting, they straddle the line between the natural and the fantastical, reflecting the artist’s ever-expanding imagination, which remains firmly rooted in daily life. For Yunizar, the simplest things can appear eccentric, and it is in this everyday world that he finds limitless inspiration.
Join us at Tent B, Booth B2, at Art Jakarta Gardens 2025 to engage with this transformative experience.
