Known to juxtapose popular icons from contemporary art, street and punk culture, and his local traditions in Indonesia, Uji ‘Hahan’ Handoko Eko Saputro possesses a sharp gaze that pierces through the ironies ingrained in the societal structures around him. Hahan particularly confronts his position as a young artist from Indonesia, navigating the dizzying, intoxicating culture of the global commercial art world.

Recently, Hahan expanded his critiques on the banalities of the art market by creating bronze sculptures that offer a more solid, commanding presence compared to his graffiti, horror vacui paintings. Looking like glossy, satirical trophies, these sculptures add a fresh layer to Hahan’s investigations on the tense relationships among artists, art objects, wealth and prestige.

Manner, Dinner, Lobster challenges such monetary banality as it plasters a Louis Vuitton pattern not on a bag or article of clothing—but the hollow shell of a lobster. Associating the ubiquitous high fashion icon and the lobster symbol, relatedly evoking high-class cuisine, with the art object keenly comments—and perhaps, resists—the art market phenomenon that tends to turn artists and their work into brands, valued solely for their name or monetary gain.