Gajah Gallery is pleased to announce Forging Ahead: The Productive Unknown, a group exhibition marking a significant culmination of artistic explorations at Yogya Art Lab (YAL), the gallery’s foundry and production house based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Since 2012, YAL has collaborated with artists from across the region, providing them with a dedicated space to experiment with unfamiliar materials and production processes, opening new directions within their practices.
The exhibition highlights a substantial body of sculptural works born from this close collaborative environment. These works chart artists moving beyond familiar territories to engage with demanding and unfamiliar materials—from bronze and aluminum to glass and experimental composites—yielding unexpected and compelling breakthroughs.
From the enduring iconographies of BenCab and Charlie Co to the ambitious bronze sculptures of Mark Justiniani, Jigger Cruz, Marina Cruz, and Leslie de Chavez, the exhibition traces diverse approaches to sculptural experimentation. Suzann Victor’s monumental lens works interrogate perception, visibility, and the politics of representation, while Jane Lee’s reflective stainless-steel assemblages use reflection and distortion to unsettle the viewer’s perception of space and self.
Meanwhile, the sharp, satirical commentaries of Ashley Bickerton and Uji ‘Hahan’ Handoko Eko Saputro stand alongside Yunizar’s raw mythologies and Handiwirman Saputra’s enigmatic transformations of everyday objects. Also on view are Dzikra Afifah‘s debut bronze sculpture and Wei Ligang‘s calligraphic work on handmade paper, extending the exhibition’s exploration of material experimentation across diverse practices.
