Body Expression Chairs
Artist Zulfian Amrullah (42) sees chairs as the same as our bodies and creates them as expressions of our bodies.
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The media chair for the Kinesthetic Performance installation art as part of the Road to Artjog 2024 exhibition, and also the fourth solo exhibition by artist Zulfian Amrullah (2024), will be held at the Salihara Art Community Gallery in Jakarta. The exhibition will take place from April 20th to April 30th, 2024.
Chairs are like clothes that are shaped to suit our bodies when sitting. The chair is also designed to be ergonomic. Until then, the imagination of artist Zulfian Amrullah (42) saw that chairs were the same as our bodies and created chairs to be an expression of our bodies.
There is a chair which its four legs are folded to make it look like someone is kneeling. There are also two chairs that are stacked on top of each other and formed in the shape of our body with both arms wide open to embrace warmth.
That’s where I learned about body gestures through theater and dance art. Eventually, I decided to focus on the world of visual arts.
Zulfian displayed the work in his exhibition. The fourth solo exhibition is also an installation art work aimed at the Road to Artjog 2024 program at the Salihara Art Community Building, Jakarta. The exhibition is entitled”Kinesthetic Performance”. The public can enjoy the work from April 20 to April 30 2024. Artjog itself will be held from June 28 to September 1 2024 in Yogyakarta.
Also read: Locking Trauma into Painting
“For the number of seats, I always use the number I like. "I used 99 chairs to form 19 scenes or body movements," said Zulfian in a conversation with Kompas, Thursday (25/4/2024).
Zulfian organizes and labels all those scenes as one, namely the hustle and bustle of human life. Naming the scenes would only limit the imagination of its viewers. He may name a scene with a certain name, but its audience may interpret it differently.
”I could probably name a particular scene, meditation. "However, connoisseurs may think differently," said Zulfian.
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The media chair for the Kinesthetic Performance installation art as part of the Road to Artjog 2024 exhibition, and also the fourth solo exhibition by artist Zulfian Amrullah (2024), will be held at the Salihara Art Community Gallery in Jakarta. The exhibition will take place from April 20th to April 30th, 2024.
Zulfian's art installation of chairs is no different from sculpture art. The chairs form the body. However, the body with chairs provides another language, which is a faceless body. The chair's body does not refer to any specific race or gender.
"Forming the structure of this chair is different from when someone wants to create a statue of the human body. When creating a statue, the maker will determine the character of the human, such as their race, gender, and so on," said Zulfian.
The body of the chair won't take the hassle out of it all. The chair body becomes universal. The identity of the chair body is not inherent.
"If you want to have an identity, it's actually possible. We just need to provide a specific outfit or costume. Military uniforms can give an identity as a soldier, for instance," said the man born in Mempawah, West Kalimantan.
Speak
For Zulfian, the body of a chair that does not have a face presents its own challenge. The challenge is how to make it speak even though the audience will be free to interpret it.
"Speaking through body gestures, this chair installation art has greatly influenced me when I decided to enter the world of art. In 2014, I undertook a multidisciplinary residency at Padepokan Bagong Kussudiardja in Yogyakarta for eight months," said Zulfian, a graduate of the Department of Architecture at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, in 2006.
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The media chair for the Kinesthetic Performance installation art as part of the Road to Artjog 2024 exhibition, and also the fourth solo exhibition by artist Zulfian Amrullah (2024), will be held at the Salihara Art Community Gallery in Jakarta. The exhibition will take place from April 20th to April 30th, 2024.
Zulfian has a work history in the architectural world. Two years after graduating from college in 2008, Zulfian was accepted to work at a landscape bureau in Singapore. He designed sculptures for the landscape of parks in various malls or other public spaces.
He worked that way for five years, until 2013. The experience made him interact with the world of sculpture art. Apparently, the job increased Zulfian’s interest in the world of art.
He decided to return to his homeland, to Yogyakarta, to learn about art. At that time, there was an opportunity for a multidisciplinary residency at Padepokan Bagong Kussudiardja. He registered and was accepted in 2014.
"That's where I learned about body gestures through theater and dance art. And then I decided to focus on the world of visual arts," said Zulfian.
Through Zulfian's perspective, design becomes a transformative tool. Spatiality is the center of textual existence and artistic context expressed to the public.
The idea of using chairs as a means of appropriating body gestures began to blossom there. He began designing installation art using chairs as a medium. In the following year, 2015, Zulfian applied to be a participant in the young artist category at Artjog. He was accepted. His work was an installation art piece about chairs.
"From this chair, I started my career as an artist. The chair is also very challenging for me because it can be used to realize any concept," said Zulfian.
Chairs are sometimes used in works of art that portray issues related to thrones or power. Chairs are also often metaphorically referred to as positions or achievements of a certain social status.
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The media chair for the Kinesthetic Performance installation art as part of the Road to Artjog 2024 exhibition, and also the fourth solo exhibition by artist Zulfian Amrullah (2024), will be held at the Salihara Art Community Gallery in Jakarta. The exhibition will take place from April 20th to April 30th, 2024.
Two years later, Zulfian held his first solo exhibition at Ark Gallery with curator Alia Swastika. At almost the same time, he received a call to join the Artjog organizing team and was asked to strengthen their artistic team. He has been a part of the team as the Artistic Coordinator of Artjog until now.
Dialogue space
Zulfian's work is a performed dramaturgy that includes a space for dialogue connecting the mind and motor functions. This was stated by Ignatia Nilu, the curator of the Kinesthetic Performa exhibition.
"This also offers radical experiences of formal and normative values of life. This is an offer from contemporary art works," said Nilu.
Basically, humans have always been interested in anatomy. Even since prehistoric times, humans have been haunted by depictions of body gestures, movements, or human body postures. Through this Kinesthetic Performance work, Zulfian or perhaps other artists have provided a different understanding.
"Through Zulfian's perspective, design becomes a transformation tool. Spatiality is the center of textual existence and art context conveyed to the public," said Nilu.
Also read: Special Abstract Paintings for Young People
Through his work, Zulfian explores sensory perceptions, posture, and human body movements in the form of chairs. This serves as an experiment to create narrative opportunities from an art event.
The Road to Artjog 2024 Exhibition, as well as Zulfian's solo exhibition as an "insider" in the Artjog team, is Artjog's first program in Jakarta. Artjog founder, Heri Pemad, stated that this is a new tradition he wants to develop for the future.
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A media installation art piece called "Performa Kinestetik" has been displayed as part of the Road to Artjog 2024 exhibition, as well as the fourth solo exhibition of artist Zulfian Amrullah (2024), at the Salihara Arts Community Gallery in Jakarta. The exhibition is being held from April 20th to April 30th, 2024.
"This is a new tradition to bring Artjog closer to the public, including stakeholders such as sponsors," said Heri.
The Road to Artjog 2024 exhibition is also a creative form of promotion. Currently, the Artjog team mainly consists of artists. For the purpose of the exhibition and promotion, showcasing the works of people within Artjog is certainly more convenient in terms of financing and coordination.
Artjog 2024 also aims to continue previously implemented programs, such as the Young Artist Award, ARTJOG Kids, ARTJOG performance, Exhibition Tour, Meet the Artist, Artcare, and Jogja Art Weeks. Although Artjog's direct participation reaches out to artists, it still benefits galleries. According to Heri, this is where gallery managers have the opportunity to shop for artists, especially in determining young artists and their works that can be included in their galleries.
