Wei-Ling Gallery is pleased to present Sediments by Indonesian artist Irfan Hendrian, this March 2016. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and first of the same in Malaysia.

This body of work shows paper itself as a medium, not just a secondary element in art. With the simplification through reduction, every formal element in a composition is compacted into the paper itself as material, colour, form and lines. Paper represents itself physically, and is not to be seen as a common form, as a planar surface, but as part of Hendrian’s experience in seeing paper as a sculpture like material. Through abstraction of the material, paper stands out as the main subject of his other entity.

The Chinese associate human existence with paper; we were all born like a blank sheet of paper that will be written on as we accumulate experience and education. Just like how sedimentation is formed, gradually receiving particles and storing them in a layer, then compressed by gravity, and being moulded into a new form. Through the sedimentation approach, he reconnected with paper as a deeper medium. At first, he saw it as a method of making the paper stronger through gradual accumulation of layers, but as he kept progressing, it went beyond just that and opened up his realization of the untapped essence and potential of this material.

Irfan Hendrian practices not only in art, but also in the graphic design and printing industry. He believes in the modernist idea of the designer and artist as an engineer, in seeing things in everyday life, turning it into material, putting it into experiments and discovering a new thing from the process. He is always fascinated by the simplicity of paper and yet holds a whole range of functions and forms. During his 7 years of practising with paper, he craved for a better and essential understanding of the material. His practice in packaging and bookbinding led him to think that paper is a strong material and protects the content inside it, thus transforming this so-called weak and fragile material into a strong and rigid material became his obsession. The stronger it is the more long-lasting it will be. By observing and practising book production, he found multiple layers of paper can be stronger than plywood and remains tough under heavy and rough treatment.

Irfan Hendrian (b.1987, Ohio, USA) is currently based in Bandung, Indonesia. He studied at LASALLE, Singapore majoring in Visual Communication Design, later furthering his studies at Wanganui School of Design, New Zealand majoring in print based graphic design, and he just recently completed his Masters in Fine Arts at the Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia.

He founded IH Studio in 2011, works on graphic design, pre-press, print production and bookbinding which influences most of his artworks and his fascination towards paper as a material and medium.

Sediments will begin showing at Wei-Ling Gallery on the 7th of March and will continue until the 18th of April 2016.

Wei-Ling Gallery is located at No. 8, Jalan Scott, Brickfields, 50470, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Please call 0322601106 or email weiling.shaz@gmail.com for more information.