Ivan Sagita was born in Malang 1957 and studied at the Indonesian Art Institute in Yogyakarta from 1979 to 1985. He is known as an introvert and mysterious artist, but his work of art is well known in the world of art.
He uses realistic painting techniques to make unrealistic images. Out of this tension, he strives to depict the uncertainties of everyday life, especially as they impact on those who are powerless in the face of poverty and injustice. He has said: "To me, life always goes differently than we expect to. This is why I tend to express uncertainties. Seeing the life in my surroundings I get the impression that everybody is controlled by an invisible power..." Sagita's subjects are frequently the traditional Javanese people whose life struggles he observed in Yogyakarta. He has noted: "They struggle to survive, but they accept whatever happens to them." In preparation for a painting, he may take multiple photographs of a subject in an attempt to capture their inner reality. He almost always paints human figures repeatedly within one work, depicting them in shifting poses or different situations.
Career
Sagita's paintings were selected as the Best Work at the 7th and 8th Jakarta Biennales of Painting in 1987 and 1989, and he was awarded the silver medal at the Osaka Triennale in 1996. His first solo exhibition was at the Duta Fine Art Gallery in Jakarta in 1988. Selected group exhibitions include: The Third Asian Art Show (Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, 1989); The Seventh Asian International Art Exhibition (Bandung, Indonesia, 1992); The First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, 1993); The Asian Water Color (National Gallery, Bangkok, 1995); and Modernity and Beyond (Singapore Art Museum, 1996).
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