Risalah
A solo exhibition by A. Baharudin
Akhmad Baharudin’s first solo exhibition at Kiniko Art is the result of collaboration between Rachel Gallery and Kiniko Art. Initially, Rachel Gallery offered Akhmad Baharudin the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at Rachel Gallery in Jakarta. However, Akhmad Baharudin chose to organize his first solo exhibition in the city where he resides, Jogjakarta. Eventually, Rachel Gallery and Kiniko Art collaborated to hold this solo exhibition at Kiniko Art. The exhibition is titled “Risalah” and runs from February 9th to February 26th, 2024.
The interconnectedness articulated in the paintings of Akhmad Baharudin, a 23-year-old native of Kendal, is that of a young artist consistently evolving his own style, color, and visual forms. This exhibition marks his debut solo exhibition titled “Risalah”.
Risalah means a note, letter, or essay, a title representing a record of Akhmad Baharudin’s milestones in his artistic career. Starting his artistic journey four years ago, his works have garnered significant appreciation from the art community, marked by his involvement in numerous exhibitions held in Indonesia, particularly in Jogja and Jakarta.
Akhmad Baharudin’s works combine cubist and decorative styles, resulting in patterns from deformed shapes, then arranged to produce a composition of harmonious form and color. The objects in his paintings are deformed animals and plants, inspired by his childhood on the coast, where his environment was close to the sea, fishermen, and fish ponds. This childhood experience is an aesthetic determinant of which objects he deforms. From the early stages of his artistic career until now, fish have been the dominant objects, combined with other elements such as plants, abstract decorative forms, and colors that bind one shape to another.
Aesthetic experience serves as a medium containing the formal aspects of interconnectedness and articulated fantasy. In this definition, it can be seen that there is a strong connection between Bahar and his childhood, continuously articulated in the form of his artwork. Indirectly, Akhmad Baharudin’s works present his past, laden with fantasies of shapes and colors related to other values within him such as longing, return, and ideal hopes about how those memories should be managed, realized, and desired.
If he depicts deformations of fish and plants in his paintings, these are not meant literally as fish and plants. Rather, his attachment to these objects is an attempt to immerse himself back into the environment and territory of his past. In my interview with Akhmad Baharudin, he explained that the diversity of colors in his works is a depiction of paradise, referring to memories of his parents. These colors reflect his emotional imagery of desires, hopes, and proofs. Thus, in his process, the search for colors becomes an important ritual in his creative process. Bahar conducts many color studies to find colors that suit him ideally. The colors he creates demonstrate an effort of identification, clarifying that what is arranged, be it form, line, or object, is something inherent and bound to him.
Akhmad Baharudin’s works are a collection of images that fundamentally contain deeper elements than mere observations of cubist forms, lines, and colors. Images are a way in which objects manifest themselves in consciousness, or a way in which consciousness presents objects to itself. Therefore, these works are a collection of consciousness articulated in paintings, containing memories of the past, longing, hopes, and desires.
In this exhibition, Akhmad Baharudin creates a message about his achievements, which also serves as a new beginning for his future accomplishments. Quoting him from the interview, he expressed that his first solo exhibition is dedicated to his parents who are in heaven. May this exhibition serve as a milestone and proof to fulfill all the hopes and desires within him.
Download the catalog here
Kiniko Art Management and Rachel Gallery are delighted to present Akhmad Baharudin’s solo exhibition: “RISALAH”
Exhibition Dates:
February 10th – 26th, 2024
10 AM – 5 PM
Writer:
Riski Januar
Venue:
Kiniko Art Room
SaRanG Building Blok II, Kalipakis, RT5/II,
Tirtonirmolo, Kasihan, Bantul, Yogyakarta
Information/Inquiries:
+62 821 3831 6270 (Jefri)