Shadows usually call up dark corners and black emotions in the collective consciousness. But up and coming Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho’s first solo exhibit in Beijing at Pekin Fine Arts has a more whimsical take on the qualities of darkness. Nugroho’s exhibit plays with shadows in a fanciful way, creating alien-looking characters in a quasi-cartoon style that makes his show a fun one to see.

A combination of various media, including paint, installations and hand-made tapestries creates a nicely chaotic feeling. There’s not much Nugroho doesn’t use in his works. From life-sized human mannequins decked in pink and black flowers to pink and blue silk tapestries with fanciful characters woven in black, Nugroho expresses his art with the full gamut of materials—paint, thread, fabric, resin, plastic, flowers, music, and video that adorn walls, floor and canvas.

His works combine human forms with unexpected elements like UFOs, machines and animals, creating a fantasy world.

“There is a special kind of social and political setting in art,” says Nugroho. His particular setting is more a subtle take on his frustrations and struggles with society, far from a statement shouted from atop a soapbox. “Personality Pose Series,” his tapestry collection, is a variety of hand-woven silk hangings featuring human bodies with non-human heads and appendages. Each one represents a personality trait, such as loyalty, violence, trust, arrogance, strength and divinity.

But it is in the in-between that the artist finds his true inspiration. As Nugroho says: “I like to play in the area between the darkness and the light.”

Anna-Grace Carter