Contemporary Art & Printmaking is a print portfolio of nine artists in collaboration with Devfto Printmaking Institute, Ubud, Bali. In this curatorial essay, we look at the potential, position and problems of printmaking in the context of contemporary art, especially Indonesian contemporary art. The view put forward takes also the fact that most of the artists, included in this portfolio are not primarily printmakers. They represent recognized contemporary Indonesian artists, from the young to the senior. The artists include Agus Suwage, Devy Ferdianto, FX Harsono, Handiwirman, Ida Bagus Putu Purwa, Kemalezedine, Theresia A. Sitompul, Tisna Sanjaya and Valasara. From this group, Devy Ferdianto is the artist whose sole focus is printmaking and a master printer who collaborated with the other eight other artists in this portfolio. Apart from Devy, Tisna and Theresia are also known as printmakers, with an educational background in printmaking. However, Tisna and Theresia also explore other mediums, such as three-dimensional works and installations. Tisna intensely works with painting and drawing mediums. Kemalezedine and Gus Purwa are better known as painters. The others are cross-medium artists, who often also produce paintings.

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In the context of the plurality and ‘anything goes’, printmaking, undoubtedly, is a medium part of contemporary art. In reality, there are quite a number of artists who utilise printmaking as their main medium, both in the sense of its convention as well as expanded. One problem artists face with printmaking is the love and hate between printmaking and painting. In many cases, Indonesian printmakers speak out about the positioning of print work as subordinate to painting. In the course of its history, in the West, printmaking cannot be excluded from the history of painting.

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Curator

Asmudjo J. Irianto