One of the most important and influential Indonesian artists working today, Augus Suwage’s Eros Kai Thanatos #1 exemplifies his exceptional skill as a painter as well as his technical approach to memento mori. The present work aptly showcases Suwage’s exploration of the transience of life, imbuing a dark sense of humour and curious cynicism.
Composed of forty individual works on paper that are displayed together as a unique composition, the present work almost acts as an anatomical study – evoking an uncanny darkness and sombre elegance that references Lucien Freud’s two fundamental drives and pleasure principles: Eros and Thanatos (love and death). The effect of applying tobacco juice imparts a subtle eeriness within Eros Kai Thanatos #1. Featuring a barrage of illustrations and visual cues, this marks as one of Suwage’s largest works in scale.
Much admired for his works, Suwage has participated in countless biennales as well as museum and gallery exhibitions internationally including: the Asia Pacific Biennial, Singapore; the Biennial Contemporary Art of Indonesia; ‘China a retrospective’ at the Jogjakarta Art Museum; and ‘Contemporaneity’, MOCA Shanghai, China.