Entang Wiharso
Biography
Born in Tegal, 1967
Entang Wiharso has a multi-disciplinary practice and speaks with urgency through any cogent channel that fits his immediate need, be it painting, sculpture, video, installation or performance. A 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, he is widely regarded for his unique depictions of contemporary life that employ a dramatic visual language, creating artworks that exist in relation to the mythologies of a centuries-old animist past and the high-speed, hyper-connected lifestyle of the 21st century. Maintaining studios in both Indonesia and the US, his life and immediate family are bicultural, biracial and the inheritors of diverse religious and spiritual legacies. Recent work focuses on the duality of cultures and experiences in his two homelands, building on ideas that connect spirituality and transcendence with national narratives about progress and destiny through a sustained exploration of landscape and geopolitical structures.
Wiharso has had more than 45 solo exhibitions and has participated in numerous biennale exhibitions including Kunming Biennale (2018-19); Prospect.3 New Oreans (2014-15), Venice Biennale (2005, 2013), Prague Biennale 6 (2013), 1st Nanjing Biennale (2010) among others, as well as in international group exhibitions at institutions including Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY; Jeonbuk Museum, Korea; Museum MACAN, Jakarta; Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore; Museum of Modern Art, Gunma; Hilger Brotkunsthalle, Vienna; Singapore Art Museum; Singapore; Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta; Musée d’art contemporain, Lyon; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; and Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Ithaca, NY.