The Water | The Body | The Spirit
Solo exhibition by Ari Bayuaji
25 February – 2 April 2023
Exhibition Walkthrough: Saturday, 25 February 2023, 3pm – 4pm
Vernissage: Saturday, 25 February 2023, 4pm – 7pm
Mizuma Gallery is pleased to announce The Water | The Body | The Spirit, a solo exhibition by Ari Bayuaji.
Known for his use of discarded ropes and plastic pollution found along the coasts of Sanur, Bali, to give life to majestic textiles echoing the deep blue and turquoise hues of the ocean, Ari Bayuaji’s ongoing project Weaving the Oceannot only provides us with visually mesmerising art pieces, but also, crucially, enables his art-making process to respond to issues of sustainability, waste management and upcycling, through transforming useless materials into new objects of greater value, artistically and environmentally.
Part of Weaving the Ocean, Bayuaji’s latest exhibition at Mizuma Gallery Singapore titled The Water | The Body | The Spirit delves further into the condition of Bali’s seashores, from a socio-philosophical perspective. As the title suggests, the exhibition examines three fundamental aspects of the artist’s practice: the water, which is his source of inspiration, a bountiful womb that carries away and restores to the shore fragments of past lives; our human body as we intervene on and relate to the environment and to history; and the spirit, a mystical essence that conveys and transforms energy through regeneration. Water is a conduit, bearing stories from the past to the present and towing with it memories and heirlooms: the ropes, twisted and contorted by the depth of the sea, are reused and manipulated in Bayuaji’s tapestries; also, ceramic remains and found objects become compelling sculptures and mixed-media installations in the exhibition. Expanding on his initial intent of recycling only ropes, fishing nets and plastic bottles, in The Water | The Body | The Spirit, Bayuaji includes driftwood and sculptures, as well as terracotta and ceramic fragments that through the decades have morphed with the unresting sea. The Water | The Body | The Spirit embraces this dual existence of water, as an element and a transformative spirit, to conjure an “aesthetic of the organic” that honours both the communal making of the works and their tribute as art.
Immersed in the dreamscape of the gallery, we become part of the ocean’s aura of mystery where once “found” objects transition from death to new life.
The Water | The Body | The Spirit, a solo exhibition by Ari Bayuaji, will run from 25 February to 2 April 2023 at Mizuma Gallery, 22 Lock Road #01-34 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108939. The gallery will open from 11am-7pm on Tuesdays to Saturdays, and 11am-6pm on Sundays. The gallery will be closed on Mondays and Public Holidays. In conjunction with the launch of the exhibition, an artist-led exhibition walkthrough will held on Saturday, 25 February 2023, from 3pm to 4pm, followed by an opening reception from 4pm to 7pm. A digital publication featuring images of the artworks and a text by writer Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani will be available.
Text: © Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani and Mizuma Gallery.
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Solo exhibition by Ari Bayuaji
25 February – 2 April 2023
Exhibition Walkthrough: Saturday, 25 February 2023, 3pm – 4pm
Vernissage: Saturday, 25 February 2023, 4pm – 7pm
Mizuma Gallery is pleased to announce The Water | The Body | The Spirit, a solo exhibition by Ari Bayuaji.
Known for his use of discarded ropes and plastic pollution found along the coasts of Sanur, Bali, to give life to majestic textiles echoing the deep blue and turquoise hues of the ocean, Ari Bayuaji’s ongoing project Weaving the Oceannot only provides us with visually mesmerising art pieces, but also, crucially, enables his art-making process to respond to issues of sustainability, waste management and upcycling, through transforming useless materials into new objects of greater value, artistically and environmentally.
Part of Weaving the Ocean, Bayuaji’s latest exhibition at Mizuma Gallery Singapore titled The Water | The Body | The Spirit delves further into the condition of Bali’s seashores, from a socio-philosophical perspective. As the title suggests, the exhibition examines three fundamental aspects of the artist’s practice: the water, which is his source of inspiration, a bountiful womb that carries away and restores to the shore fragments of past lives; our human body as we intervene on and relate to the environment and to history; and the spirit, a mystical essence that conveys and transforms energy through regeneration. Water is a conduit, bearing stories from the past to the present and towing with it memories and heirlooms: the ropes, twisted and contorted by the depth of the sea, are reused and manipulated in Bayuaji’s tapestries; also, ceramic remains and found objects become compelling sculptures and mixed-media installations in the exhibition. Expanding on his initial intent of recycling only ropes, fishing nets and plastic bottles, in The Water | The Body | The Spirit, Bayuaji includes driftwood and sculptures, as well as terracotta and ceramic fragments that through the decades have morphed with the unresting sea. The Water | The Body | The Spirit embraces this dual existence of water, as an element and a transformative spirit, to conjure an “aesthetic of the organic” that honours both the communal making of the works and their tribute as art.
Immersed in the dreamscape of the gallery, we become part of the ocean’s aura of mystery where once “found” objects transition from death to new life.
The Water | The Body | The Spirit, a solo exhibition by Ari Bayuaji, will run from 25 February to 2 April 2023 at Mizuma Gallery, 22 Lock Road #01-34 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108939. The gallery will open from 11am-7pm on Tuesdays to Saturdays, and 11am-6pm on Sundays. The gallery will be closed on Mondays and Public Holidays. In conjunction with the launch of the exhibition, an artist-led exhibition walkthrough will held on Saturday, 25 February 2023, from 3pm to 4pm, followed by an opening reception from 4pm to 7pm. A digital publication featuring images of the artworks and a text by writer Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani will be available.
Text: © Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani and Mizuma Gallery.
