Entang Wiharso

In Entang Wiharso’s work the artist’s own personal experiences are embedded with a strong examination of the predominant socio-political conditions of his home country. To him, creating work is a way of understanding the human condition, of heightening our ability to perceive, feel and understand human problems like love, hate, fanaticism, religion, and ideology.

“I depict the condition of humans who are often divided by complex, multilayered political, ethnic, racial, and religious systems: they co-exist yet their communication is limited and indirect. Figures are interconnected by intuitive as well as intellectual linkages, including ornamental vegetation, tongues, tails, intestines, animal skin patterns, fences and detailed landscapes.“ (Entang Wiharso, 2011).

Born in Tegal, Central Java, Indonesia, Entang Wiharso lives and works in Rhode Island, USA and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Wiharso is a graduate of the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (1994). Wiharso has had more than 45 solo gallery and museum exhibitions since 1995 across Asia, Europe and the United States and participated in numerous biennale exhibitions including the 2019 Kunming Art Biennale, Yunnan, China; Indonesian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale; Prospect.3 New Orleans, Prague Biennale 6 as well as in many prestigious international institutions including Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; National Gallery of Australia; Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY; Jeonbuk Museum, Jeonbuk, South Korea; Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia; Singapore Tyler Print Institute; Gunma Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Japan; Hilger Brotkunsthalle, Vienna, Austria; Singapore Art Museum; Galeri Nasional Indonesia; Lyon Musée d’art contemporain; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; National Gallery of Victoria; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland; Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Ithaca, NY; and most recently at the Asia Center, Harvard University, Boston, MA.

Selected public collections include Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Centro Videoinsight®, Turino, Italy; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; Family Servais Collection, Brussels, Belgium; Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation, Switzerland; Jeonbuk Museum, Jeonbuk, South Korea; Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; National Gallery of Singapore, Singapore; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island; Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida, USA; United States Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia; Yogyakarta International Airport, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Yunnan Art Museum, Yunnan, China; among others. Entang Wiharso is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and has participated in numerous residencies around the world.