Kemalezedine

Srisasanti Gallery presents Kemalezedine's Rerajahan: Deconsecrated Mantra, Kemalezedine’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. In this solo exhibition, Kemal worked on the theme of Balinese rerajahan, particularly drawing inspiration from its visual aspects to explore new possibilities in his paintings. Curated by Asmudjo J. Irianto, the exhibition showcases new bodies of work that includes several acrylic on canvas paintings and drawings on paper.

Rerajahan works only when "charged" by a mantra. Without mantra and spiritual energy, rerajahan will not have supernatural powers. Kemal's rerajahan does not exist in a spiritual, mystical, or magical mantra. As a result, Kemal's rerajahan is a rerajahan that forgoes transcendental spiritual elements and moves into the world of the material. And yet Kemal's works still require a mantra—the mantra of contemporary art. The mantra is a method of comprehending the discourse and praxis of contemporary art.

What appears in Kemal's work is triggered by images of Balinese rerajahan, where the artist focuses on the most common manifestation of rerajahan, namely in the form of ulap-ulap. Rerajahan is not a subject that lends itself easily to contemporary painting. Filling it with strange figures and creatures that come from his imagination with his distinct depiction style, while creating it intuitively and imaginatively, Kemal had to work hard to transform rerajahan into his personal works of art. Although Kemal's works in this exhibition cannot

be said to be direct representations of rerajahan issues, this does not rule out the possibility that these works will spark discussions about rerajahan issues.