# 1

“[…] I used to make renderings, miniatures (paintings), but then I delegated them to the assistants. So I am sensitive to details, and until now I can do it if I want to. But my eyes are not as good as they used to be. Well, I threw away that temperament, completely overhauled it. If it's too hygienic and clean, you can still catch COVID anyways.

# 2

“[…] what I am currently researching is the commonly used medium; acrylic, oil, enamel, which are more popular than encaustic. Regarding the search for its content, I’d say now I'm more in-depth, more modernist, or conservative. Abstract art must be practiced, just like philosophy (at the present time).

#3

“[…] Modernism is automatically deskilling. Because it's a new style, there's just no terminology for it. So if we want to find another style, we have to deskill it, but we can't bring it there right away. We are more sensible than beginners who are just learning. Deskilling is also in the form of awareness, awareness to learn.”

Gede Mahendra Yasa

Mahendra Yasa's works show that if we look at it more closely, he is interested in the idea of painting, in the philosophical foundations that support it. Namely, in words like these, that “a painting does not represent an image; the image exists to represent the painting, namely the "idea of a painting about a painting". Thus, the only thing that is valuable is "acting out", the act of painting itself, rather than to produce a particular style of painting.

The way of painting which is determined by the characteristic properties of materials—especially paint—for Mahendra Yasa, as seen in his abstract paintings in this exhibition, determines what happens on his canvases.

Hendro Wiyanto