The Togetherness of Antonius Kho and Wiko Djoan

Antonius Kho

Wiko Djoan

Excerpts from an article on the exhibition

"The modernist tradition is ambiguous with regards to the role of the artist as an individual. It first emphasised its primacy. Symbols were personalised, colour was chosen for its subjective value and themes were taken from the subconscious. It finished its course, though, with Pop Art, Op Art and Conceptual Art, by "evacuating" the artist from the creative process and turning the work of art into a "neutral" object

".....Antonius Kho and Wiko Djoan exhibit a shared, connective of painting. At the root of this endeavour lays Antonius Kho's understanding that something has to be done to preserve the Indonesian feeling of togetherness. He says that individualism has to be transmuted and thus enhanced collectively by the combination of individual talents. Wiko Djoan provides him with the needed partnership.

"......Both painters use well-outlined, nearly geometric forms, both work with a similar range of color which they keep within the confines of the form, and both share a similar concept of space, which is full and regular. Although they set to themselves a theme, that of the "mask", they seem to see it not per se, but through a grid of their own dialogue

"The dialogue owes much to Bali, though, where both artists have been long-term residents. Their painting are constructions of anthropomorphic shapes which remind us not only of the mask worl of Bali, but also the multicolor offerings and effigies of its rituals. As artists from outside Bali, Anonius Kho and Wiko Djoan define a common visual perception of the island's culture."

Dr Jean Coutear

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