Dey Irfan Adianto: The Artist As a Bright Work in Progress

Dey Irfan Adianto’s thoughtful artworks continue 

to evolve as he matures as an artist.

(Photos courtesy of Dey Irfan Adianto)

Jakarta-born artist Dey Irfan Adianto creates soothing pieces that encapsulates his humane and nature-driven sensibilities.

Often utilizing a mixture of embroidery, acrylic, water color and graphite, the 25-year-old alternately works on media such as wood, fabric, and paper. His visuals range from subtle to unsubtle symbolism, off-kilter absurdity, with a collage-style execution that befits its minimalist overtone. Though in past works the artist tended to avoid overt saturation, his more recent pieces have slowly introduced more colors, adding to a less pensive, more welcoming feel.

In 2008, Dey began studying at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts before graduating in 2011 with a fine arts diploma in sculptures. He is currently studying at Singapore’s Lasalle College of the Arts.

He has displayed his art in various exhibits, mostly in Singapore, including at The Arts House and the DYMK bar & cafe. Most recently, Dey presented a piece at Singapore’s Hong Lim Park, inspired by a Pink Dot gay rights event for his fine arts diploma graduation show at NAFA.

Having grown up around a family with no interest in artistic endeavors, Dey had to move to another city by himself to discover his artistic sensibilities.

 “I never really had any influence in the arts growing up. My dad is an engineer and my mom is an accountant, so art never really ran in the family. It wasn’t until I moved to Bandung in 2004 when I was exposed to the art scene. That was when I started getting into fine arts and started drawing,” he says.

In Bandung, Dey discovered a hotbed of left-field artists and a scene that supported it. He began making acquaintances with many of them, feeding off their creativity and slowly growing his own voice and visual style.

“In Bandung I got to know the heavyweights like R.E. Hartanto, Sir Dandy and Sunaryo. They were the ones who built my confidence in practicing art,” he says.

Like most younger artists, Dey experimented with a variety of styles, but he responded particularly to one that reflected his interest between balancing the traditional with modern artificiality.

“Style-wise, vaporwave was a big inspiration to me,” he says, referring to the 1980s corporate culture satirizing the electronic music genre, epitomized by works that display a fittingly ironic aesthetic of vibrantly cheesy pictures.

“It’s a movement that started on the Internet, using Photoshop to produce a collage of cultural run-offs. It can be very satirical, and the feel is very ‘plastic’ and artificial. That aspect of artificiality can be really interesting when you juxtapose it with ‘traditional’ imagery like a realistic portrait of a landscape, for example.”

Dey says he ended up with his current style through “trial and error.”

“I don’t sketch that much, so often I would just start a piece with an idea and I just added on to it until it get right.”

Dey’s artistic process involves little preparation. Instead, he prefers to spontaneously let whatever initial spark he has in his head take its own natural route.

“I usually start with an idea but often I don’t make any initial sketch of it. I just picture it in my head until I start to put it down on the canvas,” he says before continuing that he does not “really have a set idea of what it will look like in the end, so it’s very open to improvisation.”

Still, one look at Dey’s artworks makes it clear that they exude the same melancholy, thoughtful mood. This is not an accident.

“I do set the mood, and the theme of the piece. Those two keep the piece in track. I don’t like it if a piece looks too random, there should be limit to what I can or can’t do with it,” the artist says.

Though his art may not qualify as being necessarily “abstract,” it is often vague enough to warrant a deep look. 

“I think all [my] pieces take a while to get, because then you add up your own interpretations, which can be fun. But I always try to work on certain guidelines so the viewers can get a general idea of the piece. I don’t like it if the interpretations are too open, because then I wouldn’t be able to relate to it,” he says.

This is why he often works on a number of related pieces under one common theme. Some examples in his “Series” include the self-explanatory “Natura” series that involves many nature-related subjects; “Animalia,” which takes animals as the main subjects; the somber and depressive themes under “Dark Room”; and the fantastical works of the “Transcendence” series.

Dey’s latest passion is utilizing landscapes as subjects for his art. This, he admits, is a result of never having really lived in countries where beautiful landscapes are common.

“When I was studying in Singapore you don’t get to see much open landscape, so I developed a series revolving around landscapes and I’ve been continuing with that,” he says.

Dey says he knows his increasing confidence and artistic growth shows through his increasingly vibrant pieces. Under a reflective mood, Dey says it may all have to do with his love for cartoons as a child.

“I watched cartoons a lot when I was little and I still do today, so I’m sure that influenced the overall tone. When I started doing art, I used to be very low-key when it comes to colors, but lately I’ve gone all out,” he says.

Colors are also Dey’s way of building a more direct connection with his audience. He explains: “I realized that I’ve always liked my paintings to be somewhat colorful. I make sure that I’m excited over the piece first before I show it to other people, and one way to do so is to go all out on the tone.”

To see more of Dey Irfan Adianto’s work, visit cargocollective.com/wonderfield.

By Marcel Thee on 05:19 pm Jul 02, 2014