Born in Jakarta in 1990, Eldwin Pradipta is a multimedia artist who works mostly in Bandung. He completed his bachelor degree from the Faculty of Visual Art and Design, ITB, majoring in Inter-media Studio, in 2013. His works explore video and digital projection as a medium, and the interesting position of new media between high and low art.
His work focuses on populist or low art in Indonesia, dichotomized with the objects and praxis of high art, to put forward a disjuncture that ruptures the order of the daily life in Indonesia as a third world country.
Most recently, Eldwin has explored the rules and systems that govern the contemporary art world. With satirical language he critiques several limitations that face the contemporary artist and their audience. In 2022, Eldwin will participate in the 3rd Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Biennale, hoping to bring a dynamic potential to the exhibition space—dominated by ceramic works—with his aptitude in using digital-media. His works are represented in Tumurun Private Museum, Surakarta, and the Project Eleven Collection, Melbourne.
Eldwin Pradipta, Artwork, Artwork on the Wall #1 2020
3.5 inch LCD screen, camera, acrylic, 15 x 20 x 6 cm, ed. 4 + 1 AP
Eldwin Pradipta, Who Watches the Watchers #1 2020
3.5 inch LCD screen, camera, acrylic, 15 x 20 x 6 cm, ed. 4 + 1 AP
Eldwin Pradipta, It Fits, Therefore I Sit 2019
3.5 inch LCD screens, single channel video, acrylic (per component, three components), 15 x 15 x 4.5 cm per component, ed. 4 + 1 AP
It Fits, Therefore I Sit 2019
The title of this work is a combination of several popular phrases. The first one is “If it fits, I sit”, which is popular as a meme (or internet joke) of cats who are determined to sit anywhere they want, even if the space is very small and it looks like they might not fit. This phrase can be traced back to the US postal service highlight “If it fits it ships”, which refers to their willingness to ship anything as long as the goods will fit into their boxes, no question asked. And then also Rene Descartes’ popular phrase “I think, therefore I am”, a translation of its original phrase “Cogito, ergo sum”, which is added to the title just to make it pretentiously philosophical.
This work talks about space and size in contemporary art work in general. I find that small sized work has been a trend and phenomenon in the last several years or even decades. This phenomenon is caused by many factors - limited production budgets for the artist, limits of art gallery spaces and even limitations of collectors, which then create “demand” for small sized work.
Videos in this work are 3D rendered visualizations of things that can’t grow any further simply because they’re bound to spaces that are too small. These visuals are a metaphoric representation of ideas and creativity, which are at times forced to be trapped in artworks with small dimensions to meet certain criteria, limitations of a particular art space or exhibition.