Emte

Emte

Artist Bio

Born, raised, lived, and worked in Jakarta, Mohammad Taufiq or well-known by his initials called Emte completed his graphic design education at the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ) in 2004. Having enjoyed drawing since he was a child, Emte made comics, cartoon strips, illustrations for various magazines, book covers, murals, t-shirt designs, and various other commercial projects. His background as a freelance illustrator makes Emte accustomed to the practice of working using various mediums and versatile drawing styles. Emte presents many domestic themes and trivial matters that are often missed in his daily life in his works, which are mostly made in watercolor and liquid acrylic, as a medium that is difficult to predict and interesting to explore.

He exhibited and was active in various art projects starting from 2001, until he exhibited his work in Sydney, London, Bulgaria, Osaka, Shanghai, Frankfurt and New York. Early 2019 Emte became one of the Indonesian artists who participated in the exhibition Termasuk: Contemporary art from Indonesia at Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney.

Artist Statement

Overall my work is about space. From detailed observations, I am well acquainted with the environment in which I live. Some people call it ‘urban village’ - dense residential areas, stacked space, arranged organically. We know this is the risk of living in a city, space is expensive, so some people inhabit (too) small a space. We know that space for us is not just a matter of function. We continue to interpret space. It is through the process of meaning that we then recognize the distinction of ‘private-public space’. Through my work, I dialogue back and forth between private and public spaces. Private space in this case is a narrow space arranged organically. On the other hand, public space is a space with a wide scale. In my opinion, the two rooms are the same: cramped. Regarding spatial arrangement, in addition to the separation of private and public spaces, you can also identify “slum-organic” spaces with “orderly” spaces. In every city, this duality can be recognized: between the formal order and the organic order. Behind the beautiful and grand façade, there may be a corner where the janitor man has sat for years. Behind the rows of tall buildings, there is a small alleyway where merchant tents serve their buyers. Behind the walls of the exclusive housing complex, there is a village where the people live, which serves the daily needs of the residents of that complex. One is neither better nor higher than the other. The two of them complement each other.

SELECTED WORKS