Uji 'HAHAN'
Handoko Eko Saputro

Uji Handoko Eko Saputro aka Hahan (b. 1983, Indonesia)

Creates works characterised by an ongoing tussle between ‘high art’ and ‘low art’, blurring realism with decoration. His works illustrate a point of contact between urbanization and agrarianism or between the local and the global that both critique and admit complicity with the structures and mechanisms of the commercial art world. Indeed, themes of rejection and success are present throughout Hahan’s practice, which spans painting, sculpture, drawing and print-making. These works offer an insight into the psyche of a post-boom South-East Asian artist navigating the complexities and challenges of an expanding global art world.

In recent years, he has attempted to display art with the concept that emphasises interaction with visitors and relates it to the development of art globally and its society. Based on his grounded interest in the realms of value, time and speculations, Hahan lays his nonpareil craft by showing a metaphorical atmosphere yet full of satirical humour. He would then elucidate the mapping of production/ consumption matter of the cutting-edge art market and its gleaming, and also the ironies which are then packed with the alluring spirit of artistic exploration.

He was also one of the founders of Ace House Collective, a young artists’ collective and initiative space based in Yogyakarta. Ace House Collective is an artists’ collective that works with communities and their networks in running space as a youth art and culture laboratory. Established in 2011 on self-funding, this community strives to support and develop the potential and the contribution to the latest art practices by providing a platform for productions, dialogues, and collaborations through assembly forums and exchanges.

He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Indonesia and abroad, such as Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia - National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2019, NGV TRIENNIAL 1st 2017 Melbourne and APT 7th 2012 Brisbane. His artworks have been collected by several art museums like Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Brisbane, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Melbourne, National Gallery of Australia (NGA) Canberra, Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) Sydney.