Bio
'Each piece has a strong economy of Means and a strict control of Form. Means and Form are use by Mukarno in an elementary and powerful way'
Philemon Mukarno, Performance Artist, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. He studied at Codarts, University of the Arts in the Netherlands. He finished Cum Laude and received the Prize for Art.
‘his performances demonstrate in their own way his original ideas and his strife for intense expressiveness’
Mukarno is a unique figure in the art world. The use of his body is one of his trademarks. The works demonstrate in their own way his original ideas and his strife for intense expressiveness, in a language that does not refer to tradition. Each work has a strong economy of Means and strict control of Form. Means and Form are used by Mukarno in an elementary and powerful way.
After graduating he encountered another dimension in his self, driven by something deep and powerful. He expresses this in an art form so-called Performance Art. It is an investigation of the body in order to address the subconscious. A deepening of his consciousness. The art brings him closer to his own body and to the awareness of my own thoughts and processes. Articulating this awareness through performance helps to uncover his connection to the environment, the earth, and to my ancestors.
In a society full of traps to confuse, numb and desensitize, his work uses and acknowledges the density and complexity of the human structure by exploring its innards, its thought processes, its energy, and its capacity for life: Blood, naked body, sexuality, gender, fetishes, water, organs, bones, energy, thought. He projects shapes from within. The work is deliberately dark, vulnerable, and often sensual. The hope is to destroy frameworks that have warped my body and self-image as a way to repair and prepare for a new beginning.
‘The complete absence of irony [e.g. in the form of quotation, reference, or comment] is remarkable. It is especially this lack of distance that put his works in the total belief in what the pieces are, which puts Mukarno in his unique place among his contemporaries.’
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