The Perfect Storm: A Poem of Colors by Langgeng Art Foundation launched online last Saturday, May 9, 2020. A virtual viewing room with an accompanying e-catalogue, The Perfect Storm features abstract artworks by women artists Diana Puspita Putri and Mutiara Riswari from Indonesia and Gabby Prado from the Philippines. The exhibit is part of Langgeng Art Foundation’s project to support young artists during the pandemic.
According to curator Citra Pratiwi, the novel coronavirus pandemic has placed us all in “the same room”; that is, so to speak, “the room of epidemic structure” from which we must bridle and brace our unease as the new normal ushers in. Social distancing, a hyper-attentiveness to one’s hygiene, portents of economic fallout—that’s only half of it. Beyond toilet paper, what ought we take inventory of, now, when most of the fallbacks we know are, quite literally, out the window?
In response, the exhibit doesn’t lay out a declarative in facts, of what-to-do’s or what-not-to's. Instead, much like a poem, the exhibit places a premium on what this roster of women artists deem inarticulable: the psychological effects of being ‘home-stuck’, and how, entwined with the abstract expressionist form, charged lines and layers of color intuit a shared structure of feeling.
Visit the online viewing room here.
Anchor photo: Gabby C Prado. Sphallolia series (triptych). Digital painting. 12 x 12 inches. 2020.
All images courtesy the artists and Langgeng Art Foundation. Follow the event on their Instagram (@langgengartfoundation).