Luh'De Gita,
(b. July, 22nd 1997, Bali)
Graduated from Institut Teknologi Bandung in 2020, majoring in Fine Arts; works primarily with oils. Often employs bold colors and composition in a juxtaposition manner. Bali based.
Luh'De Gita (Luh Gede Gita Sangita Yasa) is an artist who grew up in the intersection between the Balinese socio-culture where she was born and the modern art climate that she became familiar with through her academic path in the city of Bandung. In 2020 Luh’De finished her art studies at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). Returning to Bali armed with the knowledge of painting methods and techniques she learned from the university, she developed her artwork’s theme around her observation of Bali which is full of exotic imagery. The theme that Luh’De calls "Paradiso" aims to produce a simulation of an ideal world that she reconstructs through various interpretations of practice concerning the past, present and future and also a game called "The Sims". Leading her to her first major group exhibition in Gajah Gallery; New Now IV: Tension/Creation. Her explorations in the following period developed to examine the deep problem of her soul and mental health.
Currently, the ideas and themes of her works continue to move towards her current concerns or interests, namely the digital world, discourses about from identity, hyper-reality, and popular culture to mental health. The results of her internalization of these ideas were then poured into several series of works "Are You Your Avatar?", "Mr.Rabbit" and "Art fair". Example, on "Are You Your Avatar?", she edited her face on some of the people in her painting, merging with her surroundings. This links to the idea of how people represent themselves nowadays in cyberspace and in real life with so many facades depending on who they face and the ever changing nature of identity, like fashion; trends change. The characteristics of her works can also be seen in her method of digitally composing objects and then photo bashing them onto canvas. Luh’De presents an extreme composition through the arrangement of image fragments lined up and sliced one after another. She seems to enjoy bringing together what is real and unreal in one field to create a new reality effect. Painting these various realities also makes her fantasies about entering a world full of mysteries, anomalies, and often unreasonable, like little Alice who fell through a long tunnel wandering the whole Wonderland.
"The concept of my paintings is mostly to mimic the simulation in the sims. How the players need to make their sims do something so their needs wont fall low. This logic also applies on how me as the painter (act as a god) who controls the objects on the canvas. I used images from my games, my photographs to build the sketches first on the Photoshop. The messy brushworks on some parts are how I translate the blurry lines between realities (the digital world and the real world we live in) we experience daily."
“Painting makes me understand myself more, that maybe I desire control over things that I cannot control, blurring the realities between the one we live in and the tempting-limitless world of cyberspace. And I find peace by being in between that.
The white spaces in my paintings are simply the interlude like in music albums – a transitional moment to catch a breath from what’s going on visually; a language of balancing things. The idea of the past, present, future and other realities has become my number one interest.”
CURATING EXPERIENCES
2017 MISS SOMETHING?” - Experimental Art Exhibition, URBANE Art Space
2016 STATUS-QUO: Print-making Group Exhibition
AWARDS
2022 Semi-finalist BACAA (Bandung Contemporary Art Awards) 2022
2021 Finalist UOB Painting of the Year - Established Category
2019 Pemuda Kaya Karya Top Coffee, Gedung Gas Negara
2018 Perupa Nominator Arc of Bali 2018
PRESS
Ketika Perempuan Perupa Membuka Pandora: https://senirupa.id/pameran/ketika-perempuan-perupa-membuka-pandora/
The Art of Luh’De Gita: Alternative Realities Between the Digital and Natural Worlds: https://www.nowbali.co.id/luhdeh-gitayasa-balinese-artist/
Relive The Fragments of Luh Gede’s Memories in Her Series of Awe-Inspiring Oil Paintings: https://www.luxuo.com/culture/art/relive-the-fragments-of-luh-gedes-memories-in-her-series-of-awe-inspiring-oil-paintings.html
Women in Contemporary Art: https://jakland.com/gallery/womenincontemporaryart
The New Now IV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DnVm2ZkGaSwxednQOdDWy6rCeKM_DroK/view?usp=share_link
Notes from Bali: 4 Emerging Female Artists to Watch: https://pluralartmag.com/2021/03/27/notes-from-bali-4-emerging-female-artists-to-watch/