This exhibition brings together a selection of works by Kanchana Gupta and Irfan Hendrian, two artists whose practices investigate material as a mode of expression in and of itself.

Materiality is the quality that is shared by all physical objects by definition of their existence in the material world. This concept has (re)surfaced as a pertinent area of study in recent discourse, as artists increasingly challenge the ways we understand matter and material in contemporary art. In paying close attention to traditional materials and subverting their use, or experimenting with uncommon materials, artists take material as a tool for challenging and moving beyond the preconceived limits of artistic expression.

Gupta and Hendrian, in particular, expand the global conversations around materiality as they draw from cultural environments and constructions specific to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Both artists recontextualize urban materials – such as paper and jute – into highly complex and layered sculptural artefacts, transforming the life cycle of utilitarian objects. They invoke deeper considerations behind the form and function of their materials, extending beyond the formal and the artistic and onto the social and cultural dimensions of their unexpected objects.