Jakarta-born artist Ichwan Noor (1964) has become known for his large-scale sculptures that take multiple forms. Both a graduate of the Institut Seni Indonesia in Yogyakarta and a professor of Fine Arts at the same venue, Noor works predominantly with bronze, aluminium and resin. The artist has explored the theme of transport in previous works featuring objects and figures in motion, and he increasingly focuses on the man-made, modifying different vehicular components into new, simplified shapes in which their original function is challenged. It’s at Amsterdam‘s Reflex Gallery where the Indonesian creative currently showcases some fine examples of this hybrid vision. The show, entitled Beetle Sphere, presents the Beetle Sphere, one of Noor’s most iconic pieces, in addition to five large works on paper. The Beetle Sphere spawns from a group show of classic cars in 2011 in which he participated and artistically rendered a Volkswagen Beetle, and is Noor’s response to the car’s loaded political history and signature design. The Indonesian artist carved a spherical polyurethane replica of the vehicle’s body and then cast it in aluminium. A separate spherical interior was produced and fit to the cast exterior. The resulting sculpture is augmented with original car parts by the manufacturer to complete the illusion (on through Jun 30).
Reflex Gallery
Weteringschans 79A (Centrum)
1017RX Amsterdam
Telephone: +31 20 6272832
Tue-Sat 11-6
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
