“There’s no pattern in my painting.
The only pattern is no sketch.”
Irwan Bagja Dermawan, born in 1971, known as Iweng, is a prominent artist from Bandung, West Java, operating from an expressly surrealist sensibility.
Over the course of three decades, his oeuvre reveals a profound mastery of traditional oil painting, marked by a pivotal turn in 2009, when his quest led him to transcend conventional boundaries. The depth and vividness of his visions could not be contained into mere hues, it had to be given another quality: to glow in the dark.
By fusing fluorescent pigments with oil paint, he forged his own technique, and set himself free from the straitjacket sometimes condescending this medium as no artist so far had managed to elevate it into a noble art.
It is a peculiar experience to witness his paintings transmuting as the sun goes down. As if a new dimension was unlocked. As if another sun rose.
Iweng’s body of work provides a vibrant evidence of the multi-layered nature of reality, of non-separateness between realms, of continuum between light and darkness. Metaphor of a gateway into an elevated level of consciousness.
For Iweng, painting is a serendipitous practice, a portal to the subconscious, a spiritual - yet playful - endeavor that resists strict intellectualization. His work emerges from instinct and intuition, inviting viewers to engage with the raw essence of creativity beyond the confines of reason.
Consecrated by the art world in the Havana Biennale in 2000, for his monumental piece, Rimbaraya Syurganyata, fruit of 28 years of spontaneous iterations, spanning 27 canvases which form a surreal 7m high, 14m wide pyramidal composition.
Beyond his ability to roam free in his (sub)consciousness, to depict the fruit of his perceptions and intuitions, his work transcends conventional notions of progress, offering a powerful testimony to the importance imagination and radical expression.
His paintings, which often depict edgeless cities, subliminally evoking the infinitude of the universe, and more recently incorporate balinese sacred cultural elements, serve as highly vibrational gateways to galactic worlds.
Bending and transcending genres, such as Yogyakarta surrealism, which at the end of 20’s Century frown upon any sort of representation, Iweng has more chemistry with André Breton postulate: where rationality has failed to save humanity, fantasy is an open gate to freedom.
Iweng is the creator of boundless realms, where multiple dimensions coexist, inviting viewers to navigate the intersections between the earthly and the cosmic. His work serves as a portal for exploration, prompting contemplation of the multifaceted nature of existence.