ELANG SUTAJAYA

Elang Sutajaya, born in 1987, is a contemporary artist from Jakarta, Indonesia. Sutajaya's visual narratives often blend sweet and enchanting fantasies with refracted realities, and anthropomorphic rabbit aviators become recurring elements on his canvases, metaphorically symbolizing playful cherries soaked in sugar and embodying the loftiness of dreams. They intermingle and collide, carrying the radiance of pop art, hyperrealism, as well as an essential element—an ancient narrative tradition. Despite the stylistic fractures between these elements, they do not disrupt the overall harmony and unity of the composition.

The otherworldly nature marked by persuasive details, along with the story world saturated with ornamental signals, all bear the traces of Baudrillard's theory of the semiotics of objects. We seem to catch a glimpse of the shadow of Cranach's world, transcending the present yet still embedded in the temporal context of human society.

There is no contrived sense of contradiction, no allusions to Jungian psychoanalysis like Pollock, nor existential musings like Giacometti. The rabbits are not weary and feeble but joyful, sharing similarities with the stories of Hayao Miyazaki and other animators, offering an art of storytelling accessible to ordinary people.

As a prodigy artist who emerged in the wake of popular culture, Sutajaya demonstrates a remarkable talent for depicting cartoon characters. His proficiency lies in capturing the playful ambiance of the childhood realm, serving as the foundation for his innovative painting style. Sutajaya's works, akin to frames selected from ongoing scenes, invite the viewers to imagine the architecture that is about to "step in." With meticulous attention to detail, Sutajaya has become a master storyteller, connecting himself with the troubadours of the past.