Exhibition

10.03.06 - 08.04.06
Front Gallery
Heri Dono
The Broken Angels
2006 UNESCO-Aschberg Bursary Laureate. Supported by Arts Victoria.

Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces and The South Project are delighted to present an exhibition of new work by internationally acclaimed Indonesian artist Heri Dono. Dono has participated in numerous festivals, biennales and exhibitions around the world, and for the past two months has been artist-in-residence in Gertrude's Studio 18, as the recipient of the 2006 UNESCO-Aschberg bursary.

Entitled The Broken Angels, Dono's exhibition dramatically suspends seven handmade angel-like figures from the ceiling of Gertrude's Front Gallery. Assembled from recycled materials, newspaper, scrap metal and rudimentary mechanical parts, the angels' wings flap eratically, suspended in status quo. Accompanying this installation are several large-scale canvasses which combine Dono's ongoing fusion of traditional Indonesian iconography with contemporary imagery and basic electronics.

Narrating the story of Indonesia's Reformasi (Reformation) movement - which saw the fall of Suharto - and the country’s subsequent socio-political chaos, The Broken Angels is a critically incisive, yet humorous and compassionate exhibition, connecting local politics and culture to wider concerns about power, oppression and popular history.