THEO

Forced Interaction

MA Painting, Royal College of Art, London, UK  

BA (Hons) Fine Art, Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham, UK 

Fine Art - Painting, Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Overthinking Squares, YIRI ARTS, Taipei, Taiwan 

To Be Square With, Kala Karya Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia 

Codes of Compromise, D Gallerie, Jakarta, Indonesia 

Dalam Sangkar / Within Square, Galeri Ruang Dini, Bandung, Indonesia 

I. Larghissimo, Greatorex Street, London, UK

ARTJOG Motif: Lamaran, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 

Setelah Yang Lirada, Artsociates, Bandung, Indonesia 

UOB Painting of the Year, CAN’S Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia 

Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK 

Graduate Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK 

PADA Studios residency, Barreiro, Portugal 

Evi Pangestu (b. 1992, Jakarta) is an Indonesian painter based in London. She started her formal training in painting at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta, then moved to the UK to finish her undergraduate degree in Birmingham School of Art. In 2019, Evi received an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London. 

Evi Pangestu’s artistic practice establishes a framework of control within the square and grid structures of painting, while simultaneously visualizing the rebellion that shakes those foundations. This exhibition aims to expand this narrative into the physical and psychological experiences of the audience, encouraging a ‘forced interaction’ with the artworks. The neon yellow highlights in Pangestu’s works serve as visual cues, reminding us of the potential for rebellion that lies beneath a seemingly stable facade and visualizing the vibrant energy that emerges from the cracks.

In Structure Control, Evi Pangestu negotiates the tension between rebellion and control within the framework of painting. Through layered compositions and geometric constructions, her work questions the systems that shape our lives both visible and unseen. How much control do we truly have?
By deconstructing and reconstructing the stretcher frames, each work challenges the rigid boundaries of convention of painting while still existing within its structure. The process begins with a square frame which is then altered through addition and / or subtraction, reshaping its form and disrupting its symmetry. When stretched with canvas, these modifications introduce surface tensions, creating distortions that push against the expected uniformity of the medium.