the objects are closer than they appear

Recent works by Restu Taufik Akbar (born 1990) have highlighted some increasingly distinctive visual idioms: Natural objects, especially trees and flowing water appear turbulent and dynamic, layered and intertwined with splashing and merging color strokes, resulting in complex nuances. Restu has also become more adept at using stainless steel plates as a substitute material for his canvases. The reflective nature of Restu's works is capable of presenting the viewers' images as part of the paintings. To emphasize the significance of the material, the title of this exhibition is adopted from the words commonly seen on vehicle side-view mirrors. This reminder or warning essentially aims to make us aware that the image in a mirror always has the potential to deceive or mislead. Here, stainless steel is not merely a material that offers visual experience or sensation. Ultimately, it becomes the artist's carefully chosen object with conceptual considerations to evoke the perspective of the viewers as subjects within the paintings. Restu's works create tension between the act of looking at the paintings and reflecting in the mirror, through which the intention of a viewer can easily be divided, potentially revealing deeper awareness of art objects and the everyday world. This exhibition showcases Restu's increasingly mature exploration. The gallery space, the gestures and actions of the viewers in front of his works intricately interact both with solid and transparent color strokes, giving these paintings a high degree of contingency, as if integrating the ever-changing space and time, following the surrounding situation. It is precisely in that moment, these works become mediators for a dynamic, fluid, and subjective space-time. This is in line with Restu's thoughts on space and time as dimensions that affirm the authenticity of any human experience.