FELIX

BAIK + KHNEYSSER is pleased to present works by Entang Wiharso, Mella Jaarsma, Glendalys Medina, Jiha Moon, and Chad Attie at the Felix Art Fair, taking place from February 17-20, 2022.

This group of artists explores questions of identity and belonging and the importance of cultural heritage and tribal traditions. How does personal history and experiences inform how we think about identity? How do we challenge fixed notions of cultural identity linked to nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, and religion?

Entang Wiharso, who lives and works in Rhode Island and Yogyakarta, Indonesia, investigates colonial history in both the United States and Indonesia. He finds parallels in present-day narratives in relation to colonial history in both his home and host country. The main material in this series of paintings is glitter, which functions as an expression of unfixed perception and suggests ways in which we reveal and hide events, conditions and experiences that effect history. His flower bouquet paintings reference the flower arrangements in Dutch flower paintings, alluding to the fact that much of the wealth amassed by the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age was acquired through colonisation of Indonesia.

Mella Jaarsma investigates the role of clothing in the expression of personal identity as well as its reflection of power, social status, belonging, and traditions at the example of clothing rituals found in Papua New Guinea. During the "new order era” of President Suharto (1967-1998), the Indonesian government banned the use of 'koteka’ (penile sheath) worn by Papua males and forced them to wear trousers and a shirt instead. This form of repression under the pretext of modernising and democratising society is just one example of the eradication of tradition and rituals.

Glendalys Medina explores the symbolic systems of language and image by investigating the role they play in forming identity. Conceived from a conversation from an instagram interaction, the Taíno Emojis came out of the idea of how Taíno motifs, pictographs and petroglyphs can be propagated into mainstream culture. Each face has multiple motifs found on pre-columbian ceramic tile and Taíno pictographs representing either the sun, the shaman and el coquí. The emojis’ expressions are either a smirk or a surprise to represent pride and shock in connection to the relationship between the USA and Puerto Rico and the conquistadors with the indigenous Caribbeans.

In trying to grasp the concept of identity, Jiha Moon takes cues from Eastern and Western art historical references, as well as popular and contemporary culture. These may include Korean folk art, Mexican masks and milagros, emoticons, or Southern face jugs and peaches, the State fruit of Georgia, where Jiha has lived and worked for the past 15 years. ”I tease and change these lexicons so that they are familiar and yet hard to identify in their new context”. 

Room 1206

February 17 - 19, 11am - 8pm

February 20, 11am - 5pm

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles