Spirit Works: The Art of Noviadi Angkasapura

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Noviadi Angkasapura, "Spirit Works," n. d.

mixed media

Spirit Works: The Art of Noviadi Angkasapura

Outsiders and Others is thrilled to be featuring works by Indonesian artist Noviadi Angkasapura this October. This is a very unique opportunity for Vancouver to see the works of Noviadi Angkasapura which have never been shown here before. 

Born in Jayapura, West Papua – Eastern Indonesia in 1979, Angkasapura always enjoyed drawing. He is not a trained artist, but began drawing seriously in 2001 after a mystical experience. He was visited by a spirit-like being who gave him the name KI RADEN SASTRO INGGIL. This name is often written into his drawings.

This supernatural being also gave him the message to live honestly and patiently: “I saw the creature clearly, he threw the letter (paper) which actually exists in writing – 1. honest, 2. patient, just those two words. that’s what makes me feel so strange, I wanted to ask him, what does that mean? I do not understand.’”

Since that fateful visit, the presence of this spirit is always with Angkasapura when he draws. He is merely a conduit for the spirit’s messages. He does not feel he controls the outcome. The figures in his drawings are encounters with internal and external forces. Though he senses the dramas played out in the drawings, he does not know much more about them. He thinks that those who understand the spirit’s intentions will understand the drawings. 

“I have a secret. I never project anything when drawing, except a little splash of flavor. This is the spirit’s meaning of “honest” and “patience”…they are the source and the destination end of my journey, which becomes the message in each drawing.” 

The knowledge that he is drawing to satisfy the calling of a spirit is more important to Angkasapura than the finished drawing itself. The calligraphy, which is present everywhere in his drawings, also affirms the process as the ultimate satisfaction of artmaking for him. The writing ranges from street sounds, to mumbled phrases, to thinking out loud in relationship to the protective words of his primal vision. He is thinking right onto the paper, which gives each drawing a sense of immediacy. 

“At higher levels when I start drawing I have only one story. It will be split into many stories at the beginning as I draw so there are then a lot of stories here, the images will be irregular, there are a lot of symbols, yes there are a lot of stories here, in the world. Everyone will see it. That’s why I do not have titles every time I finish a picture.”

Angkasapura’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Outsider Art Fair in Paris, the Outsider Art Fair in New York, The Centre for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago, and Collection de L’Art Brut in Switzerland.

Angkasapura is represented by Henry Boxer Gallery in England and Cavin-Morris Gallery in the United States. The above information is from the websites of these galleries [BALANCE: New Drawings by Angkasapura by Randall Morris (in Cavin-Morris Exhibition Catalogue, 2015), Angkasapura’s CV, and his Artist Statement.]