Screens are used in traditional Javanese interiors to divide public and private space. Applied
here, the format adds the element of time to the reading of a painting; the viewer must walk around it to
consider each side and to fully interpret the work. The innumerable perforations in the screen surface
problematize the notion of barriers, border, and belonging.
In my paintings I often depict chaotic matrices of so-called “Portuguese Tiles”. These pressed volcanic
ash tiles are actually English in origin and were introduced to Indonesia by the Dutch in an effort to bring
hygienic surfaces to the colonies. Featuring imagery and designs from around the globe, they
metaphorically represent a sanitized visual index of the project of European colonialism.
When folded into a column and illuminated, Room Screen Kardinal shines like a beacon filling the gallery
with colors and projections of tile patterns from around the world.