Text by Diana Campbell Betancourt
Edited by Honey Luard
Designed by Georgia Cranstoun
Limited edition of 600 copies, with two different covers
301 x 215 mm, hardback
98 pages, 21 colour and 17 black and white illustrations
ISBN 978-1-910844-34-2
Published by White Cube, January 2019

Recognising one of Indonesia’s most prominent contemporary artists, this publication brings together work from Christine Ay Tjoe’s exhibition, ‘Black kcalB, Black, kcalB’, at White Cube Bermondsey, London in 2018.

In the exhibition, Ay Tjoe explores the concept of darkness in a series of oil paintings and drawings on aluminium plates, based on the premise of human imperfection, a notion manifested in the spontaneity and layered gestural marks visibly embedded in the surface of the works. ‘The reality is that darkness is part of human nature,’ Ay Tjoe has said. ‘If we create a distance between it and the self, treat it as something that can be calmed, made docile, be reshaped, freed yet part of ourselves, it is not just the enemy but an eternal life partner.’

With reproductions of all the works in this series, as well as full bleed details and installation shots, the book also features an extended essay by American curator Diana Campbell Betancourt, Artistic Director of Samdani Art Foundation.

Published in a limited edition of 600, with two different covers selected by the artist, this is a comprehensive record of an important body of work for Ay Tjoe, reflecting a departure from her more familiar, colourful abstract paintings.

American curator Diana Campbell Betancourt has been working in South and Southeast Asia since 2010. She is also Artistic Director of Samdani Art Foundation.