October 10, 2026

Selasar Sunaryo Art Space
Ruang A, Bandung

For more than six decades, Sunaryo has explored a wide range of materials and media, from marble and bamboo to charcoal, bronze, fabric, canvas, stone, and wood. His practice encompasses sculpture, public monuments, site-specific installations, serigraphy, and painting, moving between figurative works, explorations of Papuan artefacts, and non-representational compositions characterised by expressive yet controlled brushwork.

Throughout these explorations, nature has remained a central presence in Sunaryo’s practice, not merely as a subject, but also as material, idea, and metaphor. It is at the intersection of these dimensions that nature acquires particular depth in his work. In Air Mata Air, landscapes, plants, and, above all, water serve as points of departure for a renewed encounter with this elemental presence.

The water that emerges in this exhibition has fallen, seeped into the earth, remained within rock for an unknowable length of time, and eventually resurfaced somewhere unexpected. This movement finds an echo in the exhibition’s title, Air Mata Air, which reflects Sunaryo’s distinctive sensibility in translating ideas into language. In Indonesian, air means water and mata means eye. Together, air mata means tears, while mata air means a spring. Lyrical yet economical, the title brings these words together in a mirrored arrangement, opening up multiple layers of meaning.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space collaborates with EDISII to present a series of limited-edition art prints featuring selected works from Air Mata Air. The collaboration extends the exhibition beyond the gallery space, offering another way to encounter and engage with Sunaryo’s artistic practice through the medium of print.

The exhibition is also accompanied by a limited-edition catalogue, produced in collaboration with KYUB Design. The publication brings together documentation and contextual materials related to Air Mata Air, serving as an extended record of the exhibition and Sunaryo’s ongoing artistic practice.

Air Mata Air will open to the public on 10 October 2026 at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (SSAS), Bandung.

Image courtesy of Selasar Sunaryo Art Space.