Details:
① Artwork:
Two Surfers at Sands
This painting depicts two surfers placed in the middle of waves. Besides the water and the sky, only the figures and their boards are visible. Painted on found batik textile, this work exemplifies the artist's signature blend of indigenous Javanese crafts and Western modes of oil painting—both aspects of his family’s Dutch-Indonesian heritage. De Boer studies and adapts Javanese craft forms to capture the cultural hodgepodge of present-day Los Angeles while maintaining a strong connection to his own immigrant heritage.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Over the past decade, Adam de Boer’s work has combined traditional Javanese crafts, such as wood carving and batik, with Western modes of oil painting. His urban scenes explore the visual textures, cultural minglings and socioeconomic realities of contemporary urban life. De Boer’s work depicts the cultural hodgepodge that is Los Angeles while maintaining a strong connection to his own Dutch-Indonesian immigrant heritage.
BIO:
Adam de Boer earned an MA from Chelsea College of Art, London in 2012 and a BA from College of Creative Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara in 2006.
De Boer was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Indonesia in 2017 to study indigenous Javanese crafts such as batik and woodcarving with local master craftspeople.
In 2021, De Boer was awarded a Joan Mitchell Fellowship.
Solo and two-person exhibitions of de Boer’s work include: Jalan-Jalan at Taymour Grahne Projects in London, UK (2022); One Spring Day, a solo booth with Hunter Shaw Fine Art at NADA New York in New York City (2022); Itinerant Vistas, a solo booth with Hunter Shaw Fine Art at NADA Miami in Florida (2020); Facing New Axes with Tammy Nguyen at Hunter Shaw Fine Art in Los Angeles, California (2020); Traveller’s Palm at Hunter Shaw Fine Art in Los Angeles, California (2018); Legacies Real and Imagined with Jumaldi Alfi at PT Jakarta Land and ISA Art Advisory in Jakarta, Indonesia (2018); Jungle Flame at Redbase Foundation in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2017); Night Swimming at Hunter Shaw Fine Art in Los Angeles, California (2016); Bend Sinister with Sinta Tantra at Indonesian Contemporary Art Network in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2014).
Group exhibitions showing de Boer’s work include: Ghosts of Empires at Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong, China (2022); Reframing Roots at Gajah Gallery in Singapore (2022); Upwind Downtempo at Gajah Gallery in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2021); Images of Los Angeles, curated by Derek Boshier at Jack House Gallery in Portsmouth, UK (2021); In Our Image, After Our Likeness at Gajah Gallery in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2021); Nature Morte at The Hole in New York City (2021); Curtain Twitching at Gazelli Art House in London, UK (2021); All The Days And Nights at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery in London, UK (2020); and EX NIHILO at Elevator Mondays in Los Angeles, California (2018).
De Boer currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
