Solo Exhibitions by Arbi Rangkito

“The Wandering Soul” is a journey from the soul of Arbi that he embodies through his paintings. For Arbi, creation process is ‘wandering’, either wandering in the mind (to the past, present and future), or traveling in reality by visiting directly interesting spots or places, which trigger him to paint. It is the journey that has fueled Arbi’s idea to keep painting. Arbi came from Padang, West Sumatra, and currently lives in Yogyakarta. Each of Arbi’s painting is inspired by his experiences. Since he was a child, he has enjoyed making graffiti. Many of his works are inspired by the lines or abstraction of children’s graffiti. The innocence of those spontaneous lines are very mysterious because of their abstraction. Each scratch and emphasis of the lines that Arbi makes are disclosures of expression, meditation and emotion.
For Arbi, the main concept in painting is what he calls a Journal or records, depicted in an expressionism style. The ideas ‘recorded’ into paints are about experiences and notions of each journey or wandering. Those experiences may arrive from the past experiences by relating them to the current situation, the daily issues on environment, and impressive condition and atmosphere of places by painting them into landscape using plein air painting method and painting them at studio. The landscape depicted by Arbi is one of the ‘records’ about places that he has once visited or never visited. Furthermore, the environmental issues illustrated in the painting entitled “Living in Harmony” which depicts humans living side by side in harmony with nature or other living creatures such as animals and plants. Every journey of life is a wander, and Arbi chooses to ‘record’ that journey into paintings. “The Wandering Soul” is a moment for Arbi to show the fusion of his works. These paintings are the result of ‘taking notes’ on each of his journey, starting from indoor and outdoor works, graffiti and landscapes. The real fusion can be seen in the paintings entitled “Message from the Farmers” and “Holiday”, in which graffiti and a landscape are combined.
“When people see my paintings, I hope they can see those paintings as their reflections of their experiences. As the abstract forms, the art lovers will be able to see my paintings from a point of view which is different from what I meant. Regarding to the innocent or naive forms of my work, they can see to their respective pasts. They can interpret my works according to their own experiences”, said Arbi.