Sinta Tantra: Shrines of Gaiety

11 November - 20 December

Sinta Tantra
Shrines Of Gaiety
Sinta Tantra

Sinta Tantra (b. 1979, New York) is a British artist of Balinese descent. She studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London between 1999–2003 and later continued her studies in art at the Royal Academy Schools in London, graduating in 2006. Tantra describes herself as a painter working on an architectural scale. By using abstract geometric style, exploring colour, identity, and narratives, she questions the function of spaces in her work. Sinta Tantra is highly regarded for her site-specific murals and installations in the public realm.

Solo exhibitions include (Upcoming) Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Palm Beach, USA (2024); (Upcoming) Shrines of Gaeity, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2023); All You Could Hear, Richard Koh Gallery, Bangkok (2023); Constellations of Being, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2022); On Being Blue; Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Nevlunghavn (2022); Birds of Paradise, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin (2021); Modern Times, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020); Your Private Sky, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2018); A House in Bali, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2017); A Romance of Many Dimensions, Pearl Lam Gallery, Hong Kong (2016); Fantastic / Chromatic, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2015) Essence of a Thing, House of St. Barnabas, London (2005); Nick Hornby & Sinta Tantra, Choi and Lager Gallery, Cologne (2015); Dynamic, Maximum, Tension, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2011); Politics of Seduction, Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University, London (2010); Arsenic Fantasy, Gaya Fusion Gallery, Bali (2010); Real Phoney, Monika Bobinska Gallery, London (2009).
- Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Woman Group Show, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); Where the Wild Roses Grow, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2023); Tutur Bentuk, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); KIWARI: Narasi Identitas dan Kefanaan, Tumurun Museum, Surakarta, Indonesia (2023); Sua Kuasa Matra, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); Taru Bingin, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); Art Jakarta Gardens, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); Art Singapore, Singapore (2023); Light in Retrospective, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2022); A New Paradise, Saatchi Gallery, London (2022); Small is Beautiful: 40^th Edition, Flowers Gallery London (2022); Uprising, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Berlin (2022); Reverberation, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2022); Facing the Sun, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2021); Buah Tangan, ISA, Jakarta (2020); Super Flatland, White Conduit Projects, London (202); On the Nature of Botanical Gardens, Framer Framed, Amsterdam (2020); Reinventing Eve, Isa, Jakarta (2019); Y: Collect 3.0, Ruci Art Space, Jakarta; Woven & Illuminated (2019); Strangers in Town, Art Dubai, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai (2019); Reflections, Puerta Roja Gallery, Hong Kong (2018); Karachi Biennial, Pakistan (2019); Always Bright, Ambiente Indonesia via Isa Art Advisory, Jakarta (2018), Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, London (2018); London Graphic, Thameside Studios, London (2018); Absorption as a way of Seeing, Pearl Lam Gallery, Hong Kong (2018); Elysian Fields: Sinta Tantra & Haffendi Anuar, Richard Koh Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (2018); Hornby Tantra, Works III, Broadgate, London (2018); Tetap Terang / Always Bright, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2018); Voyage to Indonesia, The World Bank, Washington DC (2018); Empirical Atlas, Pearl Lam Gallery, Singapore (2017), High Noon, Accademia Belle Arti di Rome, Rome (2017); Acts of Transgression, Pearl Lam Gallery, Singapore (2017); Summer Mostra, The British School at Rome, Rome (2017); Identify Your Limitations, Acknowledge your Periphery, Vitrine Gallery, Basel (2017); Changing Perspective, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta (2017); Quotidian, Pearl Lam Gallery, Shanghai (2017); I Lost my Heart to a Spaceship Trooper, Griffin Gallery, London (2017); Spring Mostra, The British School at Rome, Rome (2017); Lost and Found: Place, Space; Identity, the World Trade Centre, Jakarta (2016); Painting Now, Riccado Crespi Gallery, Milan (2016); Infinity in FluxART, Jog, 8 Yogakarta (2015); Inspired by Soane, John Soane Museum, London (2015) Nick Hornby & Sinta Tantra: Collaborative Works, Choi and Lager Gallery, Cologne (2015); Bend Sinister, I-CAN, Yogjakarta (2014); What You See Is What You See, Sinta Tantra and Carsten Fock, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2014); Gatekeeper, William Holman Gallery, New York (2014); Indonesian Contemporary Art and Design, Grand Kemang Hotel, Jakarta (2013); The Fine Line, Identity Gallery, Hong Kong (2013); Nick Horby & Sinta Tantra: Collaborative Works, Canary Wharf, London (2013); Confined, NEST Gallery, The Hague (2012); And There Was..., Salon Vert, London (2010); Present Perfect, Monika Bobinska Gallery, London (2009); Nothing Works, Shoreditch Town Hall, London (2008); Gatti, The Canal Museum, London (2008); Picante, Deutsche Bank; London (2007); Twelve to One, curated by Ann Elliott, Canary Wharf, London (2006); Baroquerocks!, Espace Brochage Express, Paris (2005); Salon de Freehand, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne (2005); Boo Hoo Hoo! I’m between a Laugh and a Cry, Ada Street Gallery, London (2005); Waiting, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2005).
- Highlights and collections
  Sinta Tantra’s artworks can be found in international private and public collections, including Government Art Collection UK; Louis Vuitton Collection Southeast Asia; Karachi Biennale; Benetton Collection; Folkestone Triennial, Canary Wharf; Tumurun Museum, Indonesia; Museum MACAN, Indonesia. Tantra is a recipient of many awards including the Bridget Riley Drawing Fellow at The British School at Rome (2017); Shortlisted for the Jerwood Contemporary Painting Prize (2015); British Council’s International Development Award (2014); First Prize, Painting and Decorating Industry Award (2012);The Royal British Society of Sculptors AHRBS (2012);Shortlisted for the Jerwood Contemporary Painting Prize (2010); British Council Grant (2009); Courvoisir ‘The Future 500’ in partnership with The Observer Newspaper (2009); Arts Council England (2007); and Deutsche Bank Award (2006), The Gordon Luton Award, The Worship Company Painters Stainers Trust (2006); Michael Moser Award (2005); Paul Smith Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Arts (2003-2006) and the Henry Moore Sculpture Fund (2002). In 2018 she received an artist residency at the Stoneleaf Retreat, New York (2018). Sinta Tantra’s work has been featured in both UK and international press including The Evening Standard, Tate Shots, FAD Magazine, The Jakarta Post and BBC Radio Indonesia.
  
  Public commissions include: Sunset Ombre, One Satrio, Mega Kunigan, Jakarta (2022); Pink Moon Rising, Seolhaewon, Gangwon-Do (2021); Temple of Flora, Ocean Flower Island, Hainan (2021); Illuminated, 22 Bishopsgate, London commissioned by Contemporary Art Society (2021); The Grand Tour, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (2020); The Crossing Mount Daemo, The H Honor Hills, Seoul commissioned by Hyundai (2021); Poins Square, Jakarta (2020); Horizon to Horizon, Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah (2019); Bright Dawn, Karachi Biennale, Karachi (2019); Compose Motions and Tasted Flight, Honer Hills, Seoul commissioned by Hyundai (2019); Sunset in Tanah Lot, Facebook, London (2018); Collaboration with Nick Hornby, Broadgate sites, London (2018); In the Mood for Love, Lee Tung Avenue, Hong Kong (2018); Paintworks, commissioned by Crest Nicholson, Bristol (2018); 1947, Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone (2017); Pailo Drappallone, Commune di Siena, Italy (2017); Diamond Minutes, Hana Bank, Incheon, Korea (2017); The Sound of Colour, St. Paul’s Way Medical Centre, London (2017); A Union in Partition, private commission, London (2016); A Means of Liberation, Newnham College, Cambridge University (2016); Songdo, South Korean Government, South Korea (2015); Sensory Garden, Bristol Royal Infirmary Hospital, Bristol (2015); The Eccentricity of Zero, Royal British Society Sculptors, London (2015); Greater Reality of Elsewhere, Locwus International, Swansea (2015); The Eccentricity of Zero, Royal British Society of Sculptors, Holland Park, London (2013); Together Yet Forever Apart, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2012); A Beautiful Sunset Mistaken For a Dawn, Canary Wharf, London (2012); A Good Time and a Half!, Southbank Centre, London (2007). Neon Tetra, CreateKX, Camley Street Natural Park, London (2007); Isokon Dreams, London Borough of Camden, Regents Park Bridge, London (2007); Line Up, Platform for Art, Piccadily Tube Station, London (2007); Emporia, London Fashion Week’s On|Off, 6 Burlington Gardens, London (2006); Party Surprise, Christchurch University, Canterbury (2006); Tantra’s most notable public work includes a 300-metre long painted bridge commissioned for the 2012 Olympics, Canary Wharf, London.
Shrines Of Gaiety

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery is proud to announce the opening of their new gallery on Tanner Street in London with a solo exhibition titled Shrines of Gaiety by Sinta Tantra.Presenting all new works, the British-Balinese artist invites viewers into a shimmering, golden world filled with abstract floating shapes, the resonant sound of chanting and the heady scent of incense. This devotional space reflects on cultural heritage, consumerism and colonial pasts.

Tantra's works are created in response to time and space, and are designed to subtly transform throughout the day, offering shifting moods and perspectives. This latest exhibition opens with a room of paintings with gold leaf backgrounds that reflect the light, evoking both a sense of warmth and seduction. Precisely applied in square tiles and then burnished, the golden surface appears smooth and flawless from a distance, while closer inspection reveals grid-like joins and marks of the human hand. Meanwhile, organic forms painted in Prussian blue act as an inversion of space, appearing like tunnels through the canvas and contrasting with areas of raw linen.
- The compositions are inspired, in part, by Tantra's reading of Paul Scheerbart's short novel, The Light Club of Batavia (1912), which revolves around the construction of a spa inside a mine that bathes its users not in water but in light. 'I love the magnetic appeal of gold, its energy-given properties throughout the ages,' says Tantra, noting the material's associations with vanity, wealth and power. In the foreground of the paintings, silhouettes and outlines were traced from sketches made over the summer period of the tropical valley overlooking her family's house in Ubud, Bali. This balancing act between light and dark, abundance and minimalism, reflects an internal conflict highlighted in the novel and also relates to the human and environmental consequences of colonialism, modernism, and tourism today.
  
  An installation of a blown-up 1930s Balinese postcard of a palm tree, printed on to wallpaper in monochrome, is pasted behind an arrangement of three-dimensional black replica rocks, further exploring this tension. It is a homage to Bali's wild and craggy coastlines, depicting perhaps an idyllic holiday scene. At the same time, it is an artificial landscape, a fake, much like the souvenirs we buy and bring home from our travels. Seen within this context, the landscape becomes non-specific, a stereotype, a kind of no place.
- The final room plays scenes from the 1932 film Bird of Paradise on a 10-minute loop. Again, we are transported into a tropical landscape: people are dancing, adorned with floral necklaces and swimming naked in the ocean. It is a stereotypical vision of paradise that evokes sensuality and a carefree attitude. ‘I was interested in blurring the boundaries between authenticity and Hollywood,’ explains Tantra. Removing the audio from the film highlights this disconnect. Speakers in the corners of the room play a field recording of chanting from Tantra’s village in Bali, merged with sound clips from the film, further complicating our sense of place. Here, we also find a series of smaller-scale paintings of gold leaf forms on a dark, velvety background of Prussian blue. While the compositions are similarly playful and whimsical, the mood is darker and more meditative, with lines of burning incense sticks creating a temple-like environment. A mural of two overlapping circles, one gold and the other blue, serves as a focal point, playing on the symbolism used in meditation practices and referencing cosmic forms.
  
  In this way, Tantra leads us on a journey through time and place, from light to dark, from the external world into an internal space of contemplation. The works in Shrines of Gaiety are objects of beauty that we may covet and admire simply for their poetic compositions, but like gold itself, there is more to them than meets the eye.
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Sinta Tantra: Shrines of Gaiety

Sinta Tantra

Sinta Tantra

Shrines Of Gaiety

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