An inimitable creative force, Indonesian artist Christine Ay Tjoe has become one of Southeast Asia’s most prominent voices, known for the primacy of the line in her works and the striking interplay between positive and negative space. L3 (2005) is a signature example of Ay Tjoe’s use of vibrant, energetic lines that flirt between abstraction and figuration, teasing at the face of a man behind encroaching red, figure-like strokes that line the bottom of the canvas. Executed in 2005, the work belongs to Ay Tjoe’s more representative canvases of human faces, differing from her later abstract tornadoes of whizzing strokes of colour.

Born in Bandung, Indonesia in 1973, Ay Tjoe trained in graphic design and printmaking at the Bandung Institute of Technology. Her early work as a graphic artist gave her a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between line, field and colour, evident in her subsequent large, complex canvas works such as L3. Indeed, the influence of drawing and printmaking are clear in her paintings, and especially in L3 in which Ay Tjoe scribbles loose squinting eyes and flaring nostrils onto the heart of the canvas. Ay Tjoe leaves the space around these central features primarily devoid of brushwork, creating a negative space—a key aspect of the dry-point technique that the artist first experimented with as a graphic artist—which contrasts with the flurry of black strokes that represents the man’s hair.

Ay Tjoe’s works are both deeply personal and relatable to a universal audience. Speaking of her process, the artist describes: “Most of the time, when I want to make a new series of work, I look at the blank and empty canvas and, based on my experiences, the painting just flows out. It’s like I find a spirit, and the spirit helps me make it” (the artist quoted in Oliver Giles, “Artist Christine Ay Tjoe Discusses Finding Inspiration In Nature and Her New Exhibition In Hong Kong”, Tatler Asia, 17 May 2021, online). Her works explore feelings of human nature and universal drives, and allude to the connection between the mind, body and soul.

Admired by critics and collectors alike, Ay Tjoe’s work has been featured in notable international exhibitions, including the Asia Society Triennial, New York (2020); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung (2012); and Singapore Art Museum (2012) amongst others. Further, Ay Tjoe was honoured with a major retrospective at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2018), testament to the great significance of the artist.

印尼藝術家克里絲汀・艾珠憑藉獨特巧思和創造力，成為東南亞藝壇中舉足輕重的人物，她的作品注重線條，正空間與負空間的對比鮮明奪目。《L3》（2005年）中的線條運轉充滿活力，遊走於抽象與具象之間，表現了艾珠的典型風格，畫面底部栽植了向上蔓生的鮮紅筆觸，調情的男人臉容隱乎其間，曖昧不明。 這幅畫作於2005年，屬於艾珠極具代表性的人臉作品，與她後來運筆如疾風、揮灑色彩如行雲流水的抽象畫法大相徑庭。

艾珠1973年生於印尼萬隆，曾在萬隆理工學院修習平面設計及版畫。她早期任職平面藝術家的經歷讓她對線條、空間與色彩之間的互動瞭如指掌，此特點明顯見於她隨後所創作的大型複雜畫布作品——諸如《L3》之中。事實上，繪畫和版畫對她作畫的影響是顯而易見的，以《L3》為例，艾珠揮揮畫筆，在畫布中心暈染出細長的媚眼、舒張的鼻孔。在這些主要特徵的周圍，艾珠刻意留白，創造了一個負空間——這是直刻技法的關鍵，艾珠初為平面藝術家時曾在這方面多加鑽研——與代表男子頭髮的那團風暴般的黑色筆觸形成強烈對比。

艾珠的作品描繪的既是個人體驗，卻同時引起普遍觀眾的共鳴。談到藝術家的創作過程，她說：「大多數時候，當我想創作一個全新系列時，我端看著空白的畫布，根據我的經驗，繪畫內容就自然浮現了。就像我找到了一個精靈，是這個精靈幫助我創作。」（藝術家，引自奧利弗・賈爾斯：〈藝術家克里絲汀・艾珠談在自然中尋找靈感和她在香港的新展覽〉，《Tatler Asia》，2021年5月17日，線上）她的作品探索人的情感和普遍的欲望，並暗示思想、身體和靈魂之間的聯繫。

艾珠的作品深受藝評人和藏家的喜愛，曾亮相多個知名的國際展覽，包括紐約亞洲協會三年展（2020年）、倫敦皇家藝術學院（2017年）、臺中國立臺灣美術館（2012年）等。此外，金澤21 世紀美術館於2018年更為艾珠舉行大型回顧展，足證其非凡重要性。