Handiwirman Saputra

The painting is in good condition, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. The paint layers are intact.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Handiwirman speaks with a visual language that is solely his. Stylistically, it is neither an extension nor a reinterpretation of any aesthetic form known in art platforms today. Aesthetically, it has no precedent. Handiwirman first composes his unique objects in three-dimensional form before transforming them onto the canvas into something that resembles a still life. However, although the details are realistically rendered, the content remains abstract. While the palette is always pastel, its prettiness is accompanied by a crisp clarity that lends the work a probing intellectual depth and thus never reaches saccharine sweetness.  

Nothing – Something – Nothing 3 is a prime example of this ingenuity. Part of the limited "Seri Gambar Hias" (Decorative Picture Series), executed in 2005, the present work evokes a gamut of contradictions: soft yet strong, familiar yet strange, realistic yet unreal. The title itself alludes to these qualities which seem to exist, negate one another, and yet is no less real in spite of it. Can something be created out of nothing? In Handiwirman's fantastic composition, things that one may discard – folded scraps of cloth, cotton balls, lollipop sticks, strings – seem to obtain a new freshness in their new form, particularly as they are placed against a smooth cherry-blossom pink background. Objects that are "nothing" have been transformed into "something," yet the abstractness of the imagery might mean nothing to the viewer, who sees only the form but may not understand what it is – at least not at first glance.

Indeed, this series forms the very core of Handiwirman's philosophy. By blowing up these trivial articles of every day life into an enormous scale, the artist deliberately jars our vision with this bizarre composition. In doing so, he compels us to think about the things that we perceive as insignificant or take for granted - be it objects, values, experience or even people. On an introspective level, perhaps the significance of things has less to do with its meaning than with our attitude towards it. After all, nothing becomes something until we give it its value.