Details:
① Artwork:
Sunset View
This street scene depicts a portion of Sunset Boulevard that runs through Hollywood. At first glance, this city block can appear fairly nondescript. Upon closer inspection, it provides a poetic summary of Los Angeles. Icons of the city’s visual environment populate the image, such as a billboard ad outsized by a massive palm tree. In the background, the historic Griffith Observatory can be seen atop the hazy hills. In the foreground, figures idle outside a cafe called “Dreams” while a red mustang zooms by a Ferrari mechanic. This exchange alludes to the idea of “making it” in Los Angeles—depicting the American dream as a yearning for monetary success.
Over the past decade, Los Angeles-based artist Adam de Boer has studied the indigenous crafts of his family’s Dutch-Indonesian heritage. His work combines traditional Javanese crafts, such as batik and wood carving, with Western modes of oil painting. De Boer 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.
