Agung Pramana
Agung Pramana began exploring graphic art around 2018, driven by a growing fascination with printmaking and digital media. His works are distinguished by their playful distortion of imagery, halftone textures, and precise object composition, blending traditional visual language with experimental pop sensibilities.
Raised in an urban environment, Agung uses his artistic practice as a means of reconnecting with and questioning his cultural identity in Bali. His inspiration is drawn from the objects and visual forms he observes around him: Balinese and Nusantara cultural artifacts such as statues, architecture, carvings, ceremonial arrangements, and ritual objects. These forms become both subject and symbol, representing the enigmatic nature of Balinese heritage, which Agung sees as layered, ambiguous, and rich with undisclosed meaning.
Through his experimental visual language, Agung affirms a commitment to preserving and reinterpreting cultural memory. His use of distortion, through reduction, repetition, and visual fragmentation, offers a critical reflection on the elasticity of tradition amid ongoing change. Rather than romanticizing the past, his work asks where tradition stands in the face of modernity and imagines its possible futures.
Blending manual and digital processes, Agung’s practice closes the gap between traditional iconography and contemporary perception, making his work both a personal inquiry and a broader cultural commentary.
Unfinished Ornaments IV, 2025
30 x 121 cm
Screenprint on Paper
Edition 1 of 4
This piece is the result of an in-depth study on the evolution of Balinese ornamentation in the modern era. Historically, Balinese ornament has undergone a complex transition: from intricate, narrative-based traditional reliefs, to simplified, sleek forms during the postmodern period, and more recently, a revival of densely detailed, repetitive craftsmanship.
Rather than depicting mythological stories or social life—as traditional Balinese relief artists once did—this work turns its gaze inward, treating the transformation of the relief itself as narrative. The emerging patterns become portraits of ornamentation adapting and evolving, captured through the method of screen printing—a technique that emphasizes layering, repetition, and meticulous handwork, echoing the spirit of Balinese stone carvers who honor precision and continuity of form.
This work offers a reinterpretation: where ornamentation is no longer seen merely as decoration, but as a visual archive of the ongoing dialogue between tradition, modernity, and repetition within contemporary Balinese cultural space.
Timeline
2022
Art Jakarta (2022, 2023) – Participated in two consecutive editions of one of Indonesia’s most significant art fairs, presenting collaborative printmaking projects with Lano Art Project, Bale Project (Bandung), and DEVFTO Printmaking Institute (Bali).
2023
PRINTMAKING ADVENTURE: Exploring the Unexpected (2023) – Featured in Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, showcasing an experimental approach to printmaking as both process and narrative.
2024
CYBORG! PRIMA FACIE (2024) – A key inclusion in Krack! Studio’s conceptual print exhibition in Yogyakarta, exploring the hybrid boundaries between technology, identity, and print.
ARS MULTIPLACA (2024) – A landmark group exhibition curated by DEVFTO, cementing his role within Bali’s contemporary printmaking movement.
2025
Transmapping: Transitive Spaces in Art (2025) – An international showcase at Tali Art Gallery, Malaysia, reflecting his growing regional presence and critical engagement with spatial and cultural transitions.
Ink & Impression (2025) – A retrospective celebration of three years of printmaking innovation at DEVFTO Studio, featuring Agung’s ongoing contributions to collective experimentation.
Ritme Cahaya (2025) – A thematic exploration of light and materiality curated by Savitri Sastrawan, showcasing his versatility beyond the medium of print.