Darmika Solar

DARMIKA ‘SOLAR'
(b. 1991, Bali, Indonesia)

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I Made Agus Darmika, known as 'Solar' (born 1991), focuses his artistic practice on examining, reconstructing, and reconfiguring the imbalances within our social landscape. His works often engage with the theme of water and its contemporary challenges. Water, for Solar, stands as both a witness to large scale exploitation and a symbol of life that continues to be revered. This tension between the exploitative force of modernity and the preservative nature of tradition is a central concern in his work.

This contrast is reflected in Solar’s visual approach, where he merges traditional aesthetics such as stylization and flat forms with mimetic realism. Although there is often a collision between contrasting elements, his paintings successfully present a compelling visual experience. The colors, lines, shapes, and compositions express imaginative panoramic scenes, filled with stimulating elements that are intuitively constructed through a dialogue with fragments of experience, tradition, possibility, and material.

Solar draws from his traditional background and various cross cultural experiences to explore how we adapt to environmental and cultural changes. Through painting and object based works, he conveys his ideas using metaphors of constructed culture. His art becomes a composition of personal reflection and the negotiation of traditional values and norms.