Lot Essay
Tiong Ang was born in Surabaya (Indonesia) in 1961. He studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (1981-86) and the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam (1988-90). Tiong Ang's work blends the conceptual approach of process-based media art and the solitary, pictorial practice of painting to address issues of perception, collective memory, social and cultural estrangement and dislocation, all embedded in an ever-changing field of contradictions and contexts. Using media specific to his topic - whether painting, video installation, social projects or environments - Ang poses questions about how we negotiate our notion of self image in an ethically and culturally hybridized world. He is also an avid collaborator in projects that range from masquerades with children to alter ego confrontations with an African friend. He has shown worldwide, in important institutions and at minor festivals. He participated in the 2004 and 2008 Shanghai Biennial, the 2001 Venice Biennial, the 1995 Istanbul Biennial and the 1994 Havana Biennial. Tiong Ang lives and works in Amsterdam. His work was shown in the exhibition The Spine at de Appel in 1994.