MICHAEL TEDJA : THE AQUAHOLIST
A film by Eric Minh Swenson. (Film number one-thousand thirteen hundred and thirteen in the series.)
Unlike a number of artists who have begun to use negation, detachment, and inaccessibility as tools to reflect upon and problematize the narratives mapped onto them as members of diasporic or immigrant communities, Michael Tedja plays the other extreme. His work seems to exceed and absorb the institutions that attempt to codify him one way or another, like self-proliferating grey goo. Whereas his peers may seek to transcend identity as such, Tedja’s practice is hypersubjective and all-encompassing. Tedja’s art is predicated on studying the circulation and recycling of images. He is constantly introducing images in new contexts, exposing and manipulating their mutability. A specific approach of this kind, built up thematically into an oeuvre, is a new phenomenon. Tedja’s oeuvre, drawing on such disciplines as draftmanship, painting, literature, and installations to produce a cohesive whole, has generated a visual language that contributes to the development of art in context of globalization.
All works courtesy of the artist.
Photo credits: Tom Haartsen, Bob Goedewaagen, Ruben Diaz, Giovanni Piesco, Henni van Beek, Gilles van Niel, Gert Jan van Rooij
#MichaelTedja #25yearswork #Amsterdam
EMS Legacy Films is a continuing series of short films produced by EMS on artists and exhibitions.
His art films can be seen at https://vimeo.com/channels/76542
Please email [email protected] for film pricing and inquiries
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Website : emsartscene.com
Twitter : @emsartscene
Eric Minh Swenson also covers the international art scene and his writings and photo essays can be seen at Huffington Post Arts : http://m.huffpost.com/us/author/er
