Indonesian artist Amanda Deastri is anything but literal. The concept of the collection of 3D art pieces is “mystery.”
The imagery of duality, inside and outside, mirrors the author: “I’m an introvert with many layers that people are unaware of. A close friend once told me, “I don’t really know you. You keep so many things hidden and pretend everything is fine. You are a living mystery.”
The meaning of an artistic expression is always subjective because the art piece transcends the author’s intention and experience. Once perceived by a viewer, it takes on a new life, duplicating itself, in a way, through the mind of the observer. Suddenly belonging to the author and the viewer at the same time, it is both internal and external, personal and public, and literal and descriptive.
“Beby, What Is Really Going On?” is not a series that provides answers, because conclusion isn’t the main purpose. The real purpose appears to be asking the questions.
Amanda’s digital artworks exist in a toxic and yet harmonious symbiosis with the author’s own personality and inner struggles. “People constantly speculate and ask questions,” Amanda says. “Though I respond, my answers remain cryptic.”
Inspiration is heavily drawn from an inherent impulse to rustle the viewer’s intellectual feathers, so to speak. The mixture of violent contrasts and abstract, dynamic imagery of the stills has no other objective but to preserve (or even provoke) uncertainty. “By revealing fragments of myself through my artwork, I believe it’s the best way to invite people to wonder […] There’s no right or wrong interpretation of my work—it’s up to the viewer’s judgment, and that’s perfectly fine.”
The author concludes, “I embrace the idea of a mysterious personality and intend to keep it that way.”
Read our “Tenderness” issue in full
In this debut issue, 16 artists from around the world took part in an editorial experiment where the theme emerged organically from the submitted artworks, shaped by what they had in common, and not predefined by editors.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
