Fendry Ekel’s paintings explore the shadow side of human ambition. His monumental, layered works - acrylic and gouache on paper - often painted after black and white photographs depicting portraits, architecture or other remnants of historic events. By appropriating these images from our collective memory, Ekel critically investigates the use of art, architecture and figuration as propaganda for ideology of any kind and confronts himself with the borderline where ethical and aesthetical values cross each other. Ekel is fascinated by the ability of architectonic creations to yield memory. He is intrigued by the way in which buildings and monuments are used as a confirmation of power to seduce, manipulate and intimidate; leading sometimes to megalomania that traverses the norms of culture and civilization. The specific moment at which power turns into ignorance is the continuous subject matter in all of Ekel’s paintings. Architecture and the urban landscape are a perfect setting as to where abstraction and figuration meet each other in reality. His work explores and attempts to fathom the motives underlying this perversion and as a result gain a certain kind of flatness on the pictorial surface while at the same time creating depth in meaning. Fendry Ekel was born in Jakarta. As a teenager he migrated in the early 90’s from Indonesia to The Netherlands, a radical move that has given rise to a continuing fascination in investigating and identifying his surroundings. It is in this setting that Ekel locates the subjects of his paintings. He lives and works in Amsterdam where he received his art education at the Rijksakademie and the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy. Amsterdam, 2007