Christine Ay Tjoe

• Name — Christine Ay Tjoe • Birth Name — Christine Ay Tjoe • Born — 27 September 1973 • Birthplace — Bandung, West Java, Indonesia • Education — Bandung Institute of Technology • Known for — Painting • Style — Abstract expressionism • Awards — * Prudential Eye Award for Best Emerging Asian Artist (2015) • Asia Arts Game Changer Award (2018)

Christine Ay Tjoe was born September 27, 1973, in Bandung, Indonesia. She graduated in 1997 from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at the Bandung Institute of Technology, where she studied graphic design and printmaking. After working in the fashion and textile industry, she began pursuing art full-time. Her first exhibition took place in 1999.

While Ay Tjoe's works address many aspects of humanity, her solo exhibitions often reflect her perspective on the relationship between individuals and the general public at specific points throughout the years.

Following her solo exhibition at Edwin's Gallery in 2003, Ay Tjoe returned to Jakarta, Indonesia in 2016 for her fourth solo show. Titled "Eksekusi Ego" (Ego Execution), the exhibition explored the existence of self and questioned societal norms. A series of pencil works in the exhibition "blurs the ego by concealing the faces or identities in the collective of figures that now appear in layered meanings," according to art critic Carla Bianpoen. Bianpoen observed that, compared to earlier exhibitions focusing on individuality, the artist appeared to be "now desperately trying to comply with society," suggesting a portrayal of killing one's ego to blend in.

Ay Tjoe used typewriters connected to loudspeakers as interactive elements. She also addresses the idea that humans can reach another reality only by going beyond or disrupting chaotic daily activities. As art critic Hendro Wiyanto commented, "Only by going beyond daily symptoms, perhaps also by destroying its phenomenal forms, can a screen to another reality be discovered. Only by going beyond the chaos, without denying it, can we encounter the cosmos, a cosmos that contains chaos or a chaosmos." This artwork received the first SCMP/Art Futures award in Hong Kong.

In Ay Tjoe's 2018 exhibition at White Cube, London, she prominently used black to represent "the dark potential which all people have." She was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's essay on Faust. The story, in her view, depicts humanity as a whole, encompassing both positive and negative aspects of body and soul. Through the story, she explored the darker aspects of human nature. As she stated, "The reality is that darkness is part of human nature." Ay Tjoe reinforces the concept of imperfection, encouraging individuals to act with good deeds despite inherent human flaws. List of solo exhibitions • Year — Title — Location • 2001 — Buka Untuk Melihat — Redpoint Gallery, Bandung, Indonesia • 2002 — At The Day of German Unity — German Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia • 2003 — Reach Me — Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia • Aku / Kau / Uak — Edwin's Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia • 2006 — Eksekusi Ego — Edwin's Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia • 2007 — Silent Supper — Ark Galerie, Jakarta, Indonesia • 2008 — Wall Prison (part two) — Scope Miami Art Fair, Miami, United States • Interiority of Hope — Emmitan CA Gallery, Surabaya, Indonesia • 2009 — Panorama Without Distance — Hong Kong Art Fair, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre • Eating Excess — Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore • 2010 — Lama Sabahktani Club — Lawangwangi Art & Science Estate, Bandung, Indonesia • Symmetrical Sanctuary — Sigi Art Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia • 2015 — Perfect Imperfection — SongEun ArtSpace Seoul, South Korea • 2018 — BLACK, KCALB, BLACK, KCALB — White Cube London, United Kingdom • Spirituality and Allegory — 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan • 2021 — Spinning in the Desert — White Cube, Hong Kong • 2022 — Personal Denominator — ARTJOG MMCCII. Commissioned Artist: Reflection on the Pandemic • 2023 — The Uncompromising #01 — Shanghai, China Important joint exhibitions Christine Ay Tjoe has participated in joint exhibitions in several countries, including China, the USA, the UK, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Italy. Notable exhibitions include: China National Museum of Fine Art (2003), 1st Beijing International Art Biennale (2003), Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (2005), National Gallery, Jakarta (2009), Shanghai Contemporary (2010), Saatchi Gallery, London (2011), Fondazione Claudio Buziol, Venice (2011), Singapore Art Museum (2012), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung (2012), Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017), Asia Society Triennial, New York (2020), and Joan Mitchell and Christine Ay Tjoe: Two trailblazers of 20th and 21st century abstraction at Mnuchin Gallery, NY, USA (2023).

Ay Tjoe's contemporary paintings have achieved high market results, particularly in Asia. In 2017, her painting entitled Small Flies and Other Wings, painted in 2013, sold for HK$11.72 million at the Phillips auction house in Hong Kong, ten times the pre-sale estimate, placing her among the most expensive living Indonesian artists by auction price. The painting depicts life and death, visualized by a swarm of flies. Prices for Ay Tjoe's paintings continue to command high values. In 2021, her 2013 painting Second Studio sold for HK$7.4 million at Sotheby's in Hong Kong.