Text/ Gumilar Ganjar
Evi Pangestu reimagines the square as more than just geometry—it becomes a site of control, fairness, and rebellion. Her Structure Control series, featuring Forced Interaction and Overthinking Squares, unfolds through vortical processes of squaring, de-squaring, and re-squaring. By disrupting foundational structures while simultaneously offering resolution, Evi’s practice reflects the linear ambitions of modern progress alongside the cyclical wisdom of traditional values, harmonizing convention and transformation.
This duality of constraint and possibility forms the basis for Evi’s exploration of painting beyond representation. In this exhibition, her practice shifts from figurative or identity-driven frameworks to a meditative reflection on form, materiality, and process. Using raw canvases, altered stretcher frames, and fluorescent yellow, she interrogates the boundaries between form and formlessness. The square, redefined through various interventions, becomes a site of endless possibilities—a metaphor for rethinking and reframing the interplay of art and reality while offering reflective experiences that reimagine the limitless potential of foundational forms.