Ichwan Noor — À propos — Slash Paris

Ichwan Noor is a Yogyakarta-based artist renowned for his large-scale sculptures of hybrid human, animal and technological forms. A graduate of the School of Visual Art at the Indonesia Institute of the Arts (ISI), Yogyakarta, and a Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Yogyakarta, Noor works predominantly with bronze, aluminium and resin. His recent works have also included found components that are transformed through the processes of casting and welding. In local circles he is sometimes called ‘The Maker’, a nickname he has earned through mentoring other artists and sharing his expert knowledge.¹

Noor’s work Beetle sphere, 2015, currently installed in the foyer of NGV International, is part of an ongoing series the artist began in 2011 featuring the 1953 Volkswagen Beetle (or ‘People’s Car’) reimagined in a variety of new shapes. The car’s original design was purportedly based on a sketch by Adolf Hitler, and subsequently built by Ferdinand Porsche’s automotive design company in 1934. The mass-produced vehicle was manufactured with only minor changes for the next forty-one years.²

Ichwan Noor interview — NGV collection

¹ ‘Ichwan Noor’, Prudential Eye Awards: Contemporary Asian Art

² ‘1977 Volkswagen Beetle’, Conceptcarz