Press Release

Gajah Gallery presents Jiwa Tak Berujung Rasa Tak Bertepian (An Endless Soul, A Boundless Feeling), Indonesian artist Ibrahim’s first solo show in the Philippines. Opening on 9 May 2026, the exhibition presents fifteen new works guided by colour and intuition, inviting viewers to consider what might emerge in moments of pause.

Building upon his 2023 solo show, Ruang dan Kesunyian (Space and Silence), Ibrahim continues to develop a practice grounded in quiet, minimal forms shaped by space and silence. These conditions can be understood through jiwa, a sense of interiority akin to the soul or essence of a person, and rasa, a transcendental field of feeling that extends beyond the self. Together, they frame a practice that moves between inward reflection and a more expansive, shared sensibility.

Across the exhibition, painterly strokes gather and disperse in sensory exploration as they are reconfigured into vivid textured landscapes: hinting at natural imageries, some feature delicate painterly applications suggestive of flora and fauna while others, in their dominating hues of blues and greys, swell in a symphony of becoming. These forms take shape through instinctive image-making—what Ibrahim describes as ‘happy accidents’—guided by his intuition, process and environment.

The exhibition title, Jiwa Tak Berujung Rasa Tak Bertepian (An Endless Soul, A Boundless Feeling), embodies the creative ethos that propels Ibrahim’s works. His paintings do not close in on themselves, but continue, faintly, beyond the frame. This notion of boundlessness is expanded in curator Alain Zedrick Camiling’s accompanying essay which illumines the conditions of jiwa and rasa that enliven Ibrahim’s oeuvre.

Jiwa Tak Berujung Rasa Tak Bertepian (An Endless Soul, Aa Boundless Feeling) hallmarks a crucial moment in Ibrahim’s artistic trajectory, not only for celebrating his nearly 30-year career, but as his inaugural exhibition outside Indonesia.

The exhibition opens to the public on 9 May and runs until 24 May 2026 at Gajah Gallery Manila.

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About the Artist

Born in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, Ibrahim Sutan Parpatiah (b.1975), or Ibrahim, is an abstract artist distinguished among the art communities of Indonesia. Ibrahim began his basic fine arts training at Sekolah Menangah Kejuruan Seni Rupa (SMSR), a vocational arts college in West Sumatra. He later pursued a formal education at the Institut Seni Indonesia—Yogyakarta (ISI) in 1996, finishing his fine arts degree with a focus in painting in 2006.

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Also Exhibiting at Gajah Gallery

About the Gallery

Based in Singapore, Gajah Gallery explores the diverse socio-cultural interests of Asia through art from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and China.

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