Sanur Beach

Introduction

In the Garden of Summits and Air

Hengki Koentjoro’s fine art photography goes far beyond the perfect light and shadow drawings of black and white. A native Indonesian, he summits the peaks of the mountains of Java, where the air grows thin. The images he returns with are wide expanses and atmospheric, dense moments. Koentjoro is essentially both an ardent observer and fascinating sculptor of nature. He learned his craft at the Brooks Institute for Photography in Santa Barbara, California. For him, to see and feel nature is both freeing and inspirational. In order to translate a landscape directly into black and white, he lets his imagination run wild, slipping into surprising artistic roles. Thus he looks as if through the eyes of a Buddhist monk across the rainforests of Java from the temple site of Borobudur. Or composes a landscape drama of clouds and mountaintops, in which the spacious depths seems to be skillfully set in relation to concretely represented forms and proximities. The perspectives he employs in his images overwhelm time and again. Clouds and mountain-crests appear so high yet so near, as if the sky plays by different rules in Indonesia. Koentjoro lists Michael Kenna as his greatest role model; like Kenna, he has a fine sense for monochromatic tones and fosters a subject-oriented minimalism. His style thus appears astoundingly certain and rich in form. Shot in a dense, lively atmosphere and exaggerated through a narrative or visual drama, Koentjoro transforms fleeting snapshots of nature into lengthy moments of timeless, natural beauty.

Stephan Reisner

Bio

1963	Born in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
1977-1981	Canisius High School, New York, USA
1998-2001	Graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, California
	Lives and works in Jakarta, Indonesia

Awards

2009	Art Limited Winner of the February 2009 contest
	Merit award, Indonesian Heritage Society Art And Photography Exhibition
	PX3 Honorable Mention Recipients of  2009 Water Competition
	2'nd in the Asia Without Borders Photography Competition in the Faces Of The Earth category
2008	2'nd place in Nature Pro category PX3 annual photo competition
	Honorable Mentions PX3 Photo Competition
	Nominees Black And White Spider Award in Silhouette Category
	Merit Award in Single Image Contest Awards, Black And White Magazine Issue

Exhibitions

2009	Gallery North Art Space, Jakarta, Indonesia
2009	Heritage Society Art And Photography Exhibition, Indonesia