LEMAIRE & NOVIADI ANGKASAPURA

Following on from past collections, LEMAIRE continues to showcase visual and figurative motifs through capsule wardrobes that meld pictorial surfaces with the body in motion. LEMAIRE has created series of cotton pieces adorned with the work of Noviadi Angkasapura (1979 - ). His raw pen drawings fuse East and West and seem to contain an unknown calligraphy, rooted in spirituality and nature. When worn, the drawings transform into animals allowing the silhouette to expand and the artwork to come alive, to reveal all its complexity.

Almost reminiscent of anatomical boards, these prints bring a novel strangeness to the wearer’s body, while the thinness and matte texture of the cotton, as well as the raw finishes of the garments evoke paper and the humbleness of the original medium of Angkasapura’s work. Noviadi Angkasapura was born in Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, in 1979. His mother came from Central Java and his father from East Java. Angkasapura lived in Irian Jaya through high school. Irian is known to be a cultural melting pot with immigrants from many of the Indonesian Islands like Borneo, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bali, Madura, it deeply affected Angkasapura, who remembers the powerful influence of nature there, trees, rivers. In this lush greenery, he remembers drawing, sculpting rocks, tree trunks, and being restless outside everyday with indigenous Papuans.

AKARI IN THE ANGKASAPURA SHIRT DRESS

FABIEN IN THE ANGKASAPURA MAXI SHIRT AND BERMUDA

HITOMI IN THE ANGKASAPURA SLEEVELESS DRESS

As per his own words, on the eve of his 24th birthday, he met a supernatural creature that sent him messages. Ever since, his mission is guided and spiritual, making marks and writings on whatever materials he finds, similar to a form of repetitive prayer. To Angkasapura, the visitation of this spirit-like being gave him a blueprint of ethical living and balance, including the virtues of honesty and patience. The spirit is present when he draws, and points to his body of work as a process of achieving a moral balance in a difficult world, placing Angkasapura as the mediator between the spirit and the public.

His creations depict strange and disturbing beings: imaginary animals and anthropomorphic creatures whose internal organs show through. Although deriving inspiration from various Indonesian and Asian iconographic traditions — the Javanese puppets and the Ramayana epic, for example — this creator's figures never stem directly from those sources: they come across as thoroughly original. For the most part, this creator works in ballpoint pen, lead pencil and colored pencil on small-sized paper. Today, Noviadi Angkasapura lives in Jakarta.

ANITA IN THE ANGKASAPURA BLOUSE

MICA IN THE ANGKASAPURA LONG SLEEVE SHIRT AND BERMUDA

ANA ROXANNE IN THE ANGKASAPURA CIRCUS BLANKET