In time and in tune with art

TO nine-year-old Boedi Widjaja, moving to Singapore from his small town in Surakarta, Java, Indonesia was a major paradigm shift, if not a massive culture shock. So much so that it continues to shape the works of the 38-year-old artist today.

"I was overwhelmed by my new environment when I first arrived," recalls Widjaja, who grew up in Singapore, trained as an architect but became a full-time artist in 2011.

"I also didn't speak English and Chinese much back then. So my experience of the city was purely as space and time. Those were the characteristics of the new environment that I could grasp. We didn't have paved roads in asphalt in my hometown, nor buildings of glass and steel. The difference in physical textures really left a big impression on me. And time was dictated by the clock," he explains.