Noviadi Angkasapura has all the rights to be proud of his achievements recently. The non-professional artist who was born in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia, forty-four years ago had just got major recognition for his works. More particularly, one of his drawings was featured and printed in a blouse worn by Justine Triet, French movie director and screenwriter, when she attended the 81st Golden Globe Awards ceremony in The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California, on January 7, 2024; where she along with her compatriot Arthur Harari jointly won Best Screenplay Award for their collaboration in the movie Anatomy of a Fall that she directed.
Such honor for Noviadi began when in 2023 he was invited for a collaboration with Lemaire, a French fashion brand founded in 1991 by Christopher Lemaire. The invitation was readily accepted by Noviadi, who greatly appreciates how the French brand valued and held his works in high regard. The collaboration soon took off as Lemaire acquired rights to incorporate Noviadi’s drawings in the brand’s fashion designs. Rights to ten drawings were purchased accordingly, including one that eventually found its way to Triet’s blouse as part of Lemaire FW23 Menswear collection.
Later Noviadi also sent fifteen original drawings to be displayed in an exhibition at the brand’s new store in Rue Elzevír, Paris. The exhibition was held from May 7 to July 6, 2023, and was solely dedicated to Noviadi under an Indonesian language title “JUJUR-SABAR” (translates to English as “HONEST PATIENCE“).
Noviadi admitted that in working with Lemaire, he had limited role when it came to designing the fashion end-products as he merely created the drawings. He proudly stated that his drawings already served as self-statement to his presence at the center of world’s fashion and arts, citing originality, freshness as well as distinctiveness as the key of his works’ strength. Also, Kurniadi respected Lemaire’s vision in emphasizing on simple and minimalistic design, which is in line with the character of his own works, which enabled the so-called marriage between the world of drawing arts and that of fashion. He also praised how smooth the collaboration went without even needed to conduct face-to-face discussion.
Lemaire got in touch with Noviadi through the representation of Cavin Moris Gallery in New York, where he also regularly held exhibitions every year since 2015. Since 2014 Noviadi had also held a number of exhibitions in various galleries all over the world, including Callan Park Gallery, Sydney College of the Arts; Galerie Jean Greset, Besancon, France; The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago, Illinois; and Cvijeta Zuzoric Art Pavilion, Belgrade.