Brut Force
Willis Kusuma’s body of work is populated by sharp, angular volumes and dark, tactile textures. For over three years, he honed his skills under the tutelage of infamous New York Five member and champion of the color white, Richard Meier. “Working for Meier taught me the importance of materiality and consistency in designing spaces. His penchant for the color white brings out what truly are the defining attributes of his work: compositional balance, a play on voids and volumes, precise, anchored lines, and finally, the use of light as material.”
When Kusuma left Meier and moved back to Jakarta, he put the lessons learned to good use, as well as usage of the color white. He then came to a realization that would trigger a new phase of material exploration. “Jakarta, as a bustling megacity, carries with it the conveniences and inconveniences one can expect from a city of ten million people. After a few built works, I realized that white isn’t well suited to
