So who are some of the best contemporary Indonesian artists to look for in 2020/2021?
Indonesia, in South East Asia is a vast beautiful country, an archipelago of over 17,000 islands. With every island comes its own unique people and culture, so it’s no wonder that it has a rich and vibrant artistic community. Indonesian artists see the world through this rich diversity in a playful way that is increasingly gaining critical acclaim both locally and internationally.
Our pick of the most important Indonesian artists in 2021
Heri Dono
By no means an emerging artist, Heri Dono has been recognised on the international scene for many years, Dono has participated in more than 30 international Biennales. His work varies from painting and sculpture to installation pieces. In particular, his experiments with popular Javanese folk theatre: wayang
Dono, who lives and works in Yogyakarta is represented by Baik Art.
AT Sitompul
AT Sitompul born in Jogjakarta in 1977, has painted since his childhood.
Sitompul is an ‘op’ artist, short for optical art. He creates work with repetitive patterns sometimes bold and powerful colours. Having studied at the Institute of Art Yogyakarta, he went on to win UOB painting of the year twice. He continues to live and work in Jogjakarta.
Angki Purbandono
Angki Purbandono is one of Indonesia’s most prominent artists, born in 1971 in Cepring Indonesia, Purbandono is famous for his scan-art or scanographs; a form of photography that eliminates the camera and uses a flatbed scanner to capture images.
The effect of this process is to create images with great detail. His subjects range from fish to fruits and plastic animals. Purbandono has participated in several solo and group exhibitions and now lives and works in Yogyakarta.
Christine Ay Tjoe
Christine Ay Tjoe was born in Bandung Indonesia in 1973. Her work has been exhibited widely through Asia and her work is highly regarded on the global art market.
Starting as a graphic artist, her work is mainly abstract often with figures. Her work has a sense of fragility and emotion that expresses themes of spirituality and things that define us as humans. She continues to live and work in Bandung.
Tromarama
Slightly different in that this is a collective rather than an individual artist.
Tromarama was founded in 2006 by Febie Babyrose, Herbert Hans and Ruddy Hatumena. Primarily focussed on hyperreality in the digital age the trio focus on a critique of social phenomena through video, stop motion computer programming and public participation. The trio lives and works in Badung.
Tromarama has held international exhibitions in Japan, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands.
There are many fantastic artists to look for, this is just a small selection and we encourage you to look for more emerging artists. The sheer diversity of peoples and culture in Indonesia from Bali to Papua, encourages artists to thrive.
The Indonesian art scene is incredibly diverse and rich in culture. Join our mailing list for updates on upcoming exhibitions, artist profiles, blog posts about the arts in Indonesia or any other related content that we think you might enjoy. We are looking forward to your feedback and hope this article has helped spark an interest in some of these artists who may not have been on your radar before!
