The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Heri Dono was born in 1960 in Jakarta, Indonesia and was raised in Semarang, Central Java. Between 1980 and 1987 he studied at the Indonesian Institute of theArts in Yogyakarta. At the timetherewas a debate on Indonesian identity. Despite the consider­ able opposition toWestern art influences by his teachers, Heri Dono concluded that seeking inspiration in thework of other artists was a natural part of the creative dialogue, and gave close attention to the work of Picasso, Juan Mir6 andVan Gogh. He was also deeply interested in every­ thing around him - traditional Indonesian arts as well as the social realities of contem­ porary Indonesian life. For the artist, it was 'important to look to everything that exists in Indonesia for creative inspiration'. In 1987 he met Sukasman, an artist who works closely with a traditional wayang puppet carver to create wayang puppets in new designs. For Heri Dono, it was an encounter with traditional art which was important for his later development. He explained: Guided by Sukasman, I studied traditional wayang and their distortions: the long forward­ stretched neck, large eyes, long nose andwide mouths. And I realised that these exaggerations were not mere conventions, they were also necessary to convey the personality of the character across a considerable distance. His experimentation with wayang puppets directly influenced the images of people and animals in hispaintings, and also brought him to installation work. At first, he tried to put puppets on his canvas. Later, they developed to three-dimensional work and finally to installations. Today, Heri Dono is the most established installation and performance artist in Indonesia. He has held five solo exhibitions in Indonesia as well as a show entitled 'Unknown Dimensions' in Basel, Switzerland. His work has been represented in many group exhibitions including the '4th Biennale of IndonesianYoung Painters', IsmailMarzuki Cultural Center, Jakarta, 1984; '3rd ASEAN Young Artists Exhibition', Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, 1985; 'Modern Indonesian Art', Indonesian Festival, touring the United States, 1990-91; 'Destructive Images', performance art, SenisonoGallery, Yogyakarta, 1991; and 'New Art from South­ East Asia', Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, 1992. Hismany awards include that for Best Painting, Indonesian Institute of the Arts, INDONESIA HERi DONO Yogyakarta, 1981 and the Lempad P rize, Sanggar Dewata, Bali, 1992. Heri Dono's paintings are expressive, wild and humorous. Images in his paintings are mostly unidentified creatures whose distor­ tions havemuch in common with the wayang puppets and cartoons. The background scenes to his paintings, however, are drawn from his perception of real life - many are cynical, erotic, bitter or crazy. 'The world is crazy, frightening,' he once said. 'Look at the hunger in Africa, for example. They need food, but they got bullets.' Hisworks reflect wide-ranging issues: famine in Africa, the torture of political prisoners, unemployment, drugs, and political violence. He has said, 'For me it is important how art could serve humanity'. However, he notes that his work is an expression of his feelings not an opinion. Watching the marginal people (1992) portraysthe life of ruralpeople inmetropolitan centres and their alienation from urban life. It consists of a very large panel with ten heads attached. The faces are half human and half animal, with eyes that are connected to an electric motor; the eyes move wildly and noisily from side to side. Above the heads are hung strange creatures in which amplified clockwork produces the sound of termites. His abilityto engineer art forms andmedia from quite different contexts is illustrated by another work, The wild horse (1992), which 13 Campaign of the three parties 1992 Synthetic polymer paint on canvas 98x98.5cm Bottom Kuda Binal (The wild horse) 1992 Performance Yogyakarta blends a traditional performing art known as Magic Horse (a folk magical dance) with installation. The performance is presented in a public space and played by a group of children. Within the performance, however, Heri Dono created an installation which also functions as a setting. The hobbyhorses of the traditional dance are replaced by strange creatures which recall the images in his paintings. The properties are similar to wayang puppets. But what were formerly painted images have here become moving, tangible objects-no longer simplyexpress­ ive, but shocking. Jim Supangkat