Heri Dono Madman Butterfly - Rossi & Rossi

Heri DonoMadman Butterfly

HeriDono

Madman Butterfly

Heri Dono’s work might come with layers of meaning, expectation, message and irony, but he wants to keep things simple. He works in a range of media—installation, painting, theatre and sculpture—as well as sculpture on wheels, what he calls ‘vehicle art’, and exhibits his work for local and international audiences. At one level, at least, he is among the first internationally celebrated Indonesian artists to emphasise, even indulge in or play on ‘the local’: instead of using what used to be called ‘the inter-national language of art’, the language of magazine and market, Dono draws from within the body of his native Indonesian society to question its structure and methods. He says that as an artist he has to be quick and clever. So in simple ways, he fashions creatures that straddle the line between the serious and the souvenir, with no interest in the notion of the avant-garde.

Indonesia is such a mixture of peoples and its society is constructed in such a way that Dono automatically functions within a pool of cultural complexity. Born in Jakarta in 1960, he has maintained a steady and constant body of work and completed numerous residencies all over the world, in Australia, Canada, Germany, the United States and elsewhere. When he first showed his work abroad in the mid-1990s, it was perhaps likely to have been appreciated for being ‘exotic’ as much as anything else. However, over the past three and a half decades, an increase in travel during the postcolonial era and the rise of the Internet have meant that his work can now be viewed as art in its own right at a global level.

Based in Yogyakarta, the heart of Javanese culture as well as the centre of Indonesian contemporary art, Dono studied art at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts,

and then learned the craft of wayang kulit, traditional shadow puppetry. It is an interesting trajectory, to go from a more contemporary art education to a craft of which the first performance was recorded more than a thousand years ago. However, he has pointed out that his government invests in the past and encourages the practice of traditional modes of artistic expression as means of countering new ones. This trajectory has therefore allowed him to pursue a substantial career in opposing, undermining or at least underlining the methods of the State. In 1996, Dono’s first solo show in Britain, Blooming in Arms at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, brought a fantastic but disturbing set of appar-ently half-man, half-tree figures on fine, false prosthetic legs parading with guns—incorporating the false legs as a reference to landmines. The figures all maintain a built theatricality that is closely associated with his work. Here he made the point that while the Indonesian government was launching a campaign to encourage people to plant trees in a quasi-Green initiative, it was also systematically deforesting Sumatra, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya.

In his ‘theatrical work’, Dono assumes a given relationship to the protagonist, a fixed expectation that devolves from the role of the character in the puppet theatre that itself originated in Java as well as India and elsewhere. Through his use of ‘folk’ media, such as puppetry, which is more about tradition than either high or low art, he makes a sideways approach to the obvious. This approach is a long way away from the ‘Cool Britannia’ of the 1990s when Young British Artists seemed in total accord with the desires of the New Labour government.

Dono has long played the fool, the pleaser and the provider of popular experience. Appearing to be neither complex nor contrary, he uses a robust artistic stance to bypass formal concern. This well-worn theatrical device, however, also has a sinister and tawdry aspect. For Nobody’s Land at Galeri Nasional Indonesia in Jakarta in 2008, a whole series of angels with smooth, wood heads and heightened blush on their cheeks hovered to become perfectly staged images of freedom. Each—with an open panel at its chest and beatific smile—appeared to fly. They could flap their wings yet went nowhere, trapped, as they were, in their own autonomous world.

All of his three-dimensional works play with imperfection, insisting that the means for escape and enchantment is purely theatrical. Flying Golek (2011) is a veritable chorus line of angels suspended by wires from the ceiling like puppets. He repeats figures and images to fill and suit an individual space, to make a crowd. Each angel, made from a range of materials, uses the painter’s trick where the paint not only describes but literally mimics what it describes. Here, the angels’ heads are actual wayang golek wooden puppet heads, while the bodies are made of fibreglass and the wings from papier-mâché. The rounded fibreglass surface protects a heartlike ‘organ’ crafted from electrical scraps, which according to Dono allude to our ability to mend and make do. They also remind us of the childhood disappointment of discovering the trap door for the battery under the skirt of a talking or crying doll. This dismantling, or partial disclosure, allows him to point out the limitation of romantic faith in the pos-sibility of art. A toy, sculpture or machine can be close to us technologically, and yet almost, nearly, not working. The artist’s use of low-tech, low-level wiring recalls

Madman ButterflySacha Craddock

6 7

previous pages:

The Scapegoat Republic(detail)

2011acrylic on canvas

150 x 200 cm (59 x 79 in)

the early days of stumbling, ambling fallibility, rather than a smoothly remote-controlled creature that walks across the stage. A series of long-nosed automatons in Fermentation of Nose (2011) sits at numbered desks, staring into space with somewhat inward-looking, dead eyes. The mechanised creatures nod in unison and seem to agree, yet at the same time, the following questions arise: Who is in charge? Who is listening? Where is the process of learning directed? Is this a school-room? Who is teaching what, to whom? Is there a militaristic undertone once again? This use of easy, visible mechanisation is important to Dono; it shows that the inevitable harnessing of scientific intelli-gence by the State can cause trouble.

“I mix animation with animism”, he says. “Both are based on the belief that everything has a soul. From this point, I make sociopolitical commentary using humour”. The mechanisation suggests something that stumbles, something that can be overpowered, broken down and usurped. It is perfect. Yet instead of formal questioning, this artist starts with a projection into each of his characters, whether painted, sculpted, mechanised or performed. There is definitely a truth, a reality, to each character. The faith put into a puppet is like that of a toy: a child knows that the toy is ‘real’ and, in formal terms, it is.

Rather than expressionism—a bearing of the soul—for Dono, humour is key. He uses the tactics of animated film, the familiarity of cartoons, where legs spin for hours over the side of a cliff before the character eventually drops. With a deep knowledge of and love for children’s cartoons, animation and comics, he incorporates the theatrical structure of

pretence, action, narrative and change into his work. He is inspired by historical sources—from Roman-esque manuscripts to Javan painted scrolls, and from the Beano to Dan Dare to Manga comics—in which artists have drawn narration across the page as a simple device to show the passage of time; where the narrative scans through squares in the same way that film runs through the gate of a projector.

It is always difficult for an artist to compete with the narrative created by mechanisation and film. The inanimate object can be distressing for an art student: “This thing just does not do enough”. Yet Dono successfully harnesses the history of theatre through repetitive movement and the circularity of narrative tale-telling, and manages, in his painting, sculpture, installation and performance, to thwart the emptiness that can surround the contemporary art object.

Dono not only indulges in ‘the local’, but also creates in a very localised context; the desire to appeal inter-nationally has never really entered his work. It is important, though, to consider the aforementioned changes that have taken place over the time he has been working, and their impact on the emergence of an ‘international’ language and the role of artists to represent exactly the opposite. This is not to say that there is such an extreme polarisation between the local and the international. But for this artist, the use of traditional methods means a deliberate desire to immerse himself in exactly the most obvious place—in tradition—in order to undermine or look properly at the State in which he lives. Indonesia has a Muslim population of more than two hundred million, larger than any other country in the world, yet Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism are also

represented there. Indonesia is so large, its population so culturally varied, that a recent news report suggested a ban on noisy children who parade the streets at 3:00 a.m. to wake Muslims to eat during Ramadan in order to respect the rights of non-Muslims to a good night’s sleep.

It could be said that Dono not only quotes from and uses the traditional art form of wayang, with its use of outline, extreme distortion and comic storytelling, but that he is reviving it, making it actual, real and active today. Puppetry is encouraged as part of a so-called ‘Javanisation’ of Indonesia. There is also the tendency to use more popular art forms to reinvestigate practice. In Indonesia, art is a very powerful medium that has, especially through decades of theatre, carried the tradition not only of criticism of the State but also of subversion (through underground news and notices). Puppetry, a distinct ‘world within a world’, has the contained confines of the State that are ideal

for make-believe, just as the European characters Punch and Judy carried the news of the day; insights into the relationship between a husband, wife and baby; a string of sausages and sometimes even the obligatory crocodile. But such fixed images and rules, used over and over, can become formulaic, and therefore invisible.

When it comes to painting, Dono has a consistent yet questioning relationship. At one point, he even said that he was not very interested in making paintings because they had become so much of a commodity. He did, however, train as a painter, and admires painting as a traditional art form. So he uses the medium, he says, as a ‘diary of life’, as a way of bringing together layers of historical understanding. The characters in his Salto Mortale (Terjun Bebas) (2011), for instance, contain these layers, and at the same time, use action: little creatures leap from two typical Dono vehicles, painted representations of his ‘vehicle art’,

8 9

Salto Mortale (Terjun Bebas)2011

acrylic on canvas200 x 300 cm (79 x 118 in)

not included in the exhibition

flying like suicidal swifts to jump up and down and then out into a perilously full toilet bowl. He achieves a real rush with this work. His subjects, part historical, part cartoon, do what they would in character, acting out, over and over again. Although it is generally accepted than an artist is free to paint whatever he or she wants, for this artist the con-tinual reinvestment in a repertoire of characters is key. Instead of reinventing the alphabet, he looks to comedic TV cartoons in works such as Going Away from the Television Life (2008), which also has an affinity with Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Delacroix. A true artist of the world, Dono studied the work of Klee, Miró, Picasso and Kandinsky at art school. While he expertly uses the characters of puppetry, the Javanese wayang scroll stories and lukisan kaca (the anonymous art of reverse-painting on glass from northwest Java), he is fascinated by merging himself and his work with Western concepts as well as with ideas of the retention and denial of authorship.

The perhaps oversimplified distinction between colonial and postcolonial painting in Indonesia, the ‘East versus West’ dichotomy, is represented by more traditional painting styles, such as work by mainly Dutch artists visiting the colonies. But it is also seen in work by Indonesian artists, which similarly makes for lovely landscape painting with little reference to a real, live context. Just after Indonesia’s four-year war of independence from the Dutch, and the hand-over of sovereignty in 1949, a group of artists called for a ‘new and nationalistic art form’, and decided they would reject the old colonial view, exemplified by the Mooi Indie, or ‘beautiful Indies’, representation of landscape.

10

following pages:

Two Clown Heads with Angels(detail)


150 x 200 cm (59 x 79 in)

From Mexico to Indonesia, mountains have always provided special sources of power and inspiration for artists. The mountain is symbolic in Indonesian culture; it designates a ‘spiritually charged’ site where discussion between gods and mortals can take place, and from which gods can descend to the Earth. In Indonesia, artists are traditionally seen as mediators between the mystical and the real. Dono’s painting, The Sadness Spirit of Mount Merapi (2010), shows a sickness within the mountain: the figure of the spirit in the mountain lies ill within the outline of the projecting landmass. It has long been said that when Merapi erupts, great political change will touch the world. Since Merapi erupted in Novem-ber 2010—an eruption so powerful that a nearby river dried up and steam rose from the ground for months afterwards—it is believed that there really has been a seismic shift in the world.

His recent paintings are lavish with imagery and incorporate rich colours. In The Escape King of Thief (2011), for instance, each character carries the same telltale tongues, along with wheels and mechanised potholes inside his or her chest. Other works show us the range of Dono’s invention: wine falls out of holes in various bodies and fills the surface of the canvas; there are nails, many eyes, bicycle people, automatons, bad greedy animals and animated creatures celebrating the bounty. Pinocchio is lying; he has a very long nose and eyes like little snouts; there are extended antennae, two eyes, three eyes, two nostrils and high colour. In The King of Peace ‘Jaja Perdamaian’ (2011), a hybrid character—a conglomerate of a current politician and a mytho-logical figure—is automated, multidirectional, with holes or stigmata on his hands, crumpled arched arms and tongues of fire with wine falling out of

the bottom of his mechanical bodywork into a very small glass. Berebut Pepesan Kosang (2009) depicts snapping, pushy Ninja-type characters with split, serpent-like tongues and small sexual organs facing each other over a running stream. Each wears red boots and sports a miner’s lamp on his head. There is a strong sense of pace and movement as they push forward across the water, which works its way back to the far corner, creating an illusionary space.

Dono treats the subjects of his paintings in very much the same way as he treats the three-dimensional ‘pupils’ at their desks. Yet with these almost perfunctory paintings, he really clowns around. After all, as Dono so brilliantly shows, the painting is the ‘trying-out’ place where relationships can be invented, and characters can jump and spin and stand on each other without repercussion.

Sacha Craddock lives and works in London. She is the Chair of Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Chair of Braziers International Artists Workshop, Co-founder of ArtSchool Palestine, Public Art Advisor for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and, currently, Director of Programme at Max Wigram Gallery. From 2003 to 2011, she was Curator at Bloomberg SPACE and Post-graduate Tutor at the Royal College of Art and Royal Academy Schools.

11

Plates

Flying to the Angels’ Freedom2011


16

previous pages:

Merdeka atau Belum2011


opposite:

Garuda Extraterrestrial2007


20

Olympia Released the Bad Spirit2011


22

opposite:

Mati Ketawa ala USA2011


following pages:

The King Frog2011


24

previous pages:

The Big Brother2011


opposite:

The Scapegoat Republic2011


30

Three Presidential Candidates2009


32

Two Presidential Candidates2008


34

Two Clown Heads with Angels2011


36

War Culture2008


38

Biography

EDUCATION:1987–88Studied Wayang KuIit with Sukasman in Yogyakarta, Indonesia1980–87Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

RESIDENCIES:2008Workshop, Flinders Medical Centre, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia2007Artist in Residence, Ernst Busch University, Berlin, GermanyArtist in Residence, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia2006Artist in Residence, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany 2005Artist in Residence, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, AustraliaThe International Jury of the Xl Triennial India, New Delhi, IndiaArtist in Residence, United Sardine Factory, Bergen, NorwayArtist in Residence, Australia Indonesia Arts Alliance, Byron Bay, Australia2004Workshop with DIDA Escola de Música, São Salvador de Bahia, BrazilSound Art Seminar, Kunstakademiet Bergen, Bergen, NorwayFellowship for Curatorial Work, IFA Institute, Stuttgart, Germany, in Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, Germany2003Artist in Residence, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, AustraliaContemporary Asian Art Forum, Links, Platforms, Networks, Asian Art Archive, Hong Kong2002Artist in Residence, Western Front Society, Vancouver, CanadaArtist in Residence, Queensland College of Art, South Bank, Australia, and Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, AustraliaArtist in Residence, National Institute of Education, Singapore 2000Artist in Residence, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, USA1999Cyfuniad International Artists’ Workshop, Wales, UK Artist in Residence, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, Australia Artist in Residence, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand1996Artist in Residence, Townsville, North Queensland, Australia1995Artist in Residence, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK, with Institute of International Visual Arts, London, UK

1990–91International Artists Exchange Program, Christoph Merian Stiftung, Basel, Switzerland

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS:2011Pinocchio Syndrome, Hong Kong International Art Fair, Hong Kong, organised by Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaHommage an Raden Saleh, Schloss Maxen, Dresden, GermanyThe Lost Magician, Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin, Germany, and Beijing, China2009Comedy of Error, Jan Manton Art, Brisbane, AustraliaThe Dono Code, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsHeridonology, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaShadow of Trojan Horse, Galeri Tondi, Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia2008Post-Ethnology Museum, Gaya Art Space, Ubud, Bali, IndonesiaNobody’s Land, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, organised by Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaOse Tara Lia—I see nothing, Oz Asia Festival, Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, AustraliaHeri Dono: Pleasures of Chaos, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USAThe Dying King & I, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia2007Angels: Bang! Bang!, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, AustraliaThe Dream Republic, South Australian School of Art Gallery, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia2006Heri WAR Dono, Soemardja Gallery, Bandung, IndonesiaCivilization Oddness, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA2005Free-D.O.M., Stiftelsen 3,14, Bergen, Norway2004Who’s Afraid of Donosaurus?, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia, organised by Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia2003Upside Down Mind, Circle Point Art Space, Washington, D.C., USAHeri Dono, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, AustraliaHeri Dono: A Spiritual Journey, Semarang Gallery, Semarang, Indonesia2002Interrogation, Center A, Vancouver, CanadaHeri Provokes Heri, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaFree-D.O.M., Bentara Budaya, Jakarta, IndonesiaReworking Tradition I & II, Singapore Art Museum, Glass Hall,

Nanyang Playhouse, National Institute of Education, Singapore2001The Trap’s Outer Rim, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaFortress of the Heart by Heri Dono, Gajah Gallery, Singapore2000Heri Dono: Dancing Demons and Drunken Deities, Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo, JapanHumor and Rumor in Republic of Cartoon, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia1999Mythical Monsters in Contemporary Society by Heri Dono, Gajah Gallery, SingaporeVirtual Reality, Erasmus Huis, Jakarta, Indonesia Tirtara, French Cultural Center, Yogyakarta, Indonesia1997Tanah dari Merapi, French Cultural Center, Yogyakarta, Indonesia1996Blooming in Arms, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK1993The Chair, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, Australia1991Unknown Dimensions, Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Switzerland 1988Cemeti Contemporary Art Gallery, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaMitra Budaya Indonesia Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia Bentara Budaya, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS:2011Negotiating Home, History and Nation: Two Decades of Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia 1991–2011, Singapore Art Museum, SingaporeArt I Jog I 11, Taman Budaya Jogjakarta, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaPameran Besar Patung Kontemporer Indonesia: Ekspansi, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, organised by SIGIarts, Jakarta, IndonesiaJakarta Berlin Arts Festival, foyer art performance, Admiralspalast, Berlin, GermanyTrans-Figurations: Mythologies Indonésiennes, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris, FranceIndonesian Eye: Fantasies & Realities, Ciputra World Marketing Gallery, Jakarta, organised by Parallel Contemporary Art, London, UKOpera Jawa, collaboration performance with Garin Nugroho, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, FranceArt Stage Singapore, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, organised by Vanessa Art Link, Jakarta, IndonesiaDo It, Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover, Germany1001 Doors: Reinterpreting Traditions, Ciputra World Marketing

Born in Jakarta, 12 June 1960Currently resides in Yogyakarta

Heri Dono is unquestionably one of Indonesia’s foremost contemporary artists. Best known for his installations that are inspired by experiments with wayang, the popular Javanese folk theatre, he has participated in exhibitions and workshops in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States.

In wayang, a number of elements—visual arts, singing, music, storytelling, mythology, promotion of a philosophy of life, social criticism and humour—merge to create a coherent perfor-mance. These elements are coupled with wayang’s unique setting, which provides space for social interaction with the audience. Through his complex multimedia installations and performances, Dono creatively revitalises this traditional art practice and harnesses the power of performance and inter-activity. As a result, his works engage in intense dialogues with their audiences.

Dono’s paintings depict wild deformations and free fantasies, out of which emerge characters of wayang stories. His profound knowledge of children’s cartoons, animated films and comics is also reflected in his canvases, which are filled with the highly astonishing characters of intertwined fantastic and absurd stories. Into many of these works, Dono inserts his own critical remarks on sociopolitical issues in Indonesia and abroad.

42 43

Dari Penjara ke Pigura, Galeri Salihara, Jakarta, IndonesiaAfter Forty, Sangkring Art Space, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaExpose #1: A Presentation of Indonesian Contemporary Art by Deutsche Bank & Nadi Gallery, Four Seasons Hotel, Jakarta, IndonesiaManifesto, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaA New Force of South East Asia: Group Exhibitions of Indonesian Contemporary Artists, Asia Art Centre, Beijing, China, collaboration with Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaChina International Gallery Exposition 2008, Beijing, China, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia2007Wind from the East, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, FinlandIndonesian Contemporary Art Now, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia Conscience Celebrate—September Art Events, fine art exhibition, organised by Edwin’s Gallery, Gandaria City, Jakarta, IndonesiaImagined Affandi, Gedung Arsip Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia IVAA BOOKAID vol. 01/07, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaSoft Power: Asian Attitude, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, ChinaRe-Kreasi 80, Class of 1980 ASRI, STSRI ASRI, ISI Reunion, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia2006The Inoyama Donation: A Tale of Two Artists, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore2005Exhibition of Indoor Collections, Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima, JapanAbout Beauty, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, GermanyEksodus Barang, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaBETA. 20, Post-Electronic Art Performances, Theatre Garasijn, Bergen, NorwayFestival Inspirasi, Dewaruci, performance, Byron Bay, AustraliaFloating Legacies, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia21st and Beyond: Reception, Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaLicking the Ozone, performance, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Lithuanian Club, Melbourne, AustraliaEquatorial Heat, Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia, supported by Coutts Bank2004The 2nd Enku Grand Award Exhibition, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, JapanLand Under the Rainbow, Cultural Olympiad, Benaki Contemporary Art Museum, Athens, Greece4th Art Summit Indonesia 2004, Performing and Visual Arts, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta, IndonesiaTransindonesia: Scooping Culture in Contemporary Indonesian Art, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand

On the Edge: Indonesia and China Avant-garde, The Pakubuwono Residence, Jakarta, IndonesiaReformasi, Sculpture Square, SingaporeOlympics, The Pakubuwono Residence, Jakarta, Indonesia, organised by Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaArtists Are Making a House, Nijo-machi Prefecture, Museum City Project, Fukuoka, JapanThe Angel Garden, Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay, SingaporeEquatorial Heat, Sichuan Museum, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, organised by Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaZ.O.U., Zone of Urgency, Reggio Calabria (Villa Zerbi), ItalyFrankenstein versus Gatotkaca, performance, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, GermanyThe Nature Machine: Contemporary Art, Nature and Technology, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia2003Summer Spectacular Kids’ APT, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, AustraliaBudaya Bumi Berbudaya, Museum Benteng Vredeburg, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaEpic, Gajah Gallery, SingaporeImagining Prometheus, Palazzo della Ragione Loggia dei Mercanti, Milan, ItalyCrossing Boundaries, Bali: A Window to Twentieth-Century Indonesian Art, travelling exhibition, Asia Society AustralAsia Centre, Melbourne, AustraliaHappiness: A Survival Guide for Art and Life, Mori Art Museum, Roppongi, Tokyo, JapanPublic art project, Muza Concert Hall, Kawasaki, JapanRunning Puppet, performance, The Survival and Innovation of Crafts, Royal Palace, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsZaman Edan, Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaKado, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia2002Eye, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaInterrogation, shadow play, Western Front Society, Vancouver, CanadaThe Wild of Imagination, Langgeng Gallery, Magelang, IndonesiaZwischen Tradition und Moderne: Junge Künstler aus Indonesien, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museen Dahlem, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, Museum für Völkerkunde der Stadt Köln, Cologne, GermanyAWAS! Recent Art from Indonesia, Prüss & Ochs Gallery, Asian Fine Arts, Berlin, GermanyAsian Vibe, EAAC, Valencia, SpainEV+A 2002: Heroes + Holies, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick, IrelandInternational Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid, Spain2001Floating Chimeras, Edsvik von Culture, Sollentuna, Sweden

Between Sound and Vision, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago, USAArtists Commission, Asia Society, New York, USAMembaca Frida Kahlo, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaThe Opening of New Art Center Yogyakarta, IndonesiaUnpacking Europe, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The NetherlandsAWAS! Recent Art from Indonesia, W139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; travelled to Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen and Cologne, GermanyPink Project, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia2000Sonic Boom, Hayward Gallery, London, UK12 Asian Artists, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaHumanism in Art, Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara, Delft, The NetherlandsFuori Uso, Pescara, ItalyAWAS! Recent Work from Indonesia, Museums in Hokkaido, Osaka and Fukuoka, Japan1999Media dalam Media, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaCities on the Move: Urban Chaos and Change, Louisiana Museum of Moderne Kunst, Humlebæk, Denmark; travelled to Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland and Siam Centre, Bangkok, ThailandKnalpot, fine art exhibition, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaSound Culture, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New ZealandMakassar Arts Forum ’99, Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi, IndonesiaAWAS! Recent Work from Indonesia, Museum Benteng Vredeburg, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; travelled to CCA, Melbourne and Canberra, AustraliaTachikawa International Arts Festival, Tokyo Prefecture, Tokyo, Japan1998Resurrection of Topos 3, collaboration between artists and architects, Toyama Shimin Plaza, Toyama, JapanImages of Power: Expressions of Cultural and Social Awareness in Southeast Asia, Jakarta International School, Jakarta, Indonesia Tradition/Tension, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth Cultural Center, Perth, Australia; travelled to Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan50th Anniversary of Human Rights, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands1997Sounding Sphere, Harima Science Garden City Opening, Hyogo Prefecture, JapanInnenseite, Projektgruppe Stoffwechsel, Kassel, Germany Biennial Yogyakarta V, Taman Budaya, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Wayang Gepuk Wayang Alternatif, Bentara Budaya, Jakarta, Indonesia

Gallery, Jakarta, organised by ArtSociates Lawangwangi, Bandung, IndonesiaCastlemaine Visual Arts Biennial, Castlemaine State Festival, Victoria, AustraliaPublic project, IRISAN, Grand Indonesia, Jakarta, organised by Andi’s Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaE(art)H Project: Green Sustainable, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaArt Motoring I: ‘Motion & Reflection’, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia2010Made in Indonesia, Galerie Christian Hosp, Berlin, GermanyUtopia, Dystopia, Disturbia, Woodford Folk Festival, Queensland, AustraliaArt Paris + Guests, Grand Palais, Paris, FranceCiptura Artpreneurship, Ciputra World Marketing Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaPameran Besar Seni Rupa Indonesia 2010 Manifesto, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia, organised by Vanessa Art Link, Jakarta, IndonesiaGreen Festival: Sustainable Artainability, The Ritz-Carlton, Jakarta, Pacific Place, IndonesiaJogjakarta Art Festival, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaCrossing & Blurring the Boundaries: Medium in Indonesian Con-temporary Art, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaOpera Jawa, collaboration performance with Garin Nugroho, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsReinterpreting S. Soedjojono, Galeri Canna, Jakarta, IndonesiaEthnicity Now, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia2009Utopia, Dystopia, Disturbia, Woodford Folk Festival, Queensland, AustraliaThe Simple Art Parodi, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, TaiwanExpo sign, 25th Anniversary of Institut Seni Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Jogja Expo Center, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaTsunami, shadow play, Lustgarten, Berlin, GermanyT-shirt, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USAKado, Anniversary of Nadi Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia2008Refleksi Ruang dan Waktu, V-Art Gallery, Bentara Budaya, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Self-Portrait, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaA Decade of Dedication: Ten Years Revisited, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, IndonesiaChristmas, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Manila, The PhilippinesSalon Jogja, CG Art Space, Jakarta, Indonesia

44 45

travelled to Fukuoka, Hiroshima and Osaka, Japan1991Sama-Sama, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Oosterpoort, Groningen, The Netherlands; travelled to Tilburg, The Netherlands, and Yogyakarta and Jakarta, IndonesiaWayang: From Gods to Bart Simpson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaMan and Human Expression, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsWayang Top, performance, International Culture Camp Desa Apuan, Tabanan, Bali, IndonesiaDestructive Images, performance, Seni Sono Gallery and Malioboro, Yogyakarta, Indonesia1990Modern Indonesian Art: Three Generations of Tradition and Change, 1945–1990, Festival of Indonesia 1990, Sewall Gallery, Rice University, Houston, USA; travelled to San Diego, Oakland, Seattle and Honolulu, USA 1989Wayang Imaginative, performance, Mendut Temple, IndonesiaCompetitive Exhibition of Young Indonesian Artists, Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia1988Wayang Legenda, shadow play, Seni Sono Gallery, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaHedendaagse Indonesische Kunst, Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara, DeIft, The Netherlands1987Sandiwa, Kulay-Diwa Art Galleries/Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila, The PhilippinesThree Indonesian Artists, De Schone Kunsten, Heemstede, The Netherlands1986Experimental Music and Visual Art, Seni Sono Gallery, Yogyakarta, Indonesia19853rd ASEAN Youth Artists Exhibition, Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia1982Art on the Environment, Parangtritis Beach, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

BIENNIALS/TRIENNIALS:2007‘Neo-Nation’, 9th Biennial Jogja, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia2006Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea

2005‘Belonging’, Sharjah International Biennial, Sharjah, UAE‘Urban/Culture’, CP Biennale, Museum of Bank Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaBiennale Internazionale dell’Arte Contemporanea, Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy2004‘Do You Believe in Reality?’, 2004 Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan‘Free Territory’, 26th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil2003‘Zone of Urgency’, Venice Biennale, Italy 2nd Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Niigata, Japan‘Country-bution’, Yogyakarta Biennale, Taman Budaya, Yogyakarta, Indonesia‘Interpellation’, CP Open Biennale, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia20024th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia2001Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama, Japan2000Havana Biennial, Cuba Pavilion, Havana, Cuba Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China1996‘Jurassic Technologies Revenant’, 10th Biennial of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia‘Universalis’, 23rd São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil1995‘Beyond the Borders’, 1st Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea1994Yogyakarta Biennale, Purna Budaya, Yogyakarta, Indonesia19931st Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia9th Jakarta Art Biennial, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, Indonesia19865th Biennial of Indonesian Young Artists, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, Indonesia19844th Biennial of Indonesian Young Artists, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, Indonesia

HONOURS AND AWARDS:2011Visual Art Award 2011, for Dedication, Contribution and

Achievement in Visual Art Fields from 2000 to 2010Indonesia Art Motoring Award, Indonesia Classic Car Owners Club, Jakarta, Indonesia2009AMICA Art Award, Male Favorite Artist, Jakarta, Indonesia2006Academic Art Award, Professional Artist, Program A-2, FSR ISI, Yogyakarta & Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta, Indonesia20032nd Annual Enku Grand Award, Gifu Prefectural Government, JapanYogyakarta Art Prize, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, Yogyakarta, Indonesia2000UNESCO Prize for the International Art Biennial, Shanghai, China1998Prince Claus Award, in Recognition of Exceptional Initiatives and Activities in the Field of Art and Development, Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, The Netherlands1992I. Gusti Nyoman Lempad Prize, Sanggar Dewata Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia1989Young Indonesian Artists, Alliance Française and Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia1981/1985 The Best Painting Awards, Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:OHD Museum of Modern & Contemporary Indonesian Art, Magelang, IndonesiaDeutsche Guggenheim (Deutsche Bank), Frankfurt, GermanyArtoteek Den Haag, The Hague, The NetherlandsEdwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaCemeti Contemporary Art Gallery, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaFukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, JapanIndonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaKirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima, Japan Museum der Kulturen, Basel, SwitzerlandAustralian Print Workshop, Melbourne, AustraliaNadi Gallery, Jakarta, IndonesiaCP Foundation, Jakarta, IndonesiaNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra, AustraliaOkinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, Okinawa, JapanGaleri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaQueensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

Exploring the Future of the Imagination, The Intercommunication Center, Tokyo, JapanAsian Contemporary Art, Base Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Cities on the Move, Secession, Vienna, AustriaA Gift for India, New Delhi, India1996Modernity and Beyond, National Museum of Modern Art, Singapore Orientation, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, The Netherlands The Huid van De Witte Dame, Arctic Foundation, Eindhoven, The NetherlandsDrawing, Institute of International Visual Arts, London, UKTraditions/Tensions, Contemporary Art in Asia, Asia Society, New York, USAThe Spiritual and The Social: Nine Artists from Thailand, Indonesia and The Philippines, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia1995Vision of Happiness, The Japan Foundation Art Forum, ASEAN Culture Center, Akasaka and Tokyo, JapanUnity in Diversity: Contemporary Art of the Non-Aligned Countries, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaKurbis, Museum für Völkerkunde, Basel, SwitzerlandUnity in Diversity: Contemporary Art of the Non-Aligned Countries, Galeri Utama, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, Indonesia1994‘Adelaide Installations’, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, AustraliaKuda Binal, performance, 24HR Art Gallery, Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin, Australia The Jakarta International Art Exhibition 1994, The Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation (catalogue), Indonesia9th Asian International Art Exhibition, National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan‘Realism as an Attitude’, 4th Asian Art Show Fukuoka, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, JapanSuper Suburb, Museum City Tenjin ’94, Fukuoka, Japan1993Indonesian Modern Art: Indonesian Painting Since 1945, Gate Foundation, De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsInternational Festival of Puppetry in the World, Taman Budaya, Yogyakarta, Indonesia1992Sanggar Dewata: Indonesian Art Exhibition, Museum Nyoman Gunarsa, Yogyakarta, Indonesia7th Asian International Art Exhibition, Gedung Merdeka, Bandung, IndonesiaKuda Binal, performance, Alun-Alun Utara, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaNew Art from Southeast Asia 1992, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space;

46 47

1997Carol Lutfy, ‘Low-Tech Magician’, ARTNews, OctoberHeri Dono, Wayang Legenda: Si Tungkot Tunggal Panaluan, Wayang Gepuk Wayang Alternatif, Bentara Budaya, Jakarta1996David Elliott and Gilane Tawadros, Blooming in Oxford, Blooming in Arms (ex. cat.), Iniva, LondonJulie Ewington, ‘Between the Cracks: Art and Method in Southeast Asia’, ArtAsiaPacific, Vol.3, No. 4Orientation, Gate Foundation, Amsterdam, and Cemeti Art Foundation, YogyakartaApinan Poshyananda, ‘Roaring Tigers, Desperate Dragons in Transition’, in Contemporary Art in Asia: Traditions, Tensions1995Toshio Shimizu, Visions of Happiness: Ten Asian Contemporary Artists, Japan Foundation, Tokyo1994Masahiro Ushiroshoji, 4th Asian Art Show Fukuoka: Realism as an Attitude (ex. cat.), Fukuoka Art Museum, FukuokaAstri Wright, Soul, Spirit, and Mountain: Preoccupations of Contemporary Indonesian Painters, Oxford University Press, New York1993–94Jim Supangkat, ‘The Framing of Indonesian Contemporary Art’, Artlink, Vol. 13, November–March1993Jenny McFarlene, ‘Heri Dono’s The Chair’, Muse, NovemberJim Supangkat, ‘Wajah Seni Rupa Asia Pasifik’, Tempo, 16 OctoberJim Supangkat, ‘Seni Rupa Bawah’, Tempo, 16 OctoberHelen Musa, ‘Veiled Political Performance’, The Canberra Times, Canberra, 15 OctoberLinda Geh, ‘The Last of the Asian Shamans’, Sunday Star, 10 OctoberMartinus Dwi Marianto, ‘The Experimental Artist Heri Dono from Yogyakarta and His “Visual Art” Religion’, Art Monthly Australia, October Ann Virgo, Heri Dono: The Chair, in Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, October‘Alternative Approaches for Artistic Expression’, Brisbane ReviewAsia-Pacific Liftout, 16 SeptemberJim Supangkat, ‘Indonesia Report: A Different Modern Art’, ArtAsiaPacific, SeptemberJim Supangkat, ‘Seni Rupa Kontemporer, Sebuah Resiko’, Horison, July Rupa Wayang dalam Seni Rupa Kontemporer Indonesia, Pameran dan Sarasehan Seni Rupa Kontemporer WayangJim Supangkat, The First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (ex. cat.), Queensland Art Gallery, BrisbaneJim Supangkat, ‘A Brief History of Indonesian Modern Art’, in Tradition and Change, Contemporary Art of Asia and the Pacific, University of Queensland Press

Jim Supangkat, Seni Rupa 80, Pengantar untuk Biennale Jakarta IXAstri Wright, ‘Drinking from the Cup of Tradition: Modern Art in Yogyakarta’, in Indonesian Painting Since 1945 (ex. cat.), Gate Foundation, Amsterdam1992Goenawan Moehamad, ‘Kritik Sosial dan Kemelimpah-ruahan’, Tempo, No. 32, Tahun XXII, 10 OctoberUgeng T. Daniswara, ‘Kartunal, Lukisan-Lukisan Heri Dono’, Laras 46, OctoberFadjri B., ‘Gebu Yogya 1992: Terobosan Kuda Binal’, Tempo, 8 AugustSanento Yuliman, ‘Keluar Dan Status Quo’, Tempo, 9 MayMasahiro Ushiroshoji, ‘The Labyrinthine Search for Self-Identity: The Art of Southeast Asia from the ’80s to the ’90s’, in New Art from Southeast Asia 1992 (ex. cat.)1991Renata Duerst, ‘Menschenzertreter’, Basler Zeitung, 24 OctoberAstri Wright, ‘Indonesia in the 1980s’, Art Monthly Australia, No. 14, JuneHelena Spanjaard, ‘Sama-Sama’, in Maandbeeld, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Groningen, No. 5, MayYuko Sakonakan, New Art from Southeast Asia 1992 (ex. cat.), Japan Foundation, Tokyo, FebruaryUrs Ramseyer, ‘Heri Dono: Unknown Dimensions’, Die Museen in Basel, No. 344Thomas Waldmann, ‘Eine Figurenwelt mit indonesischen Wurzeln’, Basler Zeitung, 17 January1988Astri Wright, ‘Dono Tries to Expand the Use of ‘Wayang’ Puppets’, The Jakarta Post, 6 OctoberAstri Wright, ‘Artist Espouses Laughter and Humour’, The Jakarta Post, 16 June

Singapore Art Museum, SingaporeStedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden, The NetherlandsThe Intercommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:2008Aguslia Hidayah, ‘Bidadari dalam Kepompong’, Koran Tempo, 18 AugustBambang Bujono, ‘Dongeng Masa Kini Heri Dono’, Tempo, 17 AugustAminudin TH Siregar, ‘Belajarlah ke Negeri Heri Dono’, Kompas, 10 AugustPamela Zeplin, ‘The Artist-in-Residence: A New Paradigm for Teaching and Learning in University Art Education’, Journal of the World Universities Forum, Vol. 1, Common Ground Publishing2007Judith Collins, Sculpture Today, Phaidon PressPamela Zeplin, ‘Collaboration on the Wing’, Broadsheet: Contemporary Visual Arts+Culture, Vol. 36, No. 3, September2003Prince Claus Fund Journal # 10a, Prince Claus Fund, The Hague,December2002Efix Mulyadi, ‘Renungan Merdeka Heri Dono’, Kompas, 16 AugustArif, ‘Saya Lebih Suka Kaya Waktu’, Koran Tempo, 7 JulyJulie Ewington, The Multiple Matters of Modern Life, in Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art2001Martinus Dwi Marianto, Surealisme Yogyakarta, Rumah Penerbitan Merapi, YogyakartaSalah Hassan and Iftikhar Dadi (eds.), Unpacking Europe: Towards a Critical Reading, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and NAi Publishers, RotterdamJim Supangkat, ‘Breaking Through Twisted Logic: Heri Dono’s Critical Eye’, ArtAsiaPacific, Issue 32Sindhunata, ‘Rire d’homme entre deux Toiles’, Courrier International, 4–10 January2000Efix Mulyadi and Bre Redana, ‘Lebih Jauh dengan Heri Dono’, Kompas, 8 OctoberSindhunata, ‘Hidup untuk Tertawa’, Basis, September–OctoberHans-Ulrich Obrist, ‘Heri Dono: The Ever-increasing Colonialization of Time’, Flash Art, Vol. XXXlll, No. 213Outlet, Cemeti Art Foundation, Yogyakarta1999Margaret Walsh, Michelle Watts and Craig Malyon (eds.), A.R.T.: Art, Research, Theory, Oxford University Press, VictoriaHendro Wiyanto, ‘Keedanan dan Kelucuan Heri Dono’, Kompas, 25 June

48 49

Coordination: Martin ClistEditor: Eti Bonn-Muller

Assistance: Mauro Ribero, Xiaohan Li and Katherine TongDesign: Ruth Höflich

© Rossi & Rossi Ltd. 2011Text copyright © the author. Images courtesy of the artist and Rossi & Rossi, London.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any storage or retrieval system, without

prior permission from the copyright holders and publishers.

ISBN 978 1 906576 27 1

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

First published as part of the exhibition:

14 October–24 November 2011

Heri DonoMadman Butterfly

www.rossirossi.com

RossiRossi

www.facebook.com/rossiandrossi

16 Clifford streetLondon W1s 3RGt +44 20 7734 6487f +44 20 7734 8051

[email protected]

previous pages:

Flying to the Angels’ Freedom(detail)


150 x 200 cm (59 x 79 in)

following pages:

Three Presidential Candidates(detail)2009


52

Heri Dono Madman Butterfly - Rossi & Rossi

Documents

Transcript of Heri Dono Madman Butterfly - Rossi & Rossi