Indonesian sculptor and installation artist Heri Dono was born in Jakarta on June 12, 1960. He studied at the Indonesian Art Institute (Institut Seni Indonesia) in Jogjakarta, where he won the Prize for the Best Painting in 1981 and again in 1985.

These days  he focuses on installation art, working with varied world-wide materials. In his Indonesian themes he focuses on the life of ‘ordinary folk’.

Dono, who still lives and works in Jogjakarta, mixes humorist comments in his work on political and social problems within Indonesia. His style is often placed in the art form of ‘New Internationalism’, which forms a new art form for artists who challenge the Western hegemony of art, in contrast with the New Art Movement in the 1970s-1980s which favoured Western expressionism in art; without local traditions.

• In 1998, Dono won a Prince Claus Award.

Above image: ‘Flying Angels‘ (2006) polyester, clock parts, electronic components, paint, wood, cotton gauze,  Stylistically Inspired by Flash Gordon cartoons and American robots of the 1950s. They also draw on traditional Wayang Indonesian puppetry. The clock pieces and electronics help propel the wings whilst they chirp and tweet in discordant tones.  On display in ramp way at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, (Gift of Gene and Brian Sherman).

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