At the beginning of his career in 1970s Heri Dono asked himself, what is art and how does esthetical feelings relate to art expression. The outcome of that insight was the latched onto cartoon films. Heri Dono found the world of cartoon interesting because in this world everything is lively. He knows that the world of cartoon does not make sense but he sees the fact that people enjoy and even adore cartoon films.

Through this kind of observation Heri Dono came to an opinion that art should be like cartoon films. Art is an opportunity for exploring the illogical part of the mind. When this "twisted logic" expressed in works of art it could trigger motives among people to resist the domination of the logic. This is the basis of Heri Dono's representation that tend to celebrate paradoxical realities in the culture. Through black jokes he tries to accept oddness he faces.

After exploring the world of cartoon, Heri Dono was attracted to wayang performance To him wayang performance and cartoon films show similarity. His close encounter with wayang performance gave him a new understanding on esthetical experience. "Esthetics of wayang performance has a strong spiritual dimension related to the identification of matters in everyday life," once he said. " After exploring this esthetics, I changed my interest from art to cultural expression,".

Thus for Heri Dono s art is only a media for expressing ideas, meanwhile the content of work of art is always a cultural matter. Based on this stance Heri Dono incline towards working with common people to create works. He wants to assure himself that he is doing a work that deal with culture. He avoids doing a work that merely tells only personal artistic sentiments. In fact he has a lot of experience working with groups of common people and communities. Many times he worked with mechanics to develop parts of his installation made out of components of used transistor radios.

To Heri Dono, innovation in artistic sense is a cultural matter. This innovation, he believes, happens in everyday life. The tendency to recycle junks and thrown away things among the grassroots is innovation based on artistic compassion. "The creations show the fact that tradition continuously makes breakthroughs not for the sake of artistic means but more for practical means," he said.

Jim Supangkat

Born on June 12, 1960 in Jakarta.
Studied at Indonesia Institute of The Arts (ISI), Yogyakarta (BFA; 1987).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1999 "Mythical Monsters", Contemporary Society, Gajah Gallery, Singapore.
2000 "Dancing Demons and Drunken Deities", The Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo, Japan.
2001 "Fortress of the Heart", Gajah Gallery, Singapore.
2002 "Interrogation", Centre A. Vancouver, Canada.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 "Ressurection of Topos 3", Collaboration between artists and architects, Toyama Shimin Plaza, Toyama, Japan; "Tradition/Tension", Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Cultural Centre, Perth, Australia - traveled to Taipei Museum of Modern Art, Taipei; "50th Anniversary of Human Rights", Boijmann Museum of Art, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
1999 "Cities on the Move", Louisiana Museum of Moderne Kunst, Denmark and Hayward Gallery, London, England - traveled to Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland; "Sonic Boom", Hayward Gallery, London, UK; "Fuori Uso", Pescara, Italy; Havana Biennale, Pavillion de Cuba, Havana, Cuba; International Art Biennale, Museum of Shanghai, Shanghai, Republic of China; Swischen Tradition und Moderne Junge Kunstler aus Indonesien, Staatliche Museen su Berlin Museen Dahlem, Kunst und Kulturen der Welt Ethnologisches, Berlin, Germany.

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