Tang Contemporary Art is proud to announce Heri Dono’s solo exhibition “HERI DONO - Angel’s Exodus,” which will run from November 24th to December 31st, 2016. This exhibition will present his recent paintings, and his most important installation works
from the 1990s to the present.

Dono was born in 1960 in Jakarta, and he is one of the most internationally renowned Indonesian contemporary artists. He has created a unique creative style through his exploration of Wayang shadow plays. “Humorously skewering the current political situation with imagination and illusion, he presents the tension between illusion and reality and highlights the intersection of local culture and contemporary art” (Hou Hanru). Since the beginning of his artistic career, Heri Dono has wanted to blend diverse contemporary cultural elements with traditional Indonesian culture. Regardless his creative and narrative choices, Dono has used humorous language to mix philosophy, Buddhism, Hinduism, folk tales, and the current state of society, but he also emphasizes that behind his humorous mode of expression lies his reflections on and criticisms of social and political issues such as military intervention, political corruption, and environmental destruction. He makes engaging with these difficult things seem easy, giving thoughtful layers to his work.

Angels are frequent elements in Heri Dono’s installations, but here they appear in painted form in Flying Angels. Heri Dono’s angels are unrelated to religion; he uses angels to symbolise the spirit. “Inspiration always moves rapidly toward the future, accompanied by imagination, fantasy, consciousness, and perception.”