Roby Dwi Antono
YOGYAKARTA
Chibi-like characters with oversized eyes, anthropomorphic animals, decapitated dinosaurs, and fleshy aliens appear often in the work of Yogyakarta-based artist Roby Dwi Antono. Brimming with surreal imagination, Antono creates worlds filled with irreverent fictions across oil paintings, sculptures, and prints.
Antono has presented his works in Indonesia and abroad since 2012, and his recent exhibition, “Roby Dwi Antono: TUK” (2024), at London’s Almine Rech Gallery, marked the next stage in his artistic evolution as he showcased a more visceral approach, replacing detailed brushstrokes with rough and expressive gestures. And it was here that he chose to focus on themes much closer to home. In “TUK,” Antono explored the experience of (2023), which depicts a female figure shown from its elongated head to its upper thighs. Its gaping, vertical mouth is flanked by two other sets of eyes and mouths to evoke the splitting of emotions when one experiences pain. But despite its apparent suffering, childlike faces appear in place of the subject’s breasts, alluding to the sacrifices and challenges of parenthood.
