The OHD Museum is well-known for its collections that focus on the history of modern Indonesian art, and in this context the OHD Museum’s collection is the most comprehensive. This exhibition seeks to represent the development of modern and contemporary Indonesian artworks. Given the limited exhibition space, it is only possible to present some of the important artists with examples of their work, from various eras, groups, art academies, and various styles that exist in the history of modern and contemporary Indonesia art. The number of artists involved is 82, 73 male and 9 female, from the oldest Affandi and other “old masters” generation to the youngest artist Agugn Prabowo born in 1985. There are 98 artworks, 87 two dimensional mostly paintings, 10 three dimensional and 1 video.
The role of artists’ groups or studios in the past and also today is important for the career development of Indonesian artists. Among the well-known groups of the past were the Group of Five from Bandung (Affandi, Hendra Gunawan, Sudarso, Barli Sasmitawinata, Wahdi Sumanta, 1935) who practiced painting together in Bandung; PERSAGI/Persatuan Ahli Gambar Indonesia (S. Sudjojono and Agus Djaya as founders, e.a. 1938) which was the most important artist organization and considered as the pioneer of modern Indonesian art; SIM/Seniman Indonesia Muda (S. Sudjojono as founder, Soedibio, Harijadi S. e.a. 1946) which was founded when the Indonesian government moved to Yogyakarta as the Dutch came back and settled in Jakarta. Pelukis Rakyat (Hendra Gunawan, Affandi, Trubus e.a. 1947) which was a split of SIM. Two existing major groups of the younger generation are SDI/Sanggar Dewata Indonesia of an artists’ community from Bali and SAKATO of artists from West Sumatra. Besides, there are still small groups such as Jendela, Gelaran (disbanded), Genta (disbanded) that produced tough artists, and others.
Artists can also be grouped according to the art academy they attend which produce different character of artworks, particularly in the past. We have 3 major art schools: “ASRI”/ISI Yogyakarta, ITB-Bandung, IKJ-Jakarta, which could deliver different approaches for the art and art practice. There are also artists who are not in any group but stand-alone like Salim, who at a very young age had moved to Europe and later lived in Paris until the end of his life. Likewise Sudjana Kerton went to Europe after independence and then lived in the USA for very long even though he finally return to Indonesia.
These different artists’ backgrounds have produced a wide variety of works that can be seen in this exhibition.
Adi Kaniko | Aditya Hediyanto | Affandi | Agugn Prabowo
Agus Djaya | Agus Suwage | Arahmaiani | Ashley Bickerton
Astari Rasjid | Ay Tjoe Christine | Barli Sasmitawinata
Basuki Resobowo | Batara Lubis | Bilaningsih | Budi Kustarto
Bunga Jeruk | Chitaru Kawasaki | Dadang Christanto | Dedy Sufriadi
Dhanank Pambayun | Dipo Andy | Dullah | Edi Sunaryo
Eko Nugroho | Entang Wiharso | Erizal As | F. X Harsono
Galam Zulkifli | Gusmen Heriadi | Handiwirman | Handrio
Harijadi S. | Haris Purnomo | Hendra Gunawan | Heri Dono
I Gusti Ngurah Udiantara | I. G. A. K. Murniasih | Indra Leonardi
Ivan Sagito | Jeihan Sukmantoro | Jumaldi Alfi
Kartono Yudhokusumo | Kwee Ing Tjiong | Lucia Hartini
M. Irfan | Made Djirna | Made Wianta | Nashar | Nasirun
Nasjah Djamin | Nyoman Masriadi | Nyoman Nuarta
Nyoman Sukari | O. H. Supono | Paul Kadarisman | Popo Iskandar
Pupuk D. P. | R. Roedyat Martadiradja | Rispul | Ronald Manullang
Rudi Mantofani | Rusli | S. Sudjojono | Salim | Soedibio | Soetopo
Srihadi Soedarsono | Sudarso | Sudjana Kerton | Sutjipto Adi
Suhadi | Sunaryo | Suraji | Titarubi | Trubus Soedarsono | Ugo Untoro
Wahdi Sumanta | Widayat | Wisaksono | Yani Mariani Sastranegara
Yunizar | Yuswantoro Adi