Born in Java, Indonesia in 1990, Roby Dwi Antono currently resides in the historic and culturally rich city of Yogyakarta. Antono's artistic creation stems from his natural artistic drive and independent studies. In 2012, he was invited by the gallery to hold his first solo exhibition, which launched his career as a full-time artist. Antono's art mirrors contemporary society in Indonesia, featuring a historical background of diverse foreign cultures, stimulated by local customs, that incubate unique and amazing achievements. In 2021, Dwi Antono was invited to hold solo and joint exhibitions around the world in Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Australia, Paris, and Dubai. At the beginning of 2022, he launched a new solo exhibition titled “Rumpus” at three different galleries in Tokyo. This rising artist from Southeast Asia has swept through the global art market like a whirlwind.

Antono's early works style was considered to have been influenced by Mark Ryden and Marion Peck, He was equally adept at using absurd scenes and slightly mysterious classical temperaments to create a freakish and childlike fantasy style. Over the past few years, Dwi Antono has withdrawn from painting his signature character–the “girl” in fantasy-like settings. Instead, he symmetrically depicted the girl’s facial features against a monochromatic background. Boldly experimenting with different media, Dwi Antono’s approach of spraying paint on galvanized steel sheets cleverly softens the contour lines. The use of black and white also forms a strong color contrast that creates a restless visual expression behind the girl’s compassionate image. This conveys the artist’s message about humans’ constant worries and fears for the future.

Despite holding tears in her eyes, the girl’s emotions cannot be easily interpreted. Instead of sadness, she exhibits more of a divine and unyielding look. The artist described this series of work as “a child trying to think about and understand the meaning of her existence in this world. She is tearing up but she has no regrets for her life.” The artist appears to have injected both heroism and the contradiction of its underlying helplessness into the artwork, demonstrating the spirit and national character of Indonesia.

Many people have compared Dwi Antono’s character portrayal to masters like Yoshimoto Nara and Zhang Xiaogang. Dwi Antono has openly discussed the influences from his favorite artists and popular culture of animation and comics. “My work is a mirror through which I make self-reflections, trying to restore the past and bring hope to the future. I always feel an impulse to put all the fragments of my memory into a painting.” Dwi Antono did not only successfully develop a unique creative style in the legacy of other art masters. Through continuous memory retrieval and self-reflection, he leaves visual clues for viewers in his works. As every viewer interprets the clues from a personal perspective, his creation becomes the only one of its kind.