S.E.A Focus 2025

ROH is delighted to return to S.E.A. Focus 2025 with 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘠𝘌𝘚! 𝘉𝘜𝘛… , a presentation of works by Eko Nugroho (b. 1977, Yogyakarta, Indonesia). The presentation continues the gallery’s journey through Nugroho’s archive, following a presentation of his early embroidered and batik works at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024.

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘠𝘌𝘚! 𝘉𝘜𝘛… highlights works from the years 2011-12, a period when Nugroho’s multimedic practice articulated tensions between personal autonomy and collective resistance with Indonesia’s relationship to global political currents. Portraits of his signature masked figures dominate to narrate identities caught between cultural rootedness and global mobilities, taking on hybridisations between the animal and human, the animate and inanimate, as playful subversions. A series of birdcages dressed in national flags likewise takes quotidian objects of Indonesian domestic life as stages for performing humorous, distorted global citizenships. Through Nugroho’s distinctive visual lexicon, emerging from Yogyakarta’s urban art scene, cultural critique finds expression in the potency of surreal imagination and playful vocabularies of protest.

Born 1977, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Eko Nugroho is one of the most acclaimed members of the young generation of Indonesian contemporary artists. He is part of the generation that came to maturity during the period of upheaval and reform that occurred in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the subsequent fall of the Soeharto regime and the transition to democracy in Indonesia. Grounded in both local traditions and global popular culture, Nugroho’s works are deeply engaged with the culture of his time, imbued with his critical yet oftentimes playful socio-political commentary. In 2000, Nugroho founded Daging Tumbuh, a collaborative zine that invites participation from non-artists. In addition to drawings and painting, he works in a variety of other media, including murals, sculpture, animation, and tapestry.

Nugroho has held numerous solo exhibitions at major institutions and galleries around the world, including Cut The Mountain and Let It Fly at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2023); Plastic Democracy at Arndt Art Agency, Berlin, Germany (2018); Semelah at Asia Society (special commission), New York, USA (2017); Landscape Anomaly at Salihara Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015); We Are What We Mask at Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore (2013); Témoin Hybride at Musée D'art Moderne de Paris, France (2012); and This Republic Need More Semeleh at Ark Galerie, Jakarta, Indonesia (2011). He has participated in prestigious international exhibitions, the most recents one being Setouchi Triennale in Ibuki Island, Japan (2019); In Search of Southeast Asia Through M+ Collections at M+ Museum, Hong Kong (2018); Art Basel Hong Kong: Encounters at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong (2015); 10th Gwangju Biennale: Burning Down the House in Gwangju, South Korea (2014); The Global Contemporary, Art Worlds After 1989 at ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (2011); and the 10th Lyon Biennale: The Spectacle of the Everyday in Lyon, France (2009). Eko Nugroho was part of Sakti: The Indonesian Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2013). He is one of the resident artists at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan in 2024. Nugroho's works are among the key collections of M+, Hong Kong; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Asia Society Museum, New York, USA; Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Musée d’Art Moderne Paris, Paris, France; Musée des Beaux-arts de Lyon, Lyon, France; Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt, Germany; and Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin, Germany.

Artist