The provocative Indonesian artist Heri Dono fuses traditional folk art with contemporary idioms and happenings in the Now, with trademark caricatures drawn from the Javanese wayang. “His sense of humour — the fundamental wiring pattern of a broadly visioned, acutely alert and empathetic mind — is firmly rooted both in the fun and seriousness…,” wrote Astri Wright. The quest for global domination can be vicious. In the global chessboard, there are no good guys, though one of the self-christened saviours here is garbed in the superhero Batman’s outfit. He’s waving a red flag with the hammer-and-sickle emblem, a symbol of communism, seemingly in triumph rather than a peaceful gesture. The one with the orange mop hair who looks like a trigger-happy gunslinger, and a dotard to boot, has no good intention either, with a fawning gesture of surrender with upraised hands. While one (resemble Donald Trump?) is astride a ‘plaything’ rocking horse, the other’s ‘steed’ is one with monstrous claws on its forelegs. With all the purported weapons of death populating the composition, there’s little to suggest a conflict, more likely a collusion of convenience. So, what martial music is being played in the backdrop, the Russian State Anthem or the Star-Spangled Banner? The Prince Claus Award (Belgium, 1998), the Unesco Prize at the Shanghai Biennale (2000) and Indonesia’s covetous Anugerah Adhikarya Rupa (2014) – all these rank as outstanding accolades of Heri Dono, who has been invited to premier art events such as the Asia-Pacific Triennial (Brisbane, 1993) and biennales in Venice (2003 and 2015), São Paulo (1996), Havana (2000), Gwangju (1995, 2006, 2014), Shanghai (2000), Yokohama (2001) and Sharjah (2005). He had solo exhibitions in Asia, United States, Australia and Canada, and since 1990, art residencies in United Kingdom, Switzerland, United States, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. He has also taken part in Art Stage Singapore, Art Bali, Art Jakarta, ArtJog and Art Expo Malaysia, etc.