F. Sigit Santoso was born in Ngawi, Central Java. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta (ISI) in 1993. His paintings received awards from ISI in 1987, 1990, and 1992. One of his works was among the ten best in the Philip Morris Indonesia Art Awards in 1994. He held his solo exhibition at Edwin's Gallery in Jakarta in 2003. The artist is one of few who chose realism as the primary way to express the accuracy of form in this difficult time consuming technique. Sigit not only paints the actual world around him, but even more so uses this reality as a starting point for his imagination to build upon, to construct strong narratives. He is skilled at composing precise metaphors to express his ideas. His paintings are rather surrealistic and imply his comprehension of complex values in life through identity, origins, ironies and contradictions. Sigit has a critical perspective when he judges, accuses, or ridicules something. He traces paths to find the main essence of the subject, so that the forms in his works are open to wide interpretation. REFERENCE Excerpt from a text by Suwarno Wisetrotomo in the book by Koes Karnadi, Modern Indonesian Art – from Raden Saleh to the Present Day, published by Koes Artbooks, in 2006, in Bali, Indonesia, p.249.