Hendra HeHe

(b. 1983, Indonesian)

Hendra HeHe is an Indonesian artist based in Yogyakarta. He is a part of the early 2000s generation artists of the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, born mostly in the early 1980s. This group of artists was brought up being exposed to diverse subcultures, growing up within the paradoxes of Western multiculturalism and changing values in their own countries such as MTV invasion, cable TV, internet, and neoliberalism. Thus, the traces of influences of Pop Culture, the Indie Movement, graphic novels, lowbrow art, pop surrealism, street style fashion, and more can be evident in HeHe’s works.

HeHe has always been interested in working with paintings, drawings, resin toys, and premises-based on his experiences in everyday life and contemporary culture issues. He maintains his signature childlike, surreal characters. His works contain some personification, in which he portrays inanimate objects in a way that seems alive such as giving them their characters and personalities. They convey the concept that the land of the imaginary could not be said as entirely unreal or completely fantastical. It is apparent within us. His artworks embrace friendliness and fun, a kind of acceptance and openness of new possibilities and potentials. While, at the same time, he is still fully aware of its ironies and distance. Moving on with his existence in the real world, he believes that exploring life’s absurdities and abnormalities can enhance his life experience, creating it more colorful.

HeHe has held several solo exhibitions, including Goodness at Vivi Yip Art Room, Jakarta (2013), Silent Crowd at Element Art Space, Singapore (2012), and Little House and the Prayer at Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2010). As well as participating in various group exhibitions, including recent exhibition Use Your Illusion at Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia (2020). In 2011, HEHE held his solo exhibition titled Invisible: the unknown between us at D Gallerie, Jakarta, curated by Farah Wardani. He is the founding member of Ace House Collective, an artist collective established in Yogyakarta, 2011, which is active in the field of youth-pop culture that emphasizes in the exploratory approach both in theory and practice, conceptually and contextually, as well as finding the possibilities from a visual art perspective.