Herru Yoga

(b. 1989, Batusangkar, Indonesia)

Herru Yoga pursued his passion and dedication for the arts through an unconventional route. Unlike his peers, he decided to leave the Indonesian Institute of Art, Yogyakarta, in 2008 to pursue French literature, graduating from Département de la Langue Français in 2014. His love for literature and culture, in turn, nourishes the contextual depth of his artworks. Yoga is the First Place winner for the Qatar Doha Youth Innovation Award for the visual arts (Globe Contemporary Art Categories) and the runner up for Asian regional (Contemporary Art Categories) Dhaka Youth Capital award, Bangladesh, 2021.

Yoga juxtaposes two historical painting techniques: the Baroque era’s mastery of chiaroscuro and the gestural handling of paint indebted to Abstract Expressionism. Yoga’s narrative works tend to raise the theme of history, humanity, current issues, identities and world figures, while at the same time attempt to build the epic and colossal energy missing from many contemporary art oeuvres.