Rudi Mantofani

(b. 1973, West Sumatra, Indonesia) 

A founding member of the Jendela Art Group, Rudi Mantofani is a leading figure in Indonesian contemporary art, known for his ability to infuse the unexpected into his work. Through both painting and sculpture, he challenges perception by transforming ordinary objects and landscapes into enigmatic visual riddles. By employing daring visual strategies—such as flattening pictorial space through heavy repetition or creating illusions of three-dimensionality—he subverts reality, prompting viewers to question and interpret his compositions.

For Mantofani, all things possess a communicative power and an intrinsic life of their own, independent of human understanding. Since the Industrial Revolution, objects have been reduced to mere functionality, their meanings confined to utility. Mantofani disrupts this notion by creating objects that either lack function or serve seemingly trivial purposes. The element of surprise in his work arises from the viewer’s expectation of functionality, making him a master of visual literacy as he continually explores new ways to construct objects that operate on their own terms.

Though the unexpected may at first feel unsettling, Mantofani’s work ultimately expresses a deep desire for progress and transformation. His landscape paintings, for instance, depict utopian worlds—perfect, if not for a disappearing branch or a surreal, disjointed cut across the canvas. Through these subtle disruptions, he reminds us that humanity holds the power to enact change, and the responsibility to improve our surroundings lies with each of us.

In 1993, alongside four fellow West Sumatran artists, Mantofani co-founded the Jendela Art Group. Having studied together in Yogyakarta, the collective continues to produce works that eschew overt political commentary. In contrast to the ideologically charged and confrontational art that dominated the 1990s, Mantofani and the Jendela artists lean towards the ambivalent and the allegorical, offering reflections that invite introspection rather than polemics.

Mantofani currently lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.