(b. 1973, Indonesian)

Jumaldi Alfi is widely recognized as one of the most dynamic and influential contemporary artists of his generation in the Indonesian art scene. A painter pur sang, he first came to international attention in the late 1990s as a founding member of the Jendela Art Group (Kelompok Seni Rupa Jendela), Indonesia’s most prominent contemporary art collective formed by five artists from West Sumatra.

The Jendela Art Group marked a turning point in Indonesian contemporary art by emphasizing aesthetic and material exploration within a more formalist and personal framework, distancing itself from the prevailing conventions of socio-political commentary and technical virtuosity. This break from tradition established the group’s lasting significance in the history of Indonesian art.

A graduate of the Institut Seni Indonesia (The Indonesia Institute of the Arts) in Yogyakarta, Alfi has since developed a practice defined by its continual investigation of ideas, memory, and perception. His works are characterized by personal icons and recurring symbols that address spiritual and existential struggles, both individual and collective. Drawing from a broad range of sources – from texts and natural objects to historical paintings and his own recollections – Alfi uses memory not as a vehicle for nostalgia, but as a means to reconcile past experience with present reality and to trace pathways forward.

A defining feature of his painting is the pursuit of immediacy, expressed through gestural mark-making – drawing, scribbling, and inscribing – layered across abstracted landscapes and fragmented scenes. His compositions are often anchored by spatial cues such as foregrounds, horizons, and subtle depths, yet the restless energy of his markings contrasts strikingly with the stillness and quiet monumentality of his tableaux. This tension intensifies in his drawings, where numerous figures in varying psychological and physical states inhabit the surface.

Playfulness is another vital element of Alfi’s work. His canvases frequently disrupt clear interpretation through whimsical, chaotic arrangements in which forms, faces, objects, self-portraits, landscapes, texts, and doodles coexist in intuitive, unstructured harmony. Though recognizable in isolation, these fragments resist fixed meaning, drifting freely across the surface and inviting viewers to engage instinctively, without reliance on linear narratives or rigid symbolism.

Based in Yogyakarta, Jumaldi Alfi has exhibited widely in Indonesia and internationally. Beyond his artistic practice, he remains deeply committed to his community, actively contributing to the artistic environment that has supported and shaped his career.