Yunizar, Apel Merah dan Teko (Red Apple and a Jug), 2006

Acrylic and pencil on canvas
100 x 100 cm
Condition: Very good, with minor surface accretion

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Yunizar (Indonesian, b. 1971) is a painter whose introspective and poetic approach has made him one of the most distinctive figures in contemporary Southeast Asian art. Born in Talawi, West Sumatra, he studied at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta, where he later co-founded the Jendela Art Group. Formed in the late 1990s, the group sought to move away from overtly political narratives and instead focused on the quiet, personal, and symbolic—offering a new path for a generation of Indonesian artists coming of age during a period of national reform.

His palette is earthy, his strokes layered and intuitive. Though at first glance his images may appear childlike or naïve, they are in fact tightly composed and emotionally charged, guided by feeling rather than logic. Across his body of work, there is a sense of internal rhythm, as if each painting is a page from an unspoken diary.

At the heart of Yunizar’s practice is a commitment to capturing the essence of things rather than their appearance. Whether through repetition, texture, or abstraction, his works evoke a quiet kind of memory of objects, of daily life, of sensations that linger. Though he has exhibited widely across Asia and beyond, Yunizar’s work remains grounded in a sense of place and intuition, reflective of an artist who continues to observe the world with both distance and deep care.

Exhibited “Jendala: A Play of The Ordinary”, NUS Museum, Singapore 5 March – 19 April 2009
Acquired from Gajah Gallery, Singapore.

(Photographed in July 2025)