RILANTONO Sold at Auction Prices

RILANTONO (b. 1960) MAGIC MIRROR 2, 2001, Oil on canvas

Rilantono employs several styles and themes in his painting repertoire. The three most recognizable are 1) complex religious issues related to Hindu cosmic ideology and stone deities; 2) Comicdom’s Western superheroes like Batman, but laughing like infected with Yue Min Jun’s laughter; 3) Oily black men with big musculature resembling somewhat the high-profiled artist Nyoman Masriadi’s male characters, often set in socio-political parody. Here, the gigantic chef has built a barricade of culinary items and with the tiny proletarians keeping a safe distance in the foreground, with some even looking back as if to make off after the obvious futility of matching the black giant with six hands. It is uncertain if Black Chef is washing dishes, gorging himself to food and drinks, or using the forms and spoons as weapons against the little people closing in on him. Rilantono had taken part in the Bali Biennale (2005), the New York Arts Festival (ACAF, 2007) and in the Indonesia Gate exhibition in Huang Zhou and Beijing, China, in 2006. He was educated at the Indonesian Institute of Art (ISI) in Yogyakarta.