Dadang Christanto (b. 1957), artist, was born into an Indonesian family of Chinese descent in Tegal, a small village in Central Java, Indonesia. He studied painting in Yogyakarta, where he became an active member of the arts community. In the 1980s he was the first artist in Indonesia to undertake installation, and he was one of the first Indonesian artists to enter the international art world in the early 1990s. A frequent visitor to Australia during the 1990s, he settled in Darwin during 1999 and moved to Brisbane in 2006. With a body of work encompassing painting, drawing, sculpture, installation and performance, over the last two decades Christanto has won critical acclaim for his ability to evoke reflections on universal human suffering and communal grief. He has been included in numerous major national and international exhibitions including the forthcoming Adelaide Biennale (2008), Kwangju Biennale (2000), the first and third Asia-Pacific Triennials (1993 and 1999) and the São Paulo Biennale (1998). His work is held by the National Gallery of Australia, many Australian state galleries, and major collections in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Europe.
