Riki Antoni

Antoni is an established Indonesian surrealistic pop artist who is most inspired by the famous cultural theorist Johan Huizinga. In his book ‘Homo Ludens’, Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Antoni stays true to his inspiration and has a cartoonish palette with curious wide eyed children as his central subject. Children, he avers are the purest form of humanity. He recreates the analogy of ‘game room’ to illustrate how children see the world as an expanded playground, full of wonders and adventures. He captures the need for curiosity and a spirit of inquiry in each one of us in almost all his painting. The innocent and playful attitude of childhood does not completely perish as we grow in to our adult life and that indeed is what keeps our creativity alive.This is in line with the idea of ‘homo ludens’ or ‘play elements’of culture and society that profoundly define how the achievements in law, science, poverty, war, philosophy, and in the arts, are nourished by the instinct of play in us.