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Yoga Mahendra demands attention. At least, it is easy to get that impression after taking a glimpse at his paintings.

On display at the Jakarta Art District in Grand Indonesia, Yoga’s work is inspired by Japanese manga and anime. Colorful and extremely rich in detail, the characters in his paintings look like the cast of a comic book splashed onto the canvas.

Curator Akhmad Santoso said it is not surprising that an Indonesian artist is incorporating characteristics of Japanese pop art into his work.

“Manga and anime have flooded the market and pop art awareness for many years now,” he said. “They have even found their way into traditional markets.

“The market penetration creates a familiarity and also an automatic identification with local culture,” he added. “The foreign influence is absorbed and digested by the local community and it becomes a part of the local culture with its own unique variations and quirks.”

On closer inspection, reinterpretations of local culture through a foreign lens can be clearly seen in Yoga’s work — some of the characters he paints bear a striking resemblance to Indonesian mythical creatures.

Yoga, who hails from Malang, East Java, has already participated in many group exhibitions throughout Indonesia as well as in Malaysia and South Korea, but “WNDR FRNDS” marks his first solo exhibition.

The thematic motifs of Yoga’s paintings revolve around friendship — hence the title of the exhibition, a truncation of Wonder Friends.

That may come as a surprise to some viewer, as many of the mythical creatures in Yoga’s art look less than friendly. They snarl, stare at viewers with huge eyes or simply lurk in the background. But Yoga balances this with inviting elements such as flowers, smiling faces and creatures with comical rather than threatening features.

The most striking thing about his paintings is that they radiate a certain youthfulness and an almost childlike approach to art.

Each of Yoga’s paintings seems to be telling a story about a certain episode of his life. Critics say the paintings speak of finding one’s place in a crowded and complicated world, where each person must fight their own battle as an individual and choose their own path. But they also show that people are not alone, because if they take the time to look, they will find plenty friends to help them along the way.

Art critic Farah Wardani, who wrote an essay for the exhibition’s catalog, said Yoga “presents summaries of his everyday life metaphorized in an alter-universe that he creates on his own.”

She said, “The theme about how friendship matters so much in his life reflects his contemplations of what it means to be an individual growing up among others in this increasingly complex world.”

She added that the search for identity is very common for every new generation.

“The quest for individuality mixed with a great sense of communalism and solidarity among peers is part of the coming-of-age process,” she said.

As for Yoga himself, he has seemingly found his balance because, according to Akhmad, he has learned how to live by expressing himself on canvas.

“Through art, Yoga seems to find his own stable place in the end,” he said.

‘WNDR FRNDS’
Solo exhibition by Yoga Mahendra
Until Thursday, May 19
Jakarta Art District
Grand Indonesia, East Mall
Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 1
Central Jakarta
Tel.
021 3264 3880