"Praying" Painting

Iabadiou Piko
Born 1984, Prabumulih, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Lives and works in Yogyakarta.
Iabadiou Piko is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice traverses painting, sculpture, and installation. Rooted in a deep engagement with memory, identity, and the archive, his work investigates the dialectics of light and shadow as enduring metaphors for human complexity. Piko’s layered compositions, defined by raw textures, stark tonal contrasts, and gestural mark-making, evoke the tensions between visibility and concealment, recollection and oblivion.
His process begins with intuitive sketches, expanding through experimental material exploration to arrive at spatial and emotional depth. Through this approach, Piko constructs meditative visual fields that resonate with questions around cultural memory, displacement, and the fragmentation of self. His ambiguous forms and structures act as vessels for unresolved narratives—where individual and collective histories converge and diverge.
Piko studied Art Photography and Design at Akademi Desain Visi Yogyakarta (2002–2005), and has participated in residencies including Warehouse 421, Abu Dhabi (2018), Luzhunan Historical House, Taiwan (2016), and Transit #3, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung (2015).
Recent solo exhibitions include Haiku Aku, Hatch Art Project, Singapore (2019); Catharsis, Mono8 Gallery, Manila (2019); Tegak Lurus dengan Sunyi, Orbital Dago, Bandung (2018); The Storm of Perception, Nunu Fine Art, Taipei (2018); Menumpuk di Atas Hamparan, D Gallerie, Jakarta (2017); and Proporsi Biru (Der Anteil des Blaus), Michael Janssen, Berlin (2016). His work has also been presented at Art Dubai (2018), and in group exhibitions across Asia, Europe, and North America, including Bangkok, Seoul, Beijing, Chiang Mai, Skopje, Toronto, Lisbon, and numerous cities in Indonesia.
Piko’s work is held in private collections throughout Asia and Europe.