Completing his Visual Communication Design study at Indonesian Institute of the Arts ISI) Yogyakarta in 1994, Yudi Sulistyo (born in Yogyakarta, 1972) contains many military elements and mechanical objects in his realist sculptures made using pasteboard. In his works, he often uses domestic and everyday objects. His interest in military equipment stems from his childhood where he often spent time watching war films with his father. The assembly and complexity of its realism also stems from Yudi's habit of repairing his own toys as a child, creating expertise and perseverance in his artistic practice.
Yudi's works has been exhibited in several exhibitions, including Algorithm: Art In Chain, Superlative Gallery, Gallery Zen 1, Jakarta (2024), Warta, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta (2023), ART TOUR Program, Layar Art Space, Jakarta (2022), Art Stage, Singapore (2017), Visual Arts, Singapore Festival, MAC Lyon, France (2015), and One East Asia, London (2013)
"If you want to see the forest, then don't enter the forest, but fly above it, and watch it from above."
Yudi borrowed a proverb from the Netherlands, as a guide in looking at various existing problems, which of course would be clearer if he didn't have to lose himself and get lost in the existing problems.
Through this work, Yudhi tries to invite appreciators/viewers to become a part of his works. Every appreciator can imagine flying over the land, under the wind with a Zeppelin hot air balloon.
This work invites us to be logical, intelligent and proportional when flying and looking at various problems from above. When you dare to fly above to look down, of course you need knowledge of time, weather, wind direction and your condition. This means how to free ourselves from feeling trapped by thoughts or things that affect our psyche. Knowledge of the past opens up understanding today, is the solution to answer the future. The future is a certainty, not just a prediction.