A key figure in recent Indonesian art history, Affandi is considered the bridgehead of expressionism in his native country. We may also use the naif and self-taught categories to describe his art, given the absence of systematic study and an openly spontaneous, practical technical refinement. His themes of choice are uncompromisingly thorny and rough, and leave no space to pure aesthetical suavity. Affandi participated in the 1954 Venice Biennale.
