Heri Dono is best known for his wildly imaginative installations of strong visual commentaries that explore sociopolitical issues and human behavior, such as the notable Voyage – Trokomod at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). Zaman Edan (The Age of Craziness) is the Indonesian artist's latest explorations in print and paper at STPI, wherein he combines unconventional materials such as paper pulp and fabric/batik with sculpture and the traditional visual tool, wayang kulit, to develop his storytelling. Working along the theme of madness which, according to SAM curator Tan Siuli, is an abandonment of rationality to that gives way to possibilities and chaos, the exhibition is a continuation of Heri's dark-humour and satire in the ethereal realm of mythological creatures and oblique narratives.
Unquestionably one of Indonesia’s best known contemporary artists, he graduated from the Indonesian Art Institute in Yogyakarta, where he received the prize for Best Painting in 1981 and 1985. Heri Dono is best known through his installations which are heavily influenced by, and the result of experimenting with, the most popular Javanese folk theatre: wayang. Wayang performances combine a number of artistic and extra-artistic elements - visual arts, singing, music, story telling, along with a mythological story-based philosophy of life, social criticisms, and humour. Dono, who continues to live and work in Yogyakarta, combines humoristic comments through his work on Indonesia's political and social problems.