A Tribute to His Finger: Wagiono Sunarto’s Exhibition
From sketches to screen prints, Wagiono Sunarto established himself as a man of many talents within the landscape of Indonesian contemporary art. Known for his meticulous approach to drawing, Wagiono positioned the medium not merely as an exercise in aesthetics, but as a vessel for thought, process, and function. On October 17 2025, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space opened its doors to commemorate the artist’s life and practice through a retrospective exhibition titled "Menulis Dengan Satu Jari", which is translated loosely as “Writing With a Finger.” This title, drawn from Wagiono’s own notes, captures both his ethos and ethics: an artist who worked with quiet precision, deep contemplation, and unwavering sincerity.
The exhibition brings together an expansive selection of Wagiono’s work—sketches, graphics, and scribbles—that together form a portrait of an artist whose creativity resided not solely in the finished object, but in the process of making itself. The accompanying catalogue reflects this spirit, mapping the breadth of his practice while emphasizing the threads of continuity that run through his career. Though he explored an array of mediums, the essence of Wagiono’s art lies in his thoughtful creation, his attention to detail, and his ability to treat every line as a meditation on form and meaning.
The phrase “writing with a finger” encapsulates this approach perfectly. For Wagiono, art was not the endpoint of expression but became a continuous act of reflection: a tactile, almost spiritual engagement with the world. The finger is a metaphor for intimacy, immediacy, and vulnerability: the most human of instruments used to translate thought into image. In his hands, drawing and printing were acts of observation and understanding, tracing both the seen and the unseen dimensions of reality.
Nonetheless, the heart of this exhibition is a reflection on duality, a theme that pervades Wagiono’s artistic practice. On one side, he immersed himself in the formal exploration of visual elements: a pursuit most clearly visible in his screen-printing works. His preparatory sketches reveal his disciplined attention to line, color, composition, and structure, each element carefully refined until it achieved a quiet harmony.
On the other side, his drawings reveal a more critical and socially engaged dimension. His notes and imagery often reflect a deep sensitivity toward the political and historical turbulence of Indonesia. Wagiono observed the repressive patterns of the New Order regime and the violence surrounding the May 1998 tragedy, translating those realities into visual languages of subtle protest and reflection. For him, art was not a retreat from the world, but a means of witnessing and understanding it.
In merging these two impulses—the aesthetic and the ethical, the personal and the political—Wagiono achieved a rare balance and established his own positionality in the landscape of contemporary art. His legacy endures not only in the images he left behind, but in the integrity of his process: a reminder that art, at its core, is both a mode of seeing and a way of being.
The exhibition will be open to the public from 17 October 2025 to 25 January 2026. Selasar Sunaryo Art Space is located at Jl. Bukit Pakar Timur No.100, Ciburial, Kec. Cimenyan, Kabupaten Bandung, Jawa Barat 40198 and its operational hours are Tuesday-Sunday, from 10.00-12.00 and 13.00-17.00.
