Eko Nugroho (b.1977) graduated from the Painting Department at the Indonesian Art Institute in Yogyakarta. His works are grounded in both local traditions and global popular culture. Plant, animal and human forms come together with monsters, skulls, and universal symbols in one world where the imaginary and the real are fused into comics and hybrid images to narrate the happenings of our time. Ignoring any boundaries between high and low art, Eko includes craft, such as embroidery and batik. He also reinterprets the old wayang shadow plays, taking actual issues as a theme. Eko extends his art to nurture and reinterpret these branches of culture for the benefit of his art as well as to sustain the livelihood of 24 artists who make the sculptures, embroidery, batik, and puppet theaters.