Nurrachmat Widyasena

Nurrachmat Widyasena (born 1990), widely known as Mas Ito, is an artist from Bandung whose practice explores retro-futurism at the intersection of reality and imagination. He positions himself as a “foolish Third-World Asian,” playfully revisiting the utopian dreams of the space-age era. Through an intentionally modest technical approach, Mas Ito’s works become a critique of technological progress in Indonesia.

Working across painting, installation, metal plates, wood, and found objects, he constructs an absurd yet compelling Third-World sci-fi universe. Although his works speculate about the future, they simultaneously highlight how technology and science shape global cultural and political aspirations for a better life.

Mas Ito is also a co-founder of the geek-centred fashion brand KITC, a platform that expands his engagement with pop culture and the visual identity of younger generations.

Title : Happy Little Catastrophe

In this work, I invite Bob Ross the iconic painter of calm and cheerful landscapes into an imagined future of Indonesia. Yet instead of his familiar “happy little trees”, he now paints a future capital that is barren, dim, and strangely unfamiliar. The arid ground becomes a stage upon which ambitious dreams begin to fracture.

By using aluminium and crushed metal sheets, I aim to evoke both rigidity and ruin at once. The futuristic capital intended as a symbol of a so-called “Golden Indonesia” appears instead like a ruin before it is even built: a paradox of an unfinished national ambition already collapsing under its own weight.

This work critiques the ecological sacrifices made in the name of progress, and the green landscapes replaced by empty blueprints. Through a retro-futuristic lens, I ask: are we truly building the future, or are we enthusiastically dismantling it before it ever arrives?

Size : 40 x 70 x 15 cm

Medium : Cetak dijital diatas alumunium

2025