IF in the twentieth century we know Affandi, in the previous age we have Raden Saleh. They are Indonesian great artists with international reputations. Differ from Affandi that was an abstract-expressionist, Raden Saleh closed to romanticism which was so popular in Europe in nineteenth century.
Professor of Anthropology at UW-Madison, USA, Kenneth M George, says that AD Pirous is a pioneer in melding Western abstraction with traditional Islamic forms and themes, notably Qur'anic calligraphy, which portrays Qur'anic verses. "When he began to combine abstraction and Qur'anic calligraphy in 1970s, his influence quickly spread. He awakened fellow Muslims to contemporary...