August 11, 2026 | 07:44 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ruang Dini Gallery in Bandung is hosting Achmad Toriq’s debut solo painting exhibition, titled Marginalia Lipatan Waktu (Marginalia: Folds of Time), running from August 7 to September 4, 2026. The artist, originally from Pasuruan, East Java, presents over a dozen acrylic paintings that express the joy of living. Transitioning from paper to canvas, Toriq depicts the robot superhero figures that accompanied his childhood.
Robot figures such as Shogun, Gundam, and Voltes—alongside superheroes like Robocop and the Mandalorian—appear not only in vibrant colors but also with the distinctive style of children's drawings. The artist, born in 1990, recalls being obsessed with televised robot cartoons during his upper elementary school years (grades 4 through 6). This passion spilled over into the margins of his school notebooks, which he would fill with sketches of his robot idols and other cartoon characters.
Beyond cartoons, his drawings drew inspiration from comics and posters that he would copy. He often used pencils and ballpoint pens for the outlines, coloring them with a set of twelve markers. Since 2024, he has translated these memories onto canvas, texturing the surface to resemble lined notebook paper that appears wavy, folded, and crumpled. "This is a psychological record of mine that has carried over into adulthood," Toriq told Tempo on Sunday, August 9, 2026.
The idea for creating such artwork stemmed from reflecting on what brought happiness to the artist's life. The artist—who graduated with a degree in Fine Arts Education from the State University of Surabaya in 2015—found themselves reminiscing about their childhood. Watching a 30-minute cartoon series on television was a highlight of that time.
“If I missed it because I was sent to the corner shop or told to take a bath, that moment of happiness would be lost,” the artist said. This stands in contrast to the present day, where technology makes it easy to re-watch a program.
Through nostalgia, Achmad Toriq revisits the characters in his work by re-watching animated series, reading relevant literature, and exploring visual references of the characters that accompanied his childhood. Yet, his final choices remain deeply personal—ranging from character selection and compositional elements to the modification of details from the source material—guided by the freedom of his imagination and intuition. He no longer paints the way he drew as a child.
"I try to draw with the naivety of a child, though I cannot deny that my mind has been influenced by the art knowledge I gained during college, for instance," he says.
Toriq acknowledges that his recent painting style differs from his earlier work, which tended toward illustration. The artist—who also works as a junior high school art teacher—has previously garnered national acclaim. His achievements include winning a top prize in the emerging artist category at the 2013 UOB Painting of the Year competition and securing the "Best Work" title at the 2016 Painting Competition organized by PPPPTK Seni Budaya Yogyakarta.
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