Arwin was born in Yogyakarta in 1983 and has been drawing since childhood. As an alumnus of the Indonesian Institute of Art, Yogyakarta, Arwin has channeled his influences and memories of childhood stories, told to him by his late father, as inspiration. He is known for his distinctive depictions of birds, serpents and distorted human forms, over the past few years Arwin Hidayat has received increasing attention and praise from within the local Yogyakarta art scene and the wider international art community. His artworks juxtapose everyday objects (buildings, vehicles, musical instruments, animals) alongside the explicit (phalluses and orifices). 

Arwin exhibits extensively in Indonesia and abroad, with three solo exhibitions to date. In 2017, Kedai Kebun Forum (KKF) hosted his exhibition Gombal, with KKF director Agung Kurniawan showing the full spectrum of Indonesia’s cultural complexities through his batiks. He continues to gain international attention, with a display at KunstRAI Art Amsterdam in 2018 and a commission to produce new works, incorporating batik and sewing, for a 2019 group exhibition at the Asia Museum of Modern Art in Taichung, Taiwan.