Arya Sudrajat was born in 1983 in Jelekong, West Java, Indonesia, and is currently based in Bandung. Growing up in Jelekong, a village renowned for its strong painting tradition. He was surrounded by artisans from an early age, shaping his sensitivity toward material, labour, and visual culture. Although not formally trained in academic art institutions, Sudrajat developed his practice through the Jelekong artist community and Bandung’s contemporary art ecosystem. His approach is rooted in material reuse, drawing on discarded canvases, wood, wire, and other found objects to explore how remnants of daily life hold cultural and historical memory. The concept of ruruntuk (Sundanese for “remnants”) underpins his artistic research, revealing his interest in the traces left by production, repetition, and craft.

Sudrajat constructs layered compositions that merge painting and assemblage, characterized by muted palettes, textured surfaces, and structural rhythms reminiscent of manual labour. By reorganizing fragments of industrial and domestic materials, he reflects on the meeting point between tradition and modernity, permanence and decay. His works have been presented in exhibitions across Indonesia, including at Redbase Foundation in Yogyakarta, the National Gallery of Indonesia in Jakarta, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space in Bandung, and the West Java Cultural Park. He has also participated in multiple editions of the West Java Fine Arts Biennale (Bijaba #1 and #2). His solo exhibition Ngindew, (Bale Tonggoh Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung (2020)) marked a pivotal moment in his career, signifying his evolution from painter to mixed-media artist.