Edhi Sunarso

Edhi Sunarso (b. Salatiga, 1932 – d. Yogyakarta, 2016) has become immortalized through three of his masterpieces which have become inseparable from the Jakarta landscape: the Welcome Statue (1962) at the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout, West Irian Freedom Monument (1963) at the Lapangan Banteng and the Dirgantara Monument in Pancoran. Pak Edhi built all three on the order of President Sukarno, a few years after he had returned from India where he studied sculpture at Kelabhawa Visva Bharati University Santiniketan in 1957. Sunarso was active not only as a maker of monuments and dioramas, but also as a teacher. He was a former Pelukis Rakyat (Painter for the People) and a graduate from ASRI in Yogyakarta.