Gallery of Hanging Fruits has obtained two outstanding oil paintings possessing a more overtly Asian and traditional subject matter than found in our regular collection. The works are also unusual for us because mostly we exhibit living artists but both Soetarjo and Rachmat Hadi have passed beyond the veil of souls within the last decade.

In the 1970's and 80's Soetarjo was celebrated for painting thoughtful social subjects not commonly tackled by mainstream artists in Java. This 1982 scene 'Penjaja Kue' (the cake seller) is a fine and slightly saddening example, bearing in mind that more than 20 years later street children can still be found in Java's major cities dreaming of a better life as they peddle peanut crackers, fried sweet-potato and lontong (rice wrapped and cooked in banana leaves), tapping at the blacked-out windows of the limousines awaiting the change of traffic signals.