Richard Nixon Tambalo

Richard Nixon Tambalo is a young artist and a diver. He was born in Pendolo, Poso Lake Area, Central Celebes, Indonesia in 1993. Growing up in a small lakeside village, he spent his simple childhood to study, swim and catching fish around the lake. Due to the impact of sectarian conflict that happen in his hometown (1998 – 2008), he then moved to Yogyakarta. He studied fine art in High School of Visual Art Yogyakarta (SMSR Yogyakarta, 2008 - 2011) and then continue to study fine art, writing and management in Indonesia Institute of Art Yogyakarta (ISI Yogyakarta, 2011 – 2015). He also chosen as one of the campus delegation to study Art Management in Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan, and gain database for establishing new Art Management Major in Indonesia Institute Of Art Yogyakarta in 2014. After graduation, he work and manage several studios, galleries and museum which one of it located in Bali where he manage now since 2018. Living in Bali make him closer to the ocean and during covid-19 pandemic he has more time to dive in the sea. He is a fan of Van Gogh and when he saw the pigmy seahorse he was amazed with the colour that looks like it was paint in Van Gogh painting style. He keep observe pigmy seahorse during 2023 to 2024 in different dive sites and found several different types and colours of pigmy seahorse. During this time he met a collector with seafan collection on his wall, (seafan is coral where pigmy seahorse live and pigmy seahorse will also die if their home taken) and then also he found out the fact that seafan is still massively harvest by people as souvenirs, amulets, and jewellery accessories. This mass exploitation make him sad consider that despite it is a home for pigmy seahorse and other sea animals, but also seafan play a big role in balancing ocean reef ecosystem. Everyone has their own way to fight for what they stand for and Richard has chosen art to stand for the ocean. For a long time, Ocean has suffer from human act, some species are endangered and almost extinct. With his paintings Richard hope to reach people especially collectors to see and understand the ocean and hope them also could join saving the ocean for future generations, they also want to see pigmy seahorse and other beautiful creatures in the ocean.