Agung Kurniawan was born in Jember, on March 14th, 1968. He started his education of art from Fakultas Sastra UGM Yogyakarta, Jurusan Arkeologi (1987-1991) and formally continued to ISI Yogyakarta, Jurusan Grafis (1991-1995).

Kurniawan performs his exhibition at Cemeti Contemporary Art Gallery, Yogyakarta (1994, 1995, 2001), at Lontar Gallery Jakarta (1998), at CCF Yogyakarta and Barak Gallery Bandung (2000) and at Goethe Institute Jakarta (2003). Since 1990 until present time, he is active to participate any exhibition in Indonesia (Malang, Surabaya, Bali, Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Ujung Pandang, Magelang, etc) as well as in abroad (Chejun Islan Korean Selatan, Singapore, Brisbane, Sapooro Jepang, Helsinki, Ipoh, Australia, Delft Belanda, Bangladesh, Hongkong, etc).

Kurniawan is also a freelance illustrator (1994-now), curator and co-owner of Kedai Kebun Restaurant and Gallery, Yogyakarta (1997-now), Research & Development at Cemeti Art Foundation (2000), Domestic Art Program at Cemeti Art Foundation (1995-2000), Director of Cemeti Art Foundation (2004-2005), Project Officer for OUTLET publication (1996) and Aspect of Indonesian Visual Arts (1999), also editor and illustrator of Marginal Sites (enrique Publ. Jakarta, 2003).

He received awards of The Best Print on Dies Natalis V ISI Yogyakarta (1992), The Best Print from McDonalds Awards, Lustrum II ISI Yogyakarta (1994) and The Best Artwork Phillip Morris Indonesia Art Awards, Jakarta (1996).

The changing characteristics of Agung Kurniawan's creative artworks always comes from his critical thinking toward himself and his situation sorrounding. He is aware that he lives for years in unavoided situation, along with hundreds of millions of Indonesian people who have burden to live under the pressure of the government, or else to behave politically as human being (people) in any unfortunate situation. (Mikke Susanto, In Between - Perupa dalam Rotasi Media, 2003).