Putu Sutawijaya

Born in 1971, Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia. Putu Sutawijaya pursued his studies at the Art Faculty of the Indonesian Art Institute, Yogyakarta and graduated in 1998. Since then he has been producing contemporary works from his studio in Yogyakarta and Bali.

The artist is the recipient of the Philip Morris Top 10 Asean Artist Award (1999) and the Best Fine Art Award from the Indonesian Art Institute, Yogyakarta at the 11th Dies Nathalis. Putu Sutawijaya works have been exhibited throughout Indonesia. His paintings have also been shown in London, Basel, Chicago, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.

"The human body is the medium of suffering, pain, laughter and fear." is the way Putu describes the visual source of inspiration of his works. Various movements and manners of the human boy, a result of Putu's own thoughts on things that provoke him, reflecting the music, dance, meditation or personal experience in his life.

The body postures and gestures as reflected in Putu's works are expressions and ways in which he likes to picture the feelings in his heart. He visually accomplishes this by primarily relying upon the drama and strength of spontaneous line. With high precision and skill he realistically captures the essence of movements of the human body and develops them into all kinds of situations in his works. The figures that he shows are deliberately deformed and become active participants in their own ways.

In his new sculpture series ‘BODY PACKING' is formed by the plate and iron wire reused is present motion, pose, direction and formation that will notify you by itself. Expressive gesture becomes the main dialogue medium for the works Putu Sutawijaya.

In a note Kris Budiman, essayist and critic, "...since the beginning of an artistic career Putu Sutawijaya continue thrusting body obsessed and diligent as a mark through his works. When the representation of the body out of the canvas, signed and crossed over to three-dimensional space, they are like cast to look for meanings in different contexts, gesticulation itself not only to follow the changes in material characteristics."