Untitled (multiple figures)

Credit: Gift of Dato' Kho Hui Meng 2017, Collection of SMU

Putu Sutawijaya (b. 1971, Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia) graduated from Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI), Yogyakarta in 1998. Putu draws his inspirations from the various Balinese religious rituals, and is especially fascinated with the way communion takes place, where spiritual enlightenment is attained through trance, intoxication and even violence. He is also deeply drawn to sacred sites and often travels to the ancient temples scattered around Java and Bali, where he spends days painting.

The main focus of his work is the human body as both an expressive form and a vessel of the spirit—the body as the medium of suffering, pain, fear, happiness, laughter and desire. The gestural shapes of bodies in motion and ambiguous landscapes communicate an intense spectrum of spiritual and emotional states from contemplation to sorrow to the pure exuberance of dance, and evokes an intimate form of mysticism.