Lot 117
WAYAN SUJA
b. Indonesia, 1975
I AM THE HERO, 2000
Signed and dated (lower center)
Mixed media on canvas
140cm x 150cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur.
ESTIMATE RM 4,000 - 7,000 |
The puzzling search for a hero in deciphering the matrix of the Balinese Identity today may be have something to do with the Ubermensch (Superman), an equally puzzling persona touted by Friedrich Nietzsche, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In I Am The Hero, Wayan Suja shows two tiers of disfigured figures probably to hint at some kind of dysfunctional attributes. What makes a hero amongst the ordinary people and the ordinariness of a people known for their rituals and romance and Hindu-animist culture, that have attracted artist pilgrims to its shores, even today? The artist, the dancer in modern pants, the teacher / father figure with a cane, the mother / goddess with the ‘S’ (Superman) insignia emblazoned in her sarung, or the girl with Japanese anime hair and boots, among others?
Wayan Suja is noted for his depicting of faces behind crinkled plastic or paper, as a form of disfigurement of Man. He was educated at the Indonesia Art Institute, Denpasar, Bali in 1995-2001, and won the Best Sketch Prize in 1997. He was a finalist of the Philip Morris Asean Art Award (Indonesia) in 2000 and a top 30 finalist of the Sovereign Art Prize in Hong Kong in 2005. He was sponsored to a Bali-New York mural collaboration in 2006, and had solos called Plush-Tick at the Komaneka Fine Art, Bali in 2007, and Mythical Beauty at the National Gallery Jakarta in 2009. He is the chairman of the Klini Seni Taxu (community) Art Space.
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