Bentang Tubuh Putu Sutawijaya

Abstract

My friendship with Putu Sutawijaya (PS) has lasted for the last seven years. However
I have known of his works and activities from mass media reportations and personal
conversations with friends from many years before. PS has worked as an artist since
the mid 1990s. His attitude and stance frequently show a sense of ambiguity, and even
tension: on one side he shows a critical and distanced attitude and perspective, while on
another side he also emphasizes a certain fi delity upon the matter. Through this essay
I plan to trace the milestones of PS’s works as an artifactual biography throughout the
last period of nearly fi fteen years. In this essay, I do not plan to assemble a periodization
diagram of PS’s career as an artist, but rather I want to review the patterns or conventions
and general tendencies in his works.