Sunaryo Soetono works across a variety of media: painting, sculpture, printmaking, installation, as well as urban monuments and several murals in public spaces in Indonesia. Abstract or figurative, his work has always been known for its formal strength and inventiveness, but his work has also always been about social, environmental and spiritual issues, and goals.
Balance and harmony are two very important concepts in all aspects of the artist’s life. From his art to who he is, it is the drive to seek equilibrium in all he does that has defined him to be one of the most eminent contemporary artists in Indonesia today.
Sunaryo Soetono, ‘Fatum 3’, 2007
An accomplished sculptor, painter, printmaker and installation artist, he applies that discipline to tasks at hand which makes the understanding of his “Borderless Universe”, as declared by I. Bambang Sugiharto, to be linked to “elements of balance and surprise”. As explained by the writer and philosopher, balance to Sunaryo is not about symmetry, and it goes beyond mere methods and appearances. To him, it is about employing strategies and play to search for that stability in asymmetry, or chaos.
It is only through this that we can come to fully appreciate his art and the work he did during six weeks of residency at STPI.
Visit our Artsy Viewing Room to learn more, and to view all available artworks here.
Exhibitions at STPI
Sunaryo: Poetry of Inner Dreams (2008)
Read more about the artist and his time at STPI
An Indonesian artist’s global fingerprint
The New York Times, 21 January 2008
