Ida Bagus Putu Gede Sutama
Art is “Yajna”

Works of sculpturing art are cultural products made by someone who has high artistic skills. It is three-dimensional art, requiring high dexterity and profound elucidation of the meaning sense that would like to be conveyed by its artist. Ida Bagus Putu Sutama is one of the Balinese sculptors considering that art has significance in his life.

He was born and grown up in a family of artists. His grandfather is a sculptor while his father is a celebrated dancer in Sanur. However, this did not mean that his family, in particular his father, were supporting his art hobby. As soon as he graduated from Senior High School, Sutama would have liked to continue his study at the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) Yogyakarta, but his father forbade this and suggested him to study at the Faculty of Law.
He succeeded in obtaining an undergraduate degree in law studies as his father suggested. Armed with this expertise at law, Sutama could not take a stand against his conscience as an artist. Through several literatures and discussions with his seniors, he then became an amateur sculptor, yet he remains to apply professional standard. “In my opinion, making a work of art serves as yajna (holy sacrifice). Though this activity makes less money, I keep doing it in company with devotion and solemnity,” he observed.
In creating a sculpture, he departs from his personal concept that he names ‘natural expression through imagination’. Nevertheless, as a Hindu follower, Ida Bagus Putu Gede Sutama is inseparable from subject matters pertaining to Hindu tradition namely padewasan (Balinese almanac matters).
The latest work of Sutama is marked with a critical message. Probably, it is one of the similar art works combining the sculpture with the prose of life. Two installations were also included in the works exhibited at the Griya Santrian Gallery Sanur (13/1-25/2). Object of his installation is made from a disorganized Balinese boat with outriggers and ploughshare that is left by its farmer. “Through these two media (sculpture and prose), I want not only want the art enjoyers to apprehend my works, but also that the laymen, having less understanding on art, can read what I mean,” he explained.
“When the tourist came, fishermen changed their life from catching fish to catching tourists…when the tourists stayed away they forgot how to catch fish…now they’re rubbing their chest while they try to grasp their boat rudder …there is one word left waiting.” These are quotations of some sentences in the installation entitled ‘Reality of Fishermen’s Life’.
Works of Ida Bagus Sutama, other than being collected by domestic and foreign collectors, are also showcased in one of the collections of Museum Der Weltkulturen—Frankfurt, Germany. (BTN/rai)