Sujana Suklu

Wayan Sujana Suklu

Biography

Wayan Sujana Suklu was born on February 6, 1967 in Klungkung Regency Bali. Sujana Suklu holds a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from ITB Bandung and a Doctoral in Fine Arts from the Institute of Art Denpasar. Dr. Sujana Suklu is presently active as a lecturer at the Institute of Fine Art Denpasar. Meanwhile, he is Chairman of Batu Belah Art Space and Community, Chairman of Catur Community (Mandala Of Life) and is Committee member of Art Visual and Architect of Listibia Klungkung 

Suklu Collaborations

Since the year 2000, Sujana Suklu has often collaborated with writers as well as other artists. This involves creating works in response to short stories, poetry and novellas. An example of one such response to Balinese poetry is a collaboration with the work Gina Pragina and Kali Sengara by Wayan Dibia. As of 2023, the most recent collaboration is a joint work titled Nawa Sena with writer and philosopher A.A. Mas Ruscitadewi. In addition, he has won many domestic and international awards and has participated in both solo exhibitions and group exhibitions domestically and abroad. In summary, for a complete awards and exhibition list refer to the tabs below.

Exhibitions and Achievements

Sujana Suklu & the Three Rooms of Art

In detail, to navigate Sujana Suklus’ large body of works and projects we will enter the three contextual rooms of art by which he lives. For Sujana Suklu, art is refined, explored and cultivated in what he terms the Three Rooms of Art. They essentially provide parameters to understand better the three different states and functions of art. Art for the Self, Art by Interaction and Art for Community. Even though they come from the same well of creativity, they transform and serve very different functions.

Art for Self

It is undeniable that art already exists within these three categories. Sujana Suklu’s first room of art, Art for Self describes what an artist creates in the privacy and absolute freedom of a personal world. Their mind, feelings, spirit, and all decisions and factors are pure from the self and of the self. For the most part, whether it be conscious or subconscious. It is important to realise this private creative process is none other than the crux of the point of spirituality to which we all arrive should we cultivate a universal consciousness.

Art by Interaction

Art by Interaction refers to a process touched by interactivity or collaboration. It is worthwhile to note the differences between interaction and collaboration are different. A collaborative process suggests mutual agreement, whilst interactions may occur within an art process that is not deliberate. All collaborations are interactions, yet not all interactions are collaborations.

Being present in this second room of interaction demands another dimension of honesty. It is no less absolute than the first room. In the second room of Art by Interaction, you can say that art may transform and evolve due directly to outside elements.

Multi-Disciplinary Interactions

That is to say that creative processes embarked upon with other artists and writers are some of the purest examples of the interior of this second room of interaction. However, specific dialogues with the environment, architecture and objects are explored within this room of interactivity as well. Some of Sujana Suklu’s art projects developed from Art by Interaction include ‘Intermingle‘ and most recently, a collaboration with writer Mas Ruscitadewi in Nawa Sena, which reveals how powerful and transformative the power of creative interactivity. The philosophy of Nawa Sena was discussed amongst writers and academics in a discussion group media release at Kompas Nusantara.

Art for Social

The third room is Art for Social. A room where art is cultivated to contribute back to communities. Serving a social function that may be shared within communities through educational art workshops and community projects. Perhaps, this predisposition towards social and collective development sets Suklu apart as an artist whose creative vision flourishes within an educational construct. Within Art for Social, Sujana Suklu has designed workshops that are meaningful and cross-functional. In this room, the individual artist has most deliberately given way to the collective. In essence, serving as teacher and guide.

Recognised or not, the three rooms of art have always existed. It is in the clarity and application of creative mapping wherein Suklu’s uniqueness.

In the case of the Three Rooms of Art of Sujana Suklu, they have become premises. So as to become a bridge to develop his creative energy in different functional areas. In any event, it is important to note that instead of first creating art and then later understanding its purpose, Suklu has first defined the rooms and then chosen which to enter. Therefore, it is this deliberation and intent that make Suklu’s works highly self-aware. Perhaps you can say they are supremely efficient. And it is because they understand their purpose and function before they begin.

The Natural Universality of Art

In the first room, an exploratory room of self, this is where the artist is unapologetically free. As free to turmoil, as free to fly and as free to dissolve. Perhaps he has drawn the map of each room, of self, interactive and social rooms of art, to channel a much larger and intangible energy, one that seeks new births and is unknown. A moment of creation that proves how connected we are within this universal energy.

Current and Upcoming Artist Projects

At the present time, there are several educational art workshops, including ‘MAL, Mobile Art Lab‘, where the interconnectivity of the three rooms of art are all present. For this purpose, the artist will travel to different locations and bring the three rooms of art in a truly interactive sharing of the creative process with different communities. In addition, the publication Nawa Sena with A.A. Mas Ruscitadewi in 2023, is a profound collaboration with many contextual layers.

In the Instance of Art and Literature

It has been known that collaborations of fine arts with literature like that of Nawa Sena have spurred an appreciation of the interactive process and its many creative possibilities. With this in mind, aside from the ongoing projects by Sujana Suklu, we look forward to future insights and collaborations in Sawidji. In particular, that of a closer look at the philosophy uncovered within the Nawa Sena creative process together with Mas Ruscitadewi.

Sujana Suklu:Related Media Articles

• ‘Merasakan Rasa Dalam Buku Nawa Sena’,
• Nawa Sena: Percumbuan Estetik Sujana Suklu-Mas Ruscitadewi yang Tak Saling Meniadakan,
• Sujana Suklu dalam Temuan Disertasi “Mobile Art Laboratory’’, Ruang Alternatif Olah Seni Rupa Pertunjukan Berbasis Masyarakat
• Mas Ruscitadewi dan Sujana ‘Suklu’ Rilis Karya Kolaborasi “Nawa Sena”
• Monument of Trajectory Model Pameran Suklu 2021
• I Wayan Sujana “Suklu” Jadikan Novel sebagai Media Drawing
• “Art Blueprint”: Kado dari Bintang

Explore Articles

• Sawidji Studio
• ‘Red Chair and the White Room’, a Collaboration
• Solitude in Black and White
• Red Chair and the White Room Part II
• Mas Ruscitadewi