When Anusapati returned from the US, he brought along a new spirit in creating sculpture, that was to explore a consciousness of ethnicity. He worked in particular to focus on his attention of the field of wood as his material which is combined with ideas on the local/traditional - and for that as well he has been recognized as being a significant sculptor of today. In the middle of stagnation in Indonesian sculpture which includes the aspects of artistic and esthetical explorations, Anusapati stands out with his strong spirit and characteristics.

Anusapati's works show a smart strategy of visualization, that is to make an encounter between the ideas of the 'present' which tend to contain social issues and the idioms of 'the past' with their local colours. This kind of tendency can also be seen in a broad sense in the area of contemporary art. Through materials of wood (and also bamboo), and with familiar forms - especially for the rural Javanese society - that remind us to functional objects such as plow, kentongan (bamboo drum), dakon (traditional game), wooden wheel, bubu (traditional fishing instrument), Anusapati is actually offering basic issues that are threatened to become obsolete. In his view, all this time we (the Indonesian people) have been living within the chains of rhetorics and virtual jargons, such as 'moving towards the industrial society', or 'leading the people to take off' and many more, which tend to take over the real and basic potentials of the society. With a full awareness of such social problems, Anusapati keeps working by focusing on the strength of metaphors through a simple material: wood.

One of his works for this biennale, Underground Sound (2002) uses palm tree trunks as its material: it consists of three trunks which were formed to look like a kentongan, to indicate the strength of the encounter between his ideas and choice of material. The material which came from the underground is brought up to the surface, formed like a kentongan that has a potential to produce sound. That is the forgotten reality, which is originated from the hidden 'underworld', that in fact illustrates the actual reality. Anusapati aims, raises and explores in a smart and strategic way, even at times can be cynical and paradoxical covered in simple metaphors.

Suwarno Wisetrotomo

Born on 1957 in Solo, Central Java.
Studied at College of Fine Arts (ASRI), Yogyakarta (BFA; 1984), Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, USA (MFA; 1990).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2001 "Genesis", NADI Gallery, Jakarta.
2002 "Conversation", Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 "Modernities & Memories; Recent Works from the Islamic World", Dolmabache Exhibition Space, Istambul, Turkey; "Art of Indonesia", Yamanote Gallery, Sapporo, Japan.
1999 "Volume and Form", A Contemporary Environmental and Urban Sculpture Exhibition, Singapore; "KNALPOT", Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta.
2000 "Hybrid Art", Centrum Beeldende Kunst (CBK), Dordrecht, The Netherlands; "To Russia with Art", Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia.
2001 Zwischen Tradition und Moderne-Junge Kunstler aus Indonesien (Anusapati, Heri Dono, Krisnamurti, Nindityo Adipurnomo), Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum for Anthropology, City of Cologne, Germany; "The Sculpture Survey 01", Gomboc Galleries, Western Australia.
2002 "READ", The British Council Library, Jakarta.

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