Iwan Sastrawan is a Balinese artist born in Denpasar. After he graduated from studying architecture in Udayana University, he joined exhibition groups and has collaborated with other artists in more than seven exhibitions in Bali since 2009.
How did you begin your journey as an artist?
I’ve been interested in art, both visual and musical, since kindergarden. I like to observe people. Their physicality, behaviour, relationship, etc. In elementary school I made a mini porn comic, that I shared with some friends, but my parents got very angry about it. Then I tried making rock band posters on friends’ books, bags or on sheets of paper during junior high school. But then my focus on people as my object began getting bolder during high school. I’ve made portraiture pencil sketches and began getting comissions from it. After I graduated from my architectural studies in Udayana University, I used to make sketches and illustrations about my daily life. It’s like a diary basically. Then a friend asked me to join a group exhibition. After that, I joined more group exhibitions. I expressed myself and my thoughts with tiny nude people which were drawn with pen on paper.
Where do your ideas come from?
Most of my work is talking about daily life, about people’s behaviour, character, etc. My work, so far is about simple daily life hiperbolicly delivered with acrobatic nude people who live in a world without light, shadow, gravity, the sky and ground and one thing is caused by another.
What do you like the most about your artwork?
What I like the most about my art is the process. Get the idea, find the way to present it, and the details, like what is the pose for this figure, that figure, what is a strange object that I should use. The process is like meditation for me.
What message do you want deliver to your audience?
Hopefully my work can be a “mirror” for people. Without blaming, without judging, without advising. Just as a mirror.
