Agus Putu Suyadnya’s “Symbiotic Utopia” paints a fragile harmony between nature, myth, and modernity
Can paradise survive us?
In his latest exhibition, Symbiotic Utopia – The Peaceable Kingdom of Agus Putu Suyadnya, the Indonesian artist invites us into a vividly imagined world—one in which nature thrives and warns, embraces and resists. Curated by John Silvis, the show is on view at SAPAR Contemporary Art Gallery in New York from May 30 to July 7, 2025, and offers a visual meditation on coexistence, abundance, and ecological fragility.
🌿 A Vision Rooted in Nature, Myth & Memory
Hailing from Yogyakarta’s dynamic art scene, Agus Putu Suyadnya creates lush, layered compositions where tropical flora, Southeast Asian fauna, and surreal figures coexist. His canvases are dense with life—organic, radiant, uncontained. But within this visual feast lies a quiet tension: what looks like utopia is also a world on the brink.
👨🚀 The Astronaut as Witness and Warning
Recurring throughout the exhibition is a red-suited astronaut—a figure designed to survive hostile worlds. He lounges in jungle chairs, floats in inflatable rafts, or embraces wild animals with a tenderness both uncanny and urgent.
In the work Hug for Hope (2025), the astronaut gently embraces a chimpanzee—a poetic image of responsibility and kinship.
“Humans cannot live without nature,” Suyadnya notes, “whereas the natural world without mankind will continue to survive. So why, as humans, do we think we have the upper hand?”
🎨 Technique Meets Spirit
With dynamic brushwork, realist precision, and surrealistic spirit, Suyadnya’s works feel like dreamscapes rendered with intention. They are simultaneously invitations and warnings, reveries and reckonings. Beyond aesthetics, his paintings evoke a spiritual appeal to the cosmic balance—a world where humans and nature are not separate but intertwined.
🌏 Art with Ecological Urgency
Symbiotic Utopia is not a naïve fantasy. It is a dual vision—a glimpse into an imagined Eden and a meditation on ecological collapse. Through his astronaut, his forests, his layered mythologies, Agus Putu Suyadnya reminds us that utopias must be nurtured, not presumed.
👁️ About the Artist
Agus Putu Suyadnya (b. 1985) is based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and is known for his deeply symbolic, ecologically engaged painting practice. His work merges realism with surrealism, often exploring themes of technology, myth, identity, and environmental consciousness.
Selected solo exhibitions:
- Pemburu Cahaya (2018), Balebanar Sangkring, Yogyakarta
- Suburb Stories (2014), Seminyak, Bali
- Karakteristik Wayang (2011), ISI Yogyakarta
Group exhibitions include:
- Wonderland: Curious Nature, New York Botanical Garden
- Xavier Art Fest 2024, Philippines
🎨 About the Curator
John Silvis is a New York– and Berlin–based curator and art advisor. His curatorial work centers on identity, spirituality, and sustainability, with exhibitions in New York, LA, Berlin, Vienna, and Singapore. He is also active as a writer, interviewer, and podcast host, offering accessible insights into contemporary art.
📍 Exhibition Details
Symbiotic Utopia – The Peaceable Kingdom of Agus Putu Suyadnya
🖼️ SAPAR Contemporary Art Gallery, New York
📅 May 30 – July 7, 2025
🎨 Curated by John Silvis