The body has proved to be one of the most versatile and expressive subjects or contemporary artists.

In Southeast Asia, an appreciation for the power and sensuality of the physical has never been entirely eclipsed, by colonist prudery, the hardening anonymity of modern urban living, or even the strictures of religious authorities in Islamicised societies.

The body as performance, as exemplified in very different ways by the work of Agus Suwage, Budi Kustarto and Melati Suryodarmo, is a familiar concept in Indonesia, where there is a strong tradition of dance and physical theatre and other performance. In Suwage’s work, for example, his own body becomes a canvas expressing the comedy, tragedy, and pain of existence, or political criticism, or even to reference the work of performance artists and their influence.

The body as a vessel of spiritual energy, expressing the force of life, can be seen in Putu Sutawijaya’s and also to an extent in Ahmad Zakii Anwar’s work. At different ends of the aesthetic spectrum, we also have the monumental, muscular figuration of Thaweesak Srithongdee and I Nyoman Masriadi, or the equine existentialism of Ugo Untoro.