The four-decade career of Nyoman Nuarta has spanned many of the most interesting–and tumultuous–periods in the history of modern Indonesia. As a witness to these events, either from the outside as a student activist and iconoclastic artist, or the inside as a favored creator of monumental art objects to adorn the structures of the government and economic elite, Nyoman Nuarta has employed this unique perspective on Indonesian life and society to create a body of compelling and accomplished body of work of great importance and lasting value.

In Reflections and Interpretations, Nyoman Nuarta reminisces on his exceptional career through an examination of his own selection of works. From Proklamator, Nuarta’s first commission, won in 1979 even before graduating from the Faculty of Fine Art at the Bandung Institute of Technology, to the massive Garuda piece recently installed at the entrance of Soekarno-Hatta International airport, the pieces included in this book cover the major creative periods in Nuarta’s career. In this book, Nyoman Nuarta tells of the external events and internal passions driving the creation of each work, whether political protest, public monument, or private reflection. Nuarta’s own words are complemented by brief explanatory introductions placing each piece into a historical and social context.