Holding a degree in civil engineering, Ari Bayuaji (b. 1975, Indonesia) practiced in Indonesia before relocating to Canada in 2005, where he studied fine-arts at Concordia University (Montreal). The artist is best known for his installations incorporating found objects and readymades sourced from his travels around the world, through which he engages with diverse cultural traditions.
Ari Bayuaji is drawn to the transmission of fragments of everyday life within a culture, creating works that reveal the often-overlooked artistic value of the ordinary—through objects, places, and their respective roles within society. While the found objects and readymades that form his primary material are rooted in the past, he imbues them with an emotional charge tied to the contemporary issues he explores, with the aim of generating new content and meaning.
Ari Bayuaji has traveled abroad through artist residencies and programs while taking part in numerous international group exhibitions in Korea, Taiwan, Denmark, Indonesia, Germany, and the United States. His works have entered the permanent collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and have been shown in major solo exhibitions in Singapore, Taipei (Taiwan), Sainte-Alvère (France), Düsseldorf (Germany), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Toronto (Canada), Sydney (Australia), Bangkok (Thailand), Washington DC (United States), and Yogyakarta (Indonesia). In 2023, Ari took part in the Craft Biennale (Cheongju) and the Sea Art Festival (Busan) in South Korea, presenting installations from his project Weaving the Ocean.
Bayuaji lives and works between Montréal (Canada) and Bali (Indonesia).
