Ari Bayuaji is utterly sincere when he leans in and says, “I'm very lucky to know what my purpose is in this life: to heal other people.”
I don’t get the impression that the 50-year-old Indonesian artist means something so banal as healing people through his art, but rather something much more direct, and at the same time, deep-reaching.
Speaking to me in a low-lit cafe in Tokyo’s Roppongi area, Bayuaji cuts a compact, trim figure in round glasses and a cap, energetic with an easy smile. When we meet, his work is about to be installed in Roppongi Hills as part of the three-day Roppongi Art Night, and will stay up after the event closes, until Oct. 5.
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