I Nyoman Sujana was born in Sayan, Ubud, Bali in 1972. He is one of few native painters of the Ubud area to have been able to distance themselves from the constraints of the local painting tradition. Like almost all the youth from his village, Kenyem was first trained as a painter with the Young Artists tradition of nearby Penestanan. There he learned the repetitive patterns imposed by that convention.
Later, after attending the Indonesian Art High School (SMSR) in Ubud, and Indonesian Institute of the Arts (STSI) in Denpasar (1992–1998), he shifted to abstraction. Kenyem’s work then developed into a discourse about the place of human beings in nature. In 1999 he exhibited at the Komaneka gallery with Mahendra Mangku and Nyoman Masradi. In 2011 he had a solo show there, called The Bicycle Diaries.
Kenyem works in a meticulously detailed manner, often with calligraphic fields. Iconic to his paintings are small androgynous figures that appear to be dancing. Trees and especially leaves are a recurrent visual motif, as are large hovering rocks. Everything is carefully shadowed to give
the impression of floating