Art Bali 2019 : An Exploration into Contemporary Art
Contemporary art has been defined as art made ‘today’, art that has been and continues to be created during our lifetime. Often confronting and unusual, it can differ significantly from its older, more conventional counterpart – modern art. Contemporary artists express their ideas through paintings, sculptures, site-specific installations, photography, video, new media and technology inspired
Gede Gunada: Artistic Talent from East Bali
Balinese contemporary artist Gede Gunada first came to my attention in 2012. He was among a group of four other local artists who participated in the Artists Camp in the Top End of Northern Territory (NT) of Australia in the same year. The project’s mission was to expose the Balinese artists to the raw and
Traditional Daily Life
Below is another painting that attempts to portray a global view of traditional village life. This painting is characterised by its strong overall design. The image is divided into four quarters, bisected vertically by a darker series of trees running through the centre, and horizontally by two processions travelling in opposite directions. Everything seems to
Nyaman Gallery : A New Breed of Art Gallery in Seminyak
If you take a stroll along the shopping precincts of Kuta, Seminyak and Ubud, you can quickly become overwhelmed by the presence of commercial art. Art shops line the streets selling all manner of western and locally inspired artworks. Visitors may ponder: “Where can I see the best of the local traditional or contemporary art?”
Traditional Daily Life in Bali’s Batuan Paintings
This painting by a woman artist, Ni Wayan Warti, has a stable composition and does not challenge the viewer with either complex iconography, or spatial ambiguity. This is a village at peace and, according to the artist, was done for her own satisfaction. The painting is called Galungan, after a major, island wide ceremony in
Kulidan Kitchen Space: Building Community Through Art, Education, Creativity, Activism & Food
One of the most satisfying phenomenon’s of Bali’s recent modern development has been the birth of an array of art and creative, multi-purpose spaces that serve as platforms for community co-working and engagement. Kulidan Kitchen Space, a new initiative in the rice fields of the Guwung village, Sukawati, fifteen minutes from Denpasar, is one such
Depicting Traditional Daily Life in Batuan Paintings
The area located within the walls of the family compounds or village temples was familiar territory, not necessarily always peaceful or benevolent, but always comprehensible and manageable. Many paintings portray the different stages of an individual’s life, from birth to death. There are scenes of commonplace activities, portrayals of incidents and accidents, depictions of crimes
Images of Bali fuse with Old Masters paintings to create landmark pictorials
“I approach every magical day here in Bali with gratitude and wonder. Gratitude for having the joyful privilege of living on the gorgeous rice fields north of Ubud,” says Canadian avant-garde filmmaker and photographer Joel Singer who first visited Bali in 1979 and has lived here for the past decade. “I usually awaken with the
Discovering Contemporary Art in Purpa Art Gallery
Purpa Art Gallery Bali opened its first gallery in Ubud in 1970; it’s one of the oldest galleries in Bali. The owner, I Nyoman Purpa, was one of the most eminent curators and collectors in Indonesia. In 2014, her daughter Ari Purpa opened her own gallery in Seminyak, specialising in modern and contemporary Art by
An Introduction to Bali’s Intricate Batuan Art
Batuan paintings are remarkably dense with deeply saturated tones. Their images are often dark and sometimes macabre, but they are always carefully made and carefully balanced. The forms in the paintings swirl and intertwine, they repeat each other and expand outwards until they transform into new shapes and new patterns. They create labyrinths of pulsating
Genevieve Couteau : The French Virtuoso That Bali Art Historians Failed to Cite
Volumes have been written about the foreign artists who have visited, lived and worked on the island of Bali during the first half of the 20th century. Walter Spies, Rudolf Bonnet and Theo Meier are celebrated icons, while Hofker, Covarrubias and Le Mayeur are all praised for their special talents. These artists, however, are all male.
Revealing Chinese and Balinese Cultural Connections Through Art with Tjandra Kirana
One of the most charming characters within the Bali art community is TjandraKirana. Quick with a smile, and always ready to share a light-hearted joke, or a tale, he is gifted with a generous, and effervescent personality. Born in Denpasar in 1944, of Chinese Indonesian heritage, over the past six decades the well-known, self-taught photographer
The Curious Worlds of Balinese Painter Galung Wiratmaja
Intrigue and mystery are powerful psychological elements when effectively utilised within a painting. The ability to make subtle suggestions in a composition that inspire curiosity and ignite the observer’s imagination reflects a painter who is in full control of his canvas. Colour and form are the potent visual fundamentals of a painting that we respond
