Artist : Davina Stephens
Genre : Painting & Ceramics
Period :August 6 till September 30, Everyday, 9.00AM till 5.00PM
Location : Jenggala Keramik, Jl. Uluwatu ll, Jimbaran. Tel: 703310
Davina Stephens is a young, internationally known artist. She was born in New Zealand in 1968, but grew up in places as diverse as America, India and Bali. Her current exhibition, at Jenggala Keramik, is wittily entitled “Baliwood”, but it is also sub-titled “Hollywood - Bollywood - Baliwood”. Perhaps this sub-title better expresses her art style, for Davina’s work shows a taste for the humor, incongruities, chaos and ironies found in a world of rapid change. America, India and Indonesia are all countries offering great spectacle and fantasy. Each culture, in its own way, offers rituals of color, action and drama. Each country is highly theatrical and, for Davina, these diversities represent a stage upon which she is merely a humble player.
Speaking about her art, Davina says: “For me painting is like producing a play in the theatre. The first drawings are like setting the stage. The painting process is where I fill in the characters and the story, and the culmination of the detailing is like laying out the narrative. Then the story tells itself.” Using pen, ink and bright, vibrant acrylic washes Davina tells visual stories about the drama and humor of everyday kampung life. Her spontaneous, sketch-like, paintings are a storyboard for the Cinema of Life. In Davina’s world mystic gurus are treated like movie stars and movie stars are treated like gurus. In this world, Tin Tin, the popular cartoon character, can ride astride a motorcycle with a Balinese monkey god, while volcanoes explode with frangipani petals and gaudy kites do battle in the skies above the pantai. Davina depicts the dignity of the cremation ceremony and the kaleidoscopic beauty of the temple offerings. She observes the barbarity of the cock-fight and the serene tranquility of the grazing Balinese cows. Davina’s paintings are an effervescent diary of her passionate journey through life, and they are a celebration of the psychedelic world she finds herself deeply immersed in.
Although I enjoyed Davina’s narrative paintings, three works that caught my eye were “Bouganvilla”, “Tropis” and “Tube Rose”. These floral studies are created in Acrylic, Oil Pastel and Ink on Paper. The paintings are quite harmonious, exhibiting good color, composition and brushwork. The subject matter is treated semi-abstractedly, so that the petals, stamen and leaves of the flowers create rhythmic patterns across her picture stage. As a contrast to the vivacity of the other works on display these subdued decorative pieces encourage contemplation on the variety, beauty and richness of nature.
As an “Artist-In-Residence”, at Jenggala Keramik, many of Davina’s paintings have been transposed to platters, plates and bowls. Through the ceramic process a more lustrous glow has been imparted to the images. In particular, a series of table-ware loosely based on batik patterns will enliven any table-setting. When many of Bali’s art galleries are full of “serious” paintings exploring the darker side of human emotions, Davina Stephen’s exhibition comes as a breath of fresh air. The ‘joie de vivre’ of her work makes a visit to her show well worthwhile.
