Artist : Ida Bagus Indra
Genre : Paintings
Period : December 5 till January 5
Everyday, 10.00AM till 6.00PM
Location : Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Resort
Jimbaran Bay, Jimbaran
Tel: 701010
Classical Balinese painting was primarily concerned with the
depiction of the Gods, and other mythological characters.
The stories of these ‘super’ beings would be presented
in a structured narrative form, contained within borders and
grids of a highly decorative and patterned nature. There was
no focus to the paintings. The eye was left to roam freely
over the image. Concentrating on one section, and then moving
on. Furthermore, there was no attempt at perspective. Characters
would be presented in schematized profiles, displayed in rows,
or on top of one another against a background filled with
patterned trees or clouds, with little notion of depth. However,
as early as 1597, when the Dutch first discovered the Spice
Islands, Balinese art was open to change. With Colonialism
came a freeing of the Classical style. The grid structure
slowly disappeared, being replaced by an emphasis on the decorative
nature of presentation. Then, momentous changes were to occur
in 1927, with the arrival of Walter Spies, and again in 1929
with the advent of Rudolf Bonnet. For better or worse, these
European artists were to have a profound effect on traditional
Balinese painting. Consciously or not, they had a deep influence
on the subject matter. For almost 20 years Spies and Bonnet
promoted a ‘de-emphasis’ on mythology, and suggested
that ‘Man and his Relationship with Nature’, ‘Daily
Village Life’, and ‘Agricultural Activities’
were more appropriate themes. Eastern Mysticism was to be
replaced with European Humanism. What resulted was ‘Renewal
Balinese Painting’, or, as it is more commonly known,
the ‘Ubud School’. To this day this style of painting,
and its subject matter, remains the most prominent and commercially
popular form of traditional Balinese painting.
Ida Bagus Indra is a young Balinese artist, and even though
his paintings have been influenced by European ‘humanistic’
and ‘realistic’ styles, he still chooses to work
within the framework of traditional Balinese themes. Indra’s
work is involved with the depiction of daily Balinese life,
but, for his current exhibition, ‘Sweet Coffee’,
at the Ganesha Gallery, he is concerned with the private nature
of Balinese nightlife to be found in the simple village warungs.
Indra’s nightlife has no relation to the tourist ‘Disneyland’
of Kuta. Rather, this is the intimate world of the warungs
and cafes that dominate Balinese village life. Lit by moonlight
and oil lamps, Indra shows us a side of Balinese life that
the casual tourist rarely sees. He presents us with a series
of vignettes and tableaus that combine to create a revealing
narrative.
The exhibition opens with the moody painting ‘Massage’.
Here, the men gather in the warung to enjoy a massage. Discuss
the upcoming cockfights, or simply enjoy a cigarette and a
break from the daily toil. Hovering in the background is a
waitress, who appears reluctant to encroach on the world of
the men. Yet, as the painting ‘Diamond under the Table’
shows, the warung is a place for the family as well. A young
child sleeps beneath the counter as its mother serves and
gossips with a female customer. Sex can also have its place
in the warung, for, in the painting ‘Private Memory’,
as a luscious Balinese girl serves a man, it is clear that
there is more on offer than just coffee. ‘Ladies’
Gossip’ also demonstrates that the women too like to
gather in the warung to exchange the latest news, while the
same ubiquitous waitress hovers in the background eavesdropping
on their conversation. Linked together, these paintings reveal
a basic narrative which shows that the ritual of serving and
drinking coffee is merely a formality to facilitate community
interaction and well-being. An essential underpinning of Balinese
society. Indra charmingly reveals the fundamental role that
the warung has in Balinese communal life. Other paintings,
such as ‘Low Standard Perfume & Gasoline’,
reveal Indra’s social awareness as an expensively dressed
girl squats on the earthen floor to light a petrol stove,
contrasting the dichotomy between prosperity and poverty.
In the painting ‘Meme Melanting’, an elderly woman
takes a well deserved coffee break, but, this painting is
simply an excuse to display Indra’s mastering of expressive
palette-knife and brushstroke techniques, which are formidable.
Influenced by the Hindu belief that all things will one day
fade and perish, it appears that Ida Bagus Indra is intent
on capturing a slice of Balinese life that will disappear,
as the modern day influences of television, transportation
and travel inevitably take their toll on communal Balinese
life. Seen within the context of traditional Balinese painting,
Indra’s works are provocative and stimulating examples
of a continually evolving ‘realistic’ style, which
is based on a candid, or even a didactic, observation of village
life rather than idealized people and events. An informality
and an insistence on naturalism as opposed to idealism. Indra
paints the villagers just as he sees them. A more sober and
realistic view of contemporary Balinese village life. Ida
Bagus Indra presents us with a pertinent and thought provoking
exhibition.
