Paintings by Ida Bagus Tilem KA, I Wayan Linggih,
Ida Bagus Urip Candrabayu and I Wayan Meganatha
at Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Resort,
Jimbaran Bay. Tel: 701010.
The title of this exhibition, ‘Emerging Portraits (of
artists as young men)’, is a bit misleading. The exhibition
is not about portraiture (except maybe in an esoteric way),
for the show is a display of each artist’s attitude
towards art, their handling of the paint medium, their painting
technique, and also a hint of the style in which each has
chosen to work. Ida Bagus Tilem KA, I Wayan Linggih, Ida Bagus
Urip Candrabayu and I Wayan Meganatha are all close friends,
who have attended, or are still attending, the ISI (the Balinese
Academy of Modern Art). It is an accepted belief that any
artists, having left art school, requires at least five years
to forget everything they have ever learnt at college, and
need time to evolve their own style. What is interesting about
these four young artists is that they are well on the way
to developing their own individual styles. This exhibition
showcases the work of these artists, but it also shows some
of the art styles currently ‘in vogue’ at the
ISI.
Ida Bagus Tilem KA was born in May, 1984. Tilem is inspired
by nature and the landscape, and he paints in a highly realistic
manner. A painting, such as ‘Virgin Forest’, displays
Tilem’s extraordinary ability to reproduce, almost like
a photograph, exactly what the eye sees. The painting also
exhibits a wonderful sense of patterning, as the vertical
tree trunks recede into the background, creating a strong
impression of perspective. Tilem’s ‘super-realism’
also contains a sense of symbolism. ‘Tree’, a
‘cropped close-up’ of a tree trunk, is painted
in his meticulous style, and the work pays close attention
to the dappled patterning of the bark of the tree, yet, it
is the strange symbols, signs, or primitive runes, carved
into the trunk of the tree, which gives the canvas a surprising
mysterious appeal. Bringing to mind the art of Caspar David
Friedrich (1774-1840), the great German ‘Romantic’
painter, perhaps Tilem’s work can be seen as Neo Balinese
Romanticism.
Born in April, 1984, I Wayan Linggih is also inspired by nature
and the landscape, but, he takes a totally different approach,
and utilizes a very different painting technique, to his subject-matter.
Works such as ‘Waves’ and ‘Tide’ are
created with a gestural bravado. In certain areas of the canvases
the paint is applied in a thick ‘impasto’, which
retains and highlights the aggressive, staccato brushstrokes,
while in other areas the paint can be dribbled, splashed or
washed in layers over the surface. The result is a series
of textured paintings that find their inspiration in nature,
but appear to be referring to a cosmic consciousness. Other
works, such as ‘Sunset’ and ‘Moon Light’,
reinforce a sense of planetary movement, and could also imply
a personal concept of Balinese religion and mysticism.
In the art of Ida Bagus Urip Candrabayu, born in June 1983,
there can be no doubt about his influences. Candrabayu is
a geometric abstractionist. In his current work he appears
obsessed with circles and ovals. These dominant forms reappear
constantly throughout his works on display. Scratched or embedded
into stylized backgrounds of squares and rectangles, the circles
and ovals hover over lush rich paint, which, in turn, has
been scratched and marked to give a vibrant backdrop. Created
in bright primary colors like red and blue, yellow and turquoise,
the paint is thickly lacquered to make the works appear almost
enameled. With simple titles like ‘So High’, ‘Cool’,
‘White Hole’ and ‘Mars Abstraction’,
the works are left to resonant on the viewers and their subconscious.
All meaning is in the eye of the beholder.
Perhaps the most intriguing artist in the exhibition is I
Wayan Meganatha, born in November, 1982. Meganatha is combining
two traditional Western Art styles. He creates Cubist inspired
cross-hatched backgrounds, somewhat like the backgrounds you
would find in early Picasso or Braque Cubist paintings, onto
which he applies current Pop Icons, using a stenciled style.
In works such as ‘No Cloth’ and ‘Coffee
Break’, Meganatha reduces a pair of gym sneakers, and
a steaming cup of coffee, to their essential lines, and stencils
them, in white, onto his predominately brown-toned backgrounds.
The result conjures up thoughts of modern-day ‘cave’
paintings, or even urban graffiti, transposed to a new setting
and meaning. His highly worked backgrounds display traditional
Cubist painting techniques, but, the simple white stencils
epitomize a Pop Art sensibility. Maybe inspired by ‘New
Asian Cubism’, which has appeared in Asian art circles
over the last few years, Meganatha’s work speaks directly
to contemporary Indonesian youth.
These emerging Balinese artists, Ida Bagus Tilem KA, I Wayan
Linggih, Ida Bagus Urip Candrabayu and I Wayan Meganatha,
all display competence in their painting abilities, plus they
show an artistic maturity beyond their years. Still, what
is important is how these artists develop as they move further
into their careers. At this point, it is fair to say that
they all show promise, and are well worth ‘keeping an
eye on’. However, it is the Ganesha Gallery which should
be commended for mounting this exhibition, and bringing to
the public’s attention the many talented Balinese artists
currently emerging from art schools, and entering the energetic
Balinese art scene.
