Lovely Moonsters
Paintings by Razcel Salvarita
At Café des Artistes, Jl. Bisma 9X, Ubud
Tel: 972706
Painter and photographer Razcel Salvarita comes from the Philippines. He lives in Ubud, and, ‘Lovely Moonsters’, is his fourth exhibition in Bali. On Nyepi eve, in Bali, the darkest night of the new moon, weird and wonderful effigies of monsters are paraded throughout all the streets of the villages on the island. People of all ages join in this procession to ‘confuse’ the bad spirits of the island. At the end of the parade, the effigies are burnt to ashes. Having observed the Nyepi ceremony many times, Razcel has been inspired to create this charming ‘Lovely Moonsters’ series, in homage to this very popular Balinese custom.
Created in watercolor and pen on paper, as the works ‘Ganesha Enigma’ and ‘Guernica Cinta Raksasa’ show, the images are inspired by the intricacies of Balinese design. The paintings reflect the look of batik art. Razcel’s ‘moonsters’ have a playful spirit, and each exudes a different personality. The artist’s playful imagination also makes us consider the monsters within ourselves. Razcel feels that some people delve too much in fighting their inner-demons, and in these delightful watercolors Razcel is showing us how to embrace the monsters in all of us. The artist is saying that we all have the ability to transform naughty monsters into lovely ones.
Passing By a Colored Space
Paintings by Ida Bagus Urip Candrabayu and I Wayan Setem
At Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Resort, Jimbaran Bay Tel: 701010
In this exhibition Balinese artists Urip Candrabayu and Wayan Setem show the powers of pure abstract art, with minimal stimulus from the visible world. Their paintings are not stylized or disguised forms as seen by the eye, but, rather visions which trace their origins to internal concepts and emotions. As suggested by the title, ‘Passing By a Colored Space’, they are explorations of color in space. The passing should be perceived as a suggestion of a journey towards a destination that will never be reached. A sort of eternal pilgrimage.
Urip Candrabayu subjects are slightly anchored in reality. The best example of his work is possibly ‘Block Head’, in which stone-like forms are placed on a graffiti scribbled background. The titles of Wayan Setem’s paintings, like ‘Red Landscape’, are deceptively descriptive of what we see on the canvas, but, they are also imbued with a mysterious otherworldliness, and possibly an esoteric magic.
In many ways abstraction can be seen as the most internalized, intellectual, and spiritual of art styles. In the hands of these two Balinese artists, combined with their love of color, which plays an enormous role in their religious lives, abstraction takes on a new meaning in this journey through color and space.
You Can’t Stop Me
Paintings by Eva Schumy
At Adi’s Gallery, Jl. Bisma 102, Ubud. Tel: 977104
There are not many artists from Hungary living and working in Bali. Thirty-one year old Eva Schumy is one of the rare ones. She was born and raised in Budapest, and educated at the Fine Art Academy there. In 2006 Eva fulfilled a wish and moved to Bali, settling down outside of Ubud. Eva met a Balinese man, fell in love, married, and gave birth to a son. The strong relations she has with her husband’s family allows her to experience Bali on a much more intensive and realistic level. Eva gains deeper insights than most foreigners in Bali would have.
Eva’s skills as a talented painter allow her to express both the beauty and the darkness of the so called ‘Island of the Gods’. Her observant paintings make her a remarkable witness of Bali in our times. In works such as ‘No Women No Cry’ her art can be gripping and cynical, as she depicts the hedonistic lifestyles of many westerners. But, in pieces like ‘Are You Already Tattoo?’, she displays a warmth that can only find its source from her Balinese family social structure. Eva’s art is unique, original, and expressive. Her intriguing paintings, offering the people and situations she has experienced in Bali, will touch all viewer’s hearts and minds.
Relics of a Dreaming
Ceramics and Paintings by Hillary Kane
At Gaya Art Space, Jl. Raya Sayan, Ubud. Tel: 979252
Educated in the United States and France, Hillary Kane now resides in Bali. She focuses her creativity in both clay and paint, enjoying the dynamic of two different mediums and their possible convergence. In her exhibition ‘Relics of a Dreaming’, Hillary presents objects and images in an aboriginal sense of a ‘dreaming’. That is to say: the objects, images, and story, or, the physicality inherited and accumulated as her identity, over a lifetime. Hillary feels that her art is a theater of the unspoken, revealing more an inquisition into meaning than an answer composed.
In ceramic works such as ‘Totem Box’ Hillary’s pieces approach archaeology. Not only in their crusted appearance, but, also in their metaphor, which suggests the stratified dimensions, eroded surfaces, and fractured facades, of the gradual process of personal individualization. Similarly, in paintings like ‘The Becoming’, the canvases are dedicated to the process of discovery. The images are built up from oil pigments, melted wax, and bases of clay. Texture is used as an emphasis for the layering of color and form. Eventually, texture predominates while color drops away. In her ceramics and paintings, Hillary Kane presents superb artworks.
