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Ubud museums to host first ever biennale
Procession, by I
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Procession, by I. Ketut Tagen. Courtesy of Bali Bangkit
Three prominent museums in Ubud will host the first ever biennale of Balinese traditional painting, featuring works from masters and promising painters.
The combined collections of Neka Art Museum (NAM), Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA) and Puri Lukisan Museum are believed to form the largest repository of Balinese classical and traditional paintings.
NAM's founder, Suteja Neka, stated that the biennale had two main objectives: promoting the richness of Balinese traditional paintings as well as stimulating the current crop of Balinese artists into creating innovative works - masterpieces if possible - using traditional styles.
"For several decades, Balinese traditional paintings have been marginalized because painters, collectors and critics are all fixated on contemporary painters," he said, adding that traditional styles had reached their golden age in the 1940s before being gradually sidelined by contemporary ones.
As contemporary paintings have succeeded in taking over most of the island's art galleries, paintings using traditional styles have been pushed aside into art markets frequented by low-budget tourists.
Such marginalization has convinced many people, including a large number of art critics, that works in the traditional style are no longer entitled to be categorized as art forms. In their eyes, those works have degraded into mere handicraft products.
Agung Rai, an art connoisseur who collects traditional and contemporary works with equal passion, vehemently opposed such a notion.
"If an art lover is willing to dedicate his time to carefully view and absorb a Balinese traditional painting, then he will find out how captivating that work truly is," he said, adding that the esthetic beauty of traditional works was equal to that of contemporary ones.
Tjokorda Putra Sukawati, the chairman of Ratna Warta - the local foundation managing Puri Lukisan Museum, shared a similar view.
He recalled how in 1936, Ubud painters made an esthetic breakthrough under the patronage of the then Ubud king, Tjokorda Gede Agung Sukawati and his foreign friends, Walter Spies and Johan Rudolf Bonet.
"They experimented with perspectives, colors and anatomy, thus marked their separation, evolvement to be precise, from the classical styles of Balinese paintings," Sukawati said.
These young painters, who later formed the influential Pita Maha (Great Creativity) group, were the first generation of traditional style painters.
Pita Maha played a pivotal role in the birth of various styles of Balinese traditional painting, from the Sanur style to Batuan, Kapal and Singaraja.
"All these styles will feature at the biennale," Neka said, adding that Balinese traditional paintings usually consisted of very lively landscapes, with styles giving birth to numerous substyles.
"The Ubud style for instance inspired substyles such as Kutuh, Keliki, Taman, Tebesaya, Padangtegal, Pengosekan and Penestanan," Neka stressed.
Organized by Bali Bangkit, a creative alliance of collectors and critics who strive to promote and advance the culture of Bali, the biennale will feature as many as 180 paintings displayed at three different museums.
"Eighty percent of the works displayed were created by young painters from the 80s and 2000s. These painters have committed themselves to nurture and develop traditional *Balinese painting* styles," Neka added.
The rest of the paintings on display were created by the Pita Maha generation, such as larger-than-life artists Anak Agung Gede Sobrat, Kobot and Ida Bagus Made Poleng.
Indonesia prominent art critic Agus Dermawan T. curated the bienalle titled "Pita Prada" (Golden Creativity) as a tribute to the influential group. The biennale will officially open Friday at NAM and will run until Jan. 11.
In the opening ceremony, the organizing committee will also launch Pita Prada, a 270-page book on the development of Balinese traditional paintings co-authored by Agus Dermawan T, Jean Couteau and Kun Adnyana.
"We will also present special awards to four painters who have showed excellent commitment and provided commendable contributions to the development of Balinese traditional painting," Neka said.
The recipients of the awards were selected by a team of judges comprising Neka, Agung Rai, Tjokorda Putra, Agus Dermawan T, Jean Couteau, Subandi Salim and Bali Bangkit chairman Jusuf Wanandi.
