Identifying a ‘real good one’

Exotic: A detail on one of the traditional Balinese paintings in the Ubud Young Artists ExhibitionArt collector and business man, Lin Che Wei, is passionate about art. He is currently holding the Ubud Young Artists Exhibition at Ulun Ubud Resort under his foundation Sarasvati Art Management. Drawing together traditional style Balinese paintings from 17 local artists, Che Wei hopes to educate the public on what makes a great Balinese traditional painting and at the same time perhaps uncover “a real good one”.

“A real good one should have come up with a real idea. Not a copy, but a new idea, an original idea. This idea should then be executed with the right techniques, which has four or five phases of production,” explains Che Wei on the sidelines of the exhibition opening last Sunday.

There is first the sketching, then line work then the shading comes into play ahead of the color “to create depth of field”, says the art collector who wants to help preserve these skills by backing artists who still take the time to create masterpieces.

“Originally Balinese artists were agrarian based. They started painting after working in the rice fields and in village life. The paintings took a very long period of time to complete a real good one,” says Che Wei.

Market forces and modernity threaten this way of making art.

“When you look at the economics, if you go to the Sukawati market there are a lot of paintings that can be made in one or two days and then sell between US$20 to $40. If artists make small works in just two hours and they can sell them for $7 so in a month they could make around $600, but there is no soul in the paintings,” says Che Wei.

Through his foundation, Sarasvati Art Management that supports Bali’s traditional artists, he hopes they have the time to continue to produce the real good ones.

—  Trisha Sertori