Another art opening at the Italian Cultural Center. Amongst the laughter, the murmuring voices, the tinkling of wine glasses, a woman plays classical music on a grand piano in the middle of the room.

Strangely, the pianist plays with a rag doll in her lap. The doll is lifted up as if to see the keys, but its woolen hair and soft material limbs flop back over the woman's legs.

The doll was made by the Balinese artist Murni (G.A.K. Murniasih), who died in January 2006. It appears to represent her at the exhibition.

The man in the white linen suit, talking excitedly at the exhibition opening last Wednesday, was her lover; the Italian artist Mondo (Edmondo Zanolini).

"Undisclosed Paintings by Murniasih and Mondo" is an exhibition of the artwork of this formidable pair. It includes paintings of Murni's that have never before been displayed, as well as recent works of Mondo's.

Murni is considered by many the most important woman in Bali's art scene for her paintings that attempt to show sex as it really is, with its joys and disappointments.

Murni's women are all bottoms and breasts; often without faces, their bodies stretch and spring across the canvas like punctuation marks.

Though depicted as simple forms, these female figures have recognizable genitalia between their legs. In "Dimabuk Cinta" (Infatuated) a red nude is bent back over herself like a spoon. She holds a yellow flower against her crotch in a sentimental analogy of flowers and the fairer sex.

In "Bikin Pleasure" (Making Pleasure) an orange woman stands arms stretched upward as though being frisked. And in the works "Happy Bersamanya" (Happy Together) and "Belum Bisa Lepas" (Cannot Get Over It) a woman in high heels welcomes into her arms a red phallus that has one eye; and a blue hand holds a male sexual organ like a remote control. In "Make Love", a yellow egret pokes a woman in the backside with its long beak.

Paintings such as these are rightly seen by critics as a breakthrough in the depiction of sex in Balinese art, bold statements in the face of the prejudices that expect women to hide their sexual feelings. The fact that they were painted by a female artist makes them all the more significant.

Murni, who was born in Tabanan in 1966, entered the workforce at the age of 10, lacking financial support to continue her schooling. Though painting was her passion, she dared not dream of being an artist and for years lived on the low wages of a servant as an artisan making jewelry, albeit silver.

It was not until her late 20s, after a failed marriage, that Murni met the painter Dewa Putu Mokoh, who taught her how to paint village scenes and birds. Around this time she befriended other prominent artists in Bali, including Mondo.

Carla Bianpoen, co-author of Indonesian Women Artists: The Curtain Opens in which Murni is profiled, said Murni and Mondo had been intending to marry but were waiting for documents to be processed by the local administration.

"The papers came through on the day of Murni's death," Carla said.

Mondo began his career as a theater director and, appropriately, many of the scenes he paints appear staged. His acrylic on paper series, "Table Girls", shows female figures depicted in negative space, crouching under tables. The works owe much of their appeal to their vibrant, hot pink backgrounds.

In "Airport Prayer" a woman prays, it is assumed, for the victims of a plane that has nose-dived into the canvas toward her crotch, and in "Undertablegirl", a lone girl crouches naked under a table, as if claiming that space as a refuge.

Carla said that Mondo had commissioned a design for a gallery that would house a permanent collection of Murni's works in Ubud. It seems only right that the woman who contributed so much to the cultural landscape of her island home will be remembered in this way, with her work available for future generations of art lovers.

"Murni and Mondo:

Undisclosed paintings

by G.A.K. Murniasih and Mondo"

April 3-28

Italian Cultural Institute

Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto No. 17

Phone: 392 7531

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