Contributor
JP/Carla BianpoenWhile 71-year-old Leo Haks is selling the remainder of his pre-modern Balinese art collection, Adrian Vickers, 53, continues to highlight the legacy of Balinese artists. Both have been engaged with Indonesian — including Balinese — art and culture for a long time, and are well known for their serious research and commitment. Seen together at a Singapore auction of pre-modern Balinese paintings, the presence of the two signaled the importance of the auction, which featured works by Balinese artists who were anonymous or less exposed in former times. As Vickers said, previous scholars were too focused on Batuan artists and the Pita Maha, a movement that existed for only a brief period of time. Young artists from Sanur who were actively experimenting, resulting in a genre that likens to the archaic, were neglected. The director of Borobudur auctions in Singapore recogni...