article written for Ubud Community News, January 2011
Huge Show of Independent Artists
On Pekan Seni, December 23 January 23 at Pengosekan
By Wanya F. Kruyer
Just a few steps down from Arma, Ubud’s well known art museum, you find the venue of the Community of Artists. This month, till January 23, it shows over a hundred Pekan Seni or Independent Artists.
These artists, local Balinese artists, and some local based Indonesian artists, are really independent. They make art for the sake of art, not ‘art’ for the tourists or, as one local artist called it: ‘painted postcards’. Here, at the huge compound of Dewa Nyoman Batuan, the generous host of this event, and himself an acclaimed artist, you will find what’s really going on in Ubud’s art world.
The artists, who show their works at Pekan Seni, are organised in a sanggar, an artist group of a specific banjar (neighbourhood), or organised around a specific artistic field like sculpture or photography.
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The Nation by Agung Bajah
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The sculpture section has strong statements of social concern as the money releasing water pump called Greedy by Ida Bagus Putu Gede Sutama. Strong is also the balancing act by Agung Bajah, symbolising the fragile state of the nation. It’s a delicate balanced block of plywood containing eight by eight square cubes, a reference to the famous toy cube. The artist turned away some of the cubes suggesting confusion within this balancing act. Painfully sharp is also the statement of Subandi Seniman Sampah on the recent eruption of the Merapi, a sculptured wood with a nailed red top of 165 by 80 cm.
The photography section, in the space next to the small bazaar, shows true contemporary photography. It’s the kind of photography which is so close to painting, you have to look at the caption of the works to see if it is acrylic on canvas, or the ink of the inkjet printer of the photographer. A classic Balinese image of a dancer, caught in full swing by I Kadek Puriartha in his Rejang Dewa, is such a paint-look-alike photo printed on a canvas. But it’s obviously a photo. Didik Aw’s work ‘Get well soon’ is intriguing semi-realistic, and if it would have been exposed in the painter’s section, nobody would have taken it for a photo.
One room is dedicated to the traditional Balinese painting. Some, like I Ketut Tirta, and Dewa Putu Anom, use tinta cina (Chinese dark ink), other images are made with ink and acrylic, or only acrylic, but all in this section witness how nowadays artists are super skilled in the traditional narrative painting style of Bali.
The batik section is small, however very well visible at the entrance with strong batik tulis work by Tjok Agung Pemayun. In the sculptor room we see a lively bright piece by Ni Ketut Indrawati, called Terkotak Kotak (‘a square in a square’), hold together in a bamboo frame.
The section with contemporary paintings is the largest section of Pekan Seni, and split over three different rooms. These exhibition rooms have no theme, nor a common ground other than contemporary, so the viewer has to wander around to find his preferences. My eyes were caught by the two small round works on wood by Rio Saren, by the interesting contemporary twist of a traditional Balinese beauty by Gusti Ngurah Eko B.(see picture), and by the new paintings of I Made Sudana who is a master in the so-called ‘Yogja abstract style’, with works that fit every hotel or spacious living room if you go for abstract. Really surprising is the contribution of I Made Wiradana to this show. His mixed media piece of 150 x 185 frames 49 small paintings, each telling a story on the relation between human's and animals. This piece would also easily catch the eye at a prestigious international art show.
Around Pekan Seni, the independent artists have set an impressive side program with performances, lectures, music, and a creative day for children on December 26, 2010 (see photo left). The bazaar is daily open from 9 am on.
The full color catalogue has sixty pages. This could have been even more if the art biographies were printed in a larger font. Now we need a magnifier to read it. This is my only suggestion for this great show, with its complete side program.
By the way: all (catalogue, captions, the announcements) at Pekan Seni are in Behasa Indonesia, so no ‘easy does it’ for the tourists, but all are welcome till January 23, at the house of beneficiary Dewa Nyoman Batuan at Jalan Raya Pengosekan, banjar Kalah, Ubud.
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| Merapi Eruption by Subandi Seniman Sampah |
