I NYOMAN MEJA

He is among the most successful 1980s painters in Ubud. His works are dedicated in bold colors featuring anatomically correct figures. Hence his paintings show a fascinating assimilation of traditionalism and modernism. The traditionalist of Meja’s works is signified by his technique which still uses penelak and the illustration of his setting (houses, field, paddy fields) that strongly referred to Ubud style. While his modernity is describe with the lighting rationalization over its painting’s objects therefore Meja’s pieces can be categorized as post-traditional ones.
Meja was born in Taman, Ubud, 1952. He learned painting from I Nyoman Sinom and I Wayan Serati. During 1970s, he met Rudolf Bonnet. Trough this meeting, his modern vision developed. His paintings depict various themes. Composition of masks once occupied his style. But is 1980s, he started to paint the world of children and his reputation soon enhanced. Children black-and-white-checkered cloth (Poleng) are illustrated in various scenes, such as variety of parades, cockfighting, and kecak performance.
Meja’s paintings are collected by Museum Puri Lukisan (Ubud) and Arma Museum (Ubud). He has several talented pupils. Among them are I Wayan Matra, I Wayan Sukadana, I Made Artawa and I Wayan Asta. His painting once entered the national art competition, Indonesia Philip Morris Art Awards, as a finalist in 1997 and the winner of Indofood Art Awards 2002.

Photo credit

Ubud has been the center of art for centuries with the surrounding royal houses and temples as the main patrons. Prior to 1920s, traditional wayang style paintings dominated the subject matters, although Jean Couteau (1999) believes that both the secular and religious theme paintings have long been co-existing as the unity of the opposites (Rwa bhinneda in Balinese belief system).






It was not until the late 1920s that this balance was tilted toward secular art by the arrival of western artists such as Covarrubias, Le Mayeur de Mepres, Theo Meier, Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet. The last two artists were often credited as the agents of change that brought Balinese Art to modernity.



Their influence culminated with the founding of the Pitamaha Art Guild in 1936, with Tjokorda Gde Agung Sukawati as one of the founders. Its mission was to preserve the quality of Balinese Art in the rush of tourism to Bali. The board members of Pitamaha met regularly to select paintings submitted by its members and conducted exhibitions throughout Indonesia and abroad. Pitamaha was active until the beginning of the second world war in 1942.





The influence of Bonnet and Spies were most welcome and flourished in Ubud, and naturally Ubud artists were most influenced by them. The subject matters shifted from religious narration to Balinese daily life capturing all aspects of ordinary life in Bali.
 
Ubud artists who were members to Pitamaha came from Ubud and its surrounding villages: Pengosekan, Peliatan and Tebasaya. Among them were: Ida Bagus Made Kembeng of the village of Tebasaya and his three sons -- Ida Bagus Wiri, Ida Bagus Made and Ida Bagus Belawa; Tjokorda Oka of the royal house of Peliatan; I Dewa Sobrat, I Dewa Meregeg, I Dewa Putu Bedil, I Dewa Dana of Padangtegal; I Gusti Ketut Kobot, I Gusti Made Baret, I Wayan Gedot, Dewa Putu Mokoh of Pengosekan; and I Gusti Nyoman Lempad.





The contemporary Ubudian artists include I Ketut Budiana, I Nyoman Meja, I Nyoman Kayun, A.A. Gde Anom Sukawati, I Gusti Agung Wiranata, Ida Bagus Sena, and many others. The spirit of Pitamaha is well preserved by these artists, as illustrated below by an early work of I Nyoman Meja.

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FASCINO BALINESE

Willem Gerard Hofker (1902-1981; Amsterdam, Holland) studied at teh Academy of Fine Arts in the Hague and at the Rijksacademie (National Academy) in Amsterdam. He was trained by Willem Witsen (1860-1923) and Isaac Israel (1865-1934). Hofker first went to Bali in 1938 and made many drawings, paintings, and etchings of Balinese women and temples. He was captured by the Japanese during the invasion in 1942 and released in 1944. His works are rich in texture with a very sensitive use of light and shadow. Hofker was a very romantic and poetic artist with an elegant mastery of technique. Exhibitions: East-West Centre (Honolulu, Hawaii, 1998), Singapore Art Museum (1993), Centre for Strategic and International Studies (Jakarta, Indonesia, 1996), Indonesia-Japan Friendship Festival (Morioka, Tokyo, 1997).



     

http://www.museum-pasifika.com/

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‘BALI: ART, RITUAL PERFORMANCE’

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102, Stati Uniti
(415) 581-3500

Fino all’11 settembre in mostra l’arte di Bali

The Asian Art museum in San Francisco is featuring a major show of art from Bali. An elaborately carved palace door and two carved deities are part of  the exhibition.

Tiger barong (barong macan), approx. 1900–1930 (top). Mas, Gianyar. Wood, pigments. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, the Netherlands

The princess Rangkesari, approx. 1900–1930 (spikes). Wood and pigments.

Temple doors, perhaps 1700–1800. Tejakula, Buleleng, North Bali. Painted and gilded wood. Private collection

The widow Rangda, 1800–1900. Wood and pigments. Asian Art Museum, Gift of Thomas Murray in memory of his father Eugene T. Murray

Suspended offering shrine (plangkiran), approx. 1850–1900. Wood and pigments. Ubud, South Bali. Collection, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (the Netherlands)

Kalika. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam

Mask of a refined woman, approx. 1935. Wood. Asian Art Museum, Vicki Baum Bali Collection; Gift of Wolfgang Lert and Ruth Clark Lert

Arjuna and Supraba, approx. 1935. Mas, South Bali. Perhaps by Ida Bagus Putu. Wood. Asian Art Museum, Vicki Baum Bali Collection; Gift of Wolfgang Lert and Ruth Clark Ler

Abimanyu, approx. 1930–1938. Hide, wood, pigment, plant fiber. American Museum of Natural History

Coin images of deities (Sri Sedana), approx. 1900–1930. Probably Sanur, South Bali. Copper alloy coins, cotton fabric, silk fabric, plant fiber, wood, skin, imitation gemstones, metallic thread, gold leaf, lacquer, paint. Fowler Museum at UCLA, The Katharane Mershon Collection of Indonesian Art

Palanquin ( pengongongan), approx. 1850–1899. Sawan, North Bali. Painted and gilded wood. Collection, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (the Netherlands

Offering-box in the form of a winged lion, approx. 1875–1900. Klungkung. Ivory, wood, pigments. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Two chairs, approx. 1875–1925. Klungkung. Gilded and painted wood. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, the Netherlands

Rawana on his mount, wilmana, 1850–1900. North Bali. Wood and pigments. Asian Art Museum, Acquisition made possible by the Connoisseurs’ Council and the estate of K. Hart Smith

Ceremonial knife (wedung) with sheath, before 1864. Knife: iron, silver, buffalo horn. Sheath: wood and pigments. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, the Netherland

Kris hilt depicting a demonic figure, perhaps 1700–1800. Ivory. Asian Art Museum, Acquisition made possible by William M. Brooks with additional funding from Betty and Bruce Alberts, Fred Levin and Nancy Livingston, Joan and M. Glenn Vinson Jr., Hok Pui and Sally Yu Leung, and an anonymous friend of the Asian Art Museum

Ear pendants (rumbing), approx. 1850–1900. Tabanan. Gold, precious stones. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, the Netherlands

Young dancer from Bali, approx. 1900–1930. Unknown photographer. Photograph from glass negative. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam

Cloth patterned with gold leaf (kain prada), approx. 1875–1925. Silk, gold leaf. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam

Rangda mask, before 1929. Possibly by I Gusti Made Gde. Denpasar, Badung. Wood, pigments, parchment, rawhide, hair. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam

Rangda, 1929. By K. T. Satake. Photograph from glass negative. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam

Lion barong (barong singa), approx. 1900–1925(page 310). Wood, pigments, rawhide, horsehair. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam

Bird mask, perhaps 1900–1940. Wood, leather, and pigments. Collection of W. E. Bouwman

http://www.asianart.org/baligallery/baligallery.html

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