Contemporary Art Flourishing in Bali

5 exhibitions reveal the tip of the tropical iceberg

 

Along with the monumental Art Bali that opened this week in Nusa Dua featuring some of Indonesia’s greatest contemporary artists, brought together for the first time on such a large scale on the Islands of the Gods, four other impressive exhibitions opened in Ubud this week with more specific focus but equally powerful contemporary artworks.

 

“The Challenge of Contemporaneity” which opened on October 6th at Arma Museum and Resort is showing artworks by artists from Java and Bali who explore various contemporary issues – whether they be aesthetic, cultural, political, or personal with great power and distinctly local perspectives. As the title of the exhibition suggests each of the artworks represents a specific aspect of the current time and place in which the artists work.

 

Each artist has their own unique focus, manner, and means of expression that speaks of today’s contemporary context (or time) -one in which boundaries between different places are being collapsed thanks to digital technologies and wider access to transportation. So today’s contemporaneity tends to include an awareness of other ways of seeing things, an awareness of one’s particular locality, and how this shapes our own perspectives as well as how this fits into the global context. This could be seen in the artworks in this show –some of which drew on distinctly local symbols and references, and others that drew on less obvious indicators of locality such as line and color to express more general themes from a locally influenced perspective.

 

Bringing artists specifically from Yogyakarta and Bali together for this show in itself speaks to both the long history of relations between these two places – a relationship that dates back many hundreds of years, as well as the contemporary context in which these two places are hotbeds of artistic talent and cutting edge creativity.  There is indeed an ongoing interaction between artists from Yogyakarta and artists from Bali, which is at times contentious but always inspiring, and tends to bear exceptionally delicious fruit.

 

While Yogyakarta is known for yielding artworks that lean heavily toward the conceptual, and Bali is known for yielding artworks that lean more heavily toward the artisanal, the greatest artists of both these places manage to combine both these two aspects in their works with varied and stunning results.

 

“Inner Gazing” opened at Komaneka Gallery on October 7th and although smaller in scope with just 4 Balinese artists being featured, the exhibition is no less powerful than the two previous ones mentioned above and in a similar vein.

 

These four artists are also distinctly contemporary in their approach and treatment of their art, with a keen awareness of the context in which they work and creative exploration of both themes, subjects and materials. Although they each come to art making from different angles and produce works with equally divergent aesthetic styles, they each bring something new to the table.

 

This newness however is not based on a desire to push the envelope of art making per se, but rather arises naturally out of their honesty in expressing their innermost perspective. A perspective that is most certainly informed by their personal visions – visions that are also certainly shaped by their particular cultural backgrounds and lived experiences. However, as with other great contemporary artists, their contemporaneity includes an awareness of the crumbling boundaries between localities. So although their works emerge from the distinctly Balinese context in which they work, this context is in itself informed by more global perspectives.

 

“Legacy” which opened on October 8th at Monkey Forest Gallery features the works of an artist collective from the village of Batuan who work in a style known as Traditional Batuan Style Painting. Although these works are not contemporary in the sense of expanding the visual vocabulary of art or drawing on specifically contemporary perspectives of art making, they most certainly reflect contemporaneity in their choice of subjects and approach to traditional themes. The title of the show refers to traditional heritage being carried on but opens up the question of whether traditional art can also be contemporary.

 

These works are referred to as traditional for their adherence to specific techniques and compositional style, however, unlike traditional painting in other parts of Bali, many of these artists of Batuan certainly express their contemporaneity in their works. Where the boundary between traditional ends and contemporary begins is up for debate, as the exhibition currently on at Museum Puri Lukisan clearly speaks to. This solo exhibition features works by a young artist who distinctly draws on traditional techniques and compositional style, yet introduces distinctly contemporary approaches in her choice of subjects and themes, as well as aesthetics to such an extent that she is not considered to be a traditional artist by most.

 

These five exhibitions represent the tremendous wealth of talent expressing itself in contemporary art in Indonesia today (particularly Bali), and bear witness to the great artistic heritage of Indonesia that is today taking shape in new and exciting ways. The truly mind-blowing artistic heritage of Indonesia serves as the most fertile ground for new growth and there is indeed great promise for the future of contemporary art in Indonesia. All five exhibitions will be on display until early November 2018

 

Written by Gabrielle Thibaudeau, Published in October 2018 by International Bali Post