ARTS & ARTISTS
Artistically Bali is a melting pot of cultures and traditions. The Balinese have a natural capacity for absorbing different culture elements to blend them with their own to produce dynamic new hybrids. Over the years Bali has been the recipient of numerous influences, Chinese, Buddist, Indian, Hindu, Javanese and, most recently, Western. For centuries artists and crafstmen in Bali worked under the patronage of the priests and ruling classes, decorating palaces and temples. The artists themselves were anonymous, never signing their work and usually living close together in artists villages.

Generally the artists did not have much room for personal expression as their designs followed strict aesthetic and religious guidelines. With the arrival of European artists at the start of this century, this soon began to change and artists started developing their own individual styles.

PAINTING
The place synonimous with the traditional form of Balinese painting is the village of Kamasan near Klungkung. Up until the begininng of this century and in the service of the king of Gelgel and Klungkung, it was only natural that the painters and illustrators, called Sangging, should settle in this one area. As it was not uncommon for ruling families from other parts of Bali to acquire the use of a Sangging to decorate their own palaces or temples, the Kamasan style of painting quickly spread throughout the whole of Bali.

Until the start of this century, the dominant form of painting  was the portrayal of Hindu epics, on Langse – large narratives painted either on broad, rectangular cloths or on ider –ider which were much narrower ( about 30 cm wide and several meters long ). Langse were placed in temples as wall hangings or used as curtains in the palaces. Ider –ider were hung around the roofs of temples and shrines and were used decoratively at court on festive occasions. The artists also painted on wooden boards which were placed between rafters as ceiling friezes. Aside from large representational paintings, the Sangging were also expected to decorated everything from gourds, wooden altars, bamboo vessels, headboards for princely bed chambers and in particular to illustrate astrological wall hangings on bark paper or cloth.

The style for which the artists of Kamasan are famous is based on the  East Javanese Wayang art. These were basically two – dimensional, iconographic representation following strict rules and guidelines as to how the characters should be portrayed. For example a person’s character and status can be seen from the colours used to portray them, his head dress or even the direction in which he is facing. Noblemen always have very refined faces while coarse characters have large, bulging eyes and fangs. Today in Kamasan you can still find people who are dedicated to painting in the traditional Wayang style. One of the most famous Kamasan artists is I Nyoman Mandra, who, aside from producing his own paintings and doing restoration work, has started a school to try and keep the Wayang tradition alive.

It wasn’t until the early nineteen hundreds that Western influence reached Bali. The use of Asian symbols in the works of, amongs others, Paul Gauguin, Toulouse Lautrec and Camille Pissaro created a new trend for Asian – influenced art and European painters began to move to Bali. Ubud’s fame for art can be traced on the arrival of German painter, Walter Spies and Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet. Together, with Indonesian artist Gede Agung Sukawati, they established the Pitamaha Group which encouraged Balinese artists to be more expressive and less tradition – bound.

Aside from the Kamasan school of painting there now exist of a wide range of different styles. Some characteristics have been briefly listed.

BATUAN STYLE
Strongly Wayang based, this style involves hundreds of intricately painted representations of Balinese life filling every available nook and cranny of the canvas. Batuan artists like I Wayan Bendi, Ni Wayan Warti and I Made Budi, make much more of statement about life in Bali, with subject matter that includes everything from traditional village activities to camera – toting tourist and even surfers. Earlier Batuan artists, Ida Bagus Made Togog and Ida Bagus Made Wija, dealt much more with the darker, supernatural side of life in Bali with people depicted as extremely vulnerable to the spirits and powers of nature.

UBUD STYLE
Influenced by the Western use of perspective and everyday – life subject matter, the Ubud style is the one of the most expressionist of all the Balinese schools. Despite this, Ubud art still retains many traditional features including attention to detail and very stylized characters. Among the better known Ubud artists are Anak Agung Gede Sobrat, Ida Bagus Made, I Gusti Ketut Kobot, Dewa Putu Bedil and Made Sukada.