Sense of art flows in Wianta's heart<\/p>\n
By Putu Wirata<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP): \"I work all the time. My artistic creativity
\nnever goes on holiday,\" seems to be Made Wianta's motto.<\/p>\n
The exhibition of his work, In the Cycle of Time, on display
\nat the Museum der Kulture in Basel, Switzerland, until March, is
\na clear manifestation of this.<\/p>\n
The invitation to hold the exhibition came from Urs Ramseyer,
\na Swiss art curator who lives in Sidemen, a small village in
\nKarangasem, East Bali. The aim is to bring together the East and
\nthe West.<\/p>\n
Wianta represents the East, while Andreas Straub flies the
\nflag for the West.<\/p>\n
The title In the Cycle of Time was chosen by Ramseyer for
\nreasons of realism and culture. He wants people to be conscious
\nabout the meaning of time and their position in time. This is
\nbased on the Hindu concept of time, called Catur Yuga in Bali, a
\nseparation of time into four periods, Kreta Yuga, Treta Yuga,
\nDwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga.<\/p>\n
In the Kreta Yuga period, people live a holy life peacefully,
\nwhile holiness and perfect knowledge appear. It is followed by
\nTreta Yuga when honesty starts to decline, resulting in the need
\nfor sacrificial rituals to protect the desired universal balance.<\/p>\n
The Dwapara Yuga period encompasses the decline of faith and
\ngood deeds, followed by the appearance of jealousy and greed.
\nThese three periods are followed by the Kali Yuga period, in
\nwhich we now live.<\/p>\n
Conflicts, war and killing will take mankind to its
\ndestruction and catastrophe. But Hindus believe that Kalki
\nAwatara -- a prophet wearing a white cloak and riding a white
\nhorse -- will appear to secure this world from destruction, and
\ntake people back to the right way of living.<\/p>\n
In fact it's just a philosophy of time. But history has taught
\nthat there are different times for birth, growth and death.<\/p>\n
Made, born in Apuan village, Tabanan, Bali, looks at time
\nanthropomorphically.<\/p>\n
He is actually a trainee priest in Pura Pucak Padangdawa,
\nTabanan, and is supposed to hold the position to replace his dead
\nfather. But Made refuses to become a priest because he thinks an
\nartist is a \"priest of culture.\"<\/p>\n
For Made time is a place where he lives and works, and he
\nfollows the above process.<\/p>\n
And because the process will keep on going as long as he
\nlives, he thinks that \"art never ends as long as there is life.\"
\nArt is like taking breath, a continuous process that one is
\nsometimes unaware of, because of its routine.<\/p>\n
Breathing will never stop, unless a person dies.<\/p>\n
How does Made present this philosophy in his art? In a special
\nroom with white walls in the Museum der Kulturen -- about 20
\nmeters by 20 meters -- Made placed black, red and yellow umbrella
\nframes and around the room in a seemingly random arrangement.<\/p>\n
All the umbrella skeletons are rotated automatically by a
\nmachine. They take the form of a cycle and this is connected to
\nthe cycle-time concept, according to Hindu teaching.<\/p>\n
Or perhaps people remember the tedung-tedung (holy umbrella in
\nHindu ceremonies) and the various colors in Hindu temples when
\nthere is a ceremony.<\/p>\n
So, the form of Made's work in In the Cycled of Time reminds
\nus of his Balinese cultural background. But, although Made still
\nbelieves in punarbhawa -- the reincarnation concept of Hindu Bali
\n-- his works aim to portray life in the future.<\/p>\n
\"What I did yesterday, let it be my past. ... I won't repeat
\nit again.<\/p>\n
\"The work I create today or tomorrow, is my life of today and
\ntomorrow. I will never repeat, and I will never try to change or
\nimprove my works of yesterday,\" said Made, who returned to Bali
\nin November after living in Basel for two months to set up the
\nproject.<\/p>\n
He studied at the Indonesian Arts Institute in Yogyakarta. In
\nthe 1970s he went to Belgium to work as a batik painter in a
\nrestaurant. He later returned to Indonesia and lived in Bali. His
\nwife works in the Karangasem Agriculture Agency.<\/p>\n
During this period, Made studied Kamasan painting techniques
\nand began his innovative surrealistic painting with Chinese ink
\non paper. It became known as his \"Karangasem period.\"<\/p>\n
Soon after moving to Denpasar in the 1980s, Made began using
\npointillism techniques, and then combined these with triangular
\nor rectangular forms.<\/p>\n
Another interesting thing about Made is that he has written
\npoems. His collection Korek Api Membakar Almari Es (A Match Burns
\nA Refrigerator), edited by Afrizal Malna, was published last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
He wrote the poems anywhere, at anytime, and on various
\nmaterials such as on scraps of paper, tissue paper, sandals,
\nchairs and tickets.<\/p>\n
In his studio in Denpasar, he has amassed about 7,000
\nsketches, none of which will be sold.<\/p>\n
\"I work all over the place all the time, like breathing. I
\nwill just end when my breathing stops,\" adds Made with a hearty
\nchuckle.<\/p>\n
What Made says however is not a new concept.<\/p>\n
All Balinese artists live naturally. There are thousands of
\ntraditional dance and drama groups in Bali. The artists perform
\nat night; in the morning they also work as farmers, architects,
\nor laborers.<\/p>\n
Made, who was born in Apuan village in 1949, has such
\nexperience, dancing in the night as a baris (warrior) dancer and
\nhelping his father in the rice fields in the morning. Art and
\nlife is a unity; it is like breathing as long as life goes on.<\/p>\n
What makes him different from other Balinese artists is that
\nhe chose to pursue his education in Yogyakarta and work in
\nBelgium instead of becoming a priest in his village.<\/p>\n
Art critic Jean Couteau says that what Made has done in his
\nlife can be described as priestly tasks. \"But he is a priest of
\nculture,\" Couteau added. And this is an entirely Eastern world
\nconcept.<\/p>\n
So, the question for the exhibition now is, what is innovative
\nin Made and Straub's work?<\/p>\n
Can the West receive an Eastern concept of art, and what will
\nthe artists do with it? We don't know and cannot answer the
\nquestion now, because for more than 50 years, modern Balinese art
\nhas been looking to the West.<\/p>\n
Eastern artists still use Western terms like naturalism,
\nrealism, abstract, expressionism, surrealism, Dadaism, and so on.<\/p>\n
And so does Made. But because he is supercreative and a
\ngenius, art lovers hope to see a new vision in his art.<\/p>\n
They hope he will engineer a breakthrough in Western
\nperceptions of Eastern art.<\/p>\n
Made refused to comment on the people's hopes. \"Its up to the
\npublic, how to appreciate my artwork. For me, it finishes after I
\ntouch it with my last brushstroke.\"<\/p>",
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