Artist incorporates universality in Balinese roots

Artist incorporates universality in Balinese roots

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Ubud, Bali

In the world of Ubud painter I Wayan Karja, color is an important
means to bridge the spiritual and material world. It is also a
means of self-expression: Anger, happiness and sadness.

Wayan Karja is now considered one of Bali's most prominent
artists, bringing new blood and freshness to the Balinese art
world.

His creations, now widely collected by foreign museums and
individual collectors abroad, are revolutionary in terms of
themes, colors, ideas and subject matter. They blend together the
strong Balinese Hindu culture with the contemporary western
concepts of colors and arts.

"The Balinese culture is the basis of my works. I have been
digging into the roots of Balinese culture, while exploring and
learning about Western culture. Through this process, I am trying
to develop a new form of art in a more universal language,"
smiled the father of three children.

He admitted it required a long process to reach his current
level.

"It was my childhood dreams that actually shaped my life,"
Wayan Karja said in a humble voice.

Like other talented painters living in the famous art village
of Ubud, Wayan Karja has always been surrounded with colorful
things in the forms of paintings, traditional ceremonial
costumes, home decorations and a diverse variety of flowers used
as daily offerings in family and village temples.

"My father I Ketut Santra is a painter and my mother is also
an artist. They let me play with colorful paints since I was a
toddler," recalled Wayan Karja, now head of the Fine Arts
Department at the Denpasar Arts Institute (STSI).

Wayan Karja was a happy child with a wide opportunity to
explore the wild artistic world of Bali.

"I was so lucky living in the home and village where the
island's most prominent artists live."

Born in Penestanan Kaja, Ubud, a famous art village in Bali,
in l965, Wayan Karja's strong interest in the arts flew naturally
from a very young age.

"My father had never taught me how to paint or to draw
something. He just provided me with abundant art materials and
encouraged me to create artistic items with those available
materials," remembered the painter.

Moreover, everywhere in the village were art studios with
artists. "My father, my uncles, my neighbors and friends, all of
them were painters."

Penestanan and Pengosekan villages in Ubud have been the most
famous art villages in Bali since the early l930s. The villages
were paradise for European artists like Rudolf Bonnet, Arie Smit
and Walter Spies who introduced and advocated "new styles" to the
traditional and conventional Balinese painting styles.

The art movements were known as Pita Maha art movement (mostly
in Pengosekan) and the Young Artists school of Penestanan
advocated by Arie Smit in the late l950s. The works of most Young
Artists' followers were all based on their Balinese culture. The
themes ranged from natural and manmade objects within their
surroundings.

Color was applied "flat" to surfaces delineated by a graphic
outline and the icons were repetitive, distributed in symmetry or
parallelism across the canvas -- just like in any other Balinese
painting. Yet, their bright, brazen colors, well delineated by a
thick graphic contour, contrasted with the dark or subdued
atmosphere of the paintings from the other schools.

Wayan Karja's father and most of the neighboring artists were
the faithful followers of the Young Artists School.

"At that time, I voluntarily adopted the styles of this school
because I saw them everywhere, from when I woke up in the morning
till midnight."

He called this period the "Freedom Year".

"I could paint anything I wanted with every color I chose. It
was an unforgettable time for me. But, it ended when I was 10
years old," he said. In l978, his father sent him to another
painter, I Ketut Sudjana, to learn more about painting skills.

"It was a horrible moment for a wild kid like me who used to
have such freedom. I had to paint, to mix colors, to learn human
anatomy and brush strokes in accordance with my guru."

He later acknowledged that this was his most important period
in shaping his career as a painter.

Wayan Karja was later sent to the Ubud High School of Fine
Arts and continued his study at Udayana University's Fine Arts
Department in Denpasar.

"At school, I learned a lot about diverse kinds of art
movements both in our own country and in the West. It really
opened my mind and widened my horizons," he said.

He said it was exciting learning about works of the great
masters like Van Gogh, Monet and Mattisse.

"I learned very hard how to adopt their styles --
impressionism and post impressionism -- and incorporate them in
my own work," he admitted.

While still in Ubud, he found that nobody showed him these
differences in the artistic styles. "Everybody in Ubud sticks to
all the traditions and establishment."

Dissatisfied with this situation, Wayan Karja decided to
pursue education in the United States.

"I was a laughing stock in my own village. Nobody understood
why I wanted to go to the States while foreign artists learned
how to paint here in Ubud."

He studied and taught in the Arts Department of the College of
Fine Arts at the University of South Florida. There, he earned a
Masters of Fine Arts.

"When I first arrived in the States, I was a kind of poor
student who experienced a serious cultural shock. Everything was
so different. I really missed my hometown, my friends in Bali,
and more importantly I lost all of my Balinese subject matter."

But, it was in the United States that he found a new and
challenging world of art.

"I was very much inspired by the works of Paul Klee and
several contemporary artists like Jurgen Partenheimer."

He admitted at first he did not understand their works at all.

His professor, Mernet Larsen, had opened the door to the
international art world.

"He taught me everything."

Wayan Karja immediately absorbed the "Western influence" to
deepen his emotional, intellectual as well as his artistic
insights. It also resulted in a major change in his artistic
direction.

Larsen wrote about his student: Abstract expressionism taught
him to value visible process, traces on the hand and spontaneity.
From minimalism, he learned the impact of simplicity. From post-
impressionism, he obtained knowledge on how color can create a
sense of "place" even if it is an abstract place.

Wayan Karga said: "Before I went to the United States, I had
tried to paint abstract works. But the Balinese styles and colors
were clearly visible. Besides, I still had no courage to declare
that my works were abstract."

Working in the United States and in some European countries
widened the distance from his Balinese roots. Unable to conjure
up either Balinese or Western images, Wayan Karja started to look
into his own feelings and intuition and tried to convey them on
canvases. He was entering his transitional period.

"Painting became a self-contemplative effort. Each layer of
color had a deep meaning," he said. He concentrated more on
philosophical ideas than on visual forms by using lines, shapes
and colors.

"I imagine myself being surrounded by various colors and I can
feel that every color has a different influence upon me."

In the Hindu tradition, his strong foothold, every color has
either symbolic significance or the ability to bodily affect the
spectators, to influence spiritual, emotional states or frames of
mind.

"During the early stages of my career, those elements emerged
rigidly. Now, they became more subtle."

This, he gained through a wide exposure to his own diverse
culture.

"I think, every artist must see other places, other works. He
or she must go to many places to learn the difference while
enhancing the similarity."

How painting affects him, Wayan Karja mentioned that the
process of creating an art form such as painting is like making
offerings to the Gods of the Balinese Hindu people.

"Painting is the most beautiful thing for me. It entertains
and relaxes me. The process of making it helps me to understand
life in more depth. Sometimes, it even gives me answers to my
curiosity about God."