Bali according to minimalist Wayan Gunarsa
Ayuningati, Contributor, Ubud, Bali
Traditional Balinese paintings are striking in their bold configurations of human and demonic figures, animals and landscapes.
The canvas is a tight composition of forms that crowd the space and saturate it with color. The pioneers of such classical Balinese painting were Gusti Nyoman Lempad, I Gusti Ketut Kobot and Ida Bagus Rai.
The best known of the new generation is probably Made Wianta. Contemporary Balinese artists have sought to retain tradition while innovating change.
But the big name in Balinese painting is Wayan Gunasta. Nicknamed Gun Gun, the fresh young talent is described as a minimalist. The minimalist style in Bali was first embraced by I Gusti Nyoman Lempad in Ubud.
Unlike traditionalists whose paintings are atmospherically carnivalesque and crammed with objects, Lempad's canvases are left partly blank and often subtly colored.
Well known for Sigar Mangsi, the Chinese ink technique, he is a master of detail. His paintings draw on themes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata (Hindu epics), Panji stories from East Java and Balinese folk tales.
Gun Gun, on the other hand, chooses subjects from everyday life, the Balinese culture and even their pets.
He started his career painting in the classical Balinese style, the traces of which are still evident.
Gun Gun is interested in classical Balinese themes but reinvents them in a minimalist style of lines and dots.
The work, currently on display at the QB World bookstore is an interpretation of Balinese society.
One of his painting, titled Ceria (cheerful), is the depiction of the face of a mother and child, obscured by lines.
In Prosesi (procession) Gun Gun illustrates his mastery of the broken line as a device to depict traditional form.
His art attempts to calm the viewer into a prolonged state of contemplation.
But he admits that the blank canvas is also something to contemplate. "The white canvas is beautiful. It is an art work in itself."
His past occupation, as a cartoonist with a newspaper in Bali, sharpened his skills, and apparently sharpened his lines.
Born in Nyuh Kuning, the son of famous sculptor Wayan Pendet, Gun Gun grew up within the art community of Ubud.
He attended the School of Law at Udayana University in Denpasar until l989, and continued his study at the Bali Institute of Arts (STSI). He didn't finish his degree at STSI.
Instead, in 1991, he studied animation at the Ever Green Film Co. in Japan. He was deeply inspired by young Japanese graphic designers.
He is now the caretaker of Pendet Museum in Ubud, which is dedicated to his father's works. Gun Gun is also an author and an accomplished dancer.
In his painting, Gun Gun is able to articulate the movement of dance with a skill that is perhaps derivative of his physical comprehension of the activity.
In Baris Dance, one of his most compelling works, Gun Gun drew six blue lines and some dots to capture the elaborate and richly ornamental sacred Baris dance. The 60 cm by 70 cm painting is probably the best of the works on display.