Balinese artist dabbles with 'barong' image

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): Art and culture in Bali seem to grow in an evolutionary way. The entire historical and cultural background is a source of inspiration and expression of creativity for painters and other artists.

Dozens of works by young painter Ketut Mastrum, 31, exhibited at Chedi Gallery, Ubud, from Sept. 11 to Nov. 11, represent the mythological and cultural background under the theme of barong, the good powerful beast in the popular dance performance of the same name.

Mastrum, a graduate of the Indonesian Arts College (STSI) in Denpasar who also studied at the Polytechnic College for Engraving in Tangeb village, does not provide conventional representations of the barong. His is the realization of a creation in combination with the technique of expressive painting, but is later finished with details approaching the traditional painting technique. He plays with a great variety of colors to allow him to support the dynamics of the movements.

Why is Mastrum captivated by the barong? It is not only the esthetics and exoticism that intrigue the young man. Mastrum was born in Apuan village, Baturiti, Tabanan. In his village there are two Hindu temples -- the Natarsari and the Pucak Padang Dewa -- where scores of barong dancers gather every year in a ritual ceremony attended by thousands of Hindus from the three regencies of Gianyar, Badung and Tabanan. The young Mastrum was among the villagers who often carried a barong when it was on a ritual trip to villages for several days.

"The barong not only exudes mystery, but also penetrates into my subconscious as something of spiritual value," Mastrum said amid the bamboo-plaited walls of his studio in Denpasar. The fact that the barong radiates mystery and is therefore sacred does not need to be explained at great length. The selection of the wood, the way to sculpt and then to "instill life" into it with the pasupati (baptism) ceremony, constitute a series with a ritual and social dimension. Scores of barong types are handed down and sanctified by the Balinese community.

His cultural background and his deep personal involvement have apparently profoundly marked Ketut Mastrum. Apart from the very spontaneous and expressive paintings on canvas on exhibition at Chedi Gallery, Mastrum has made scores of sketches of barong on paper or a particular type of drawing paper using Chinese ink. The barong sketches on paper indicate the spirit of his engraving technique. The lines have rhythm, shaped eyes, fangs, teeth, decorations on the head, fur, etc., drawn with admirable accuracy. Here he controls breathing in order not to damage the beauty of the lines.

On canvas, Mastrum starts his dialog by splashing his brush spontaneously. He exhales and makes his hand dance at full strength. These spontaneous sketches yield an image of something moving rapidly. Then, when his strength has been sucked entirely on canvas, he views the strokes to find a suitable place for the barong's face. In this second stage, Mastrum draws with concentration and self-control in the same way as traditional painters draw with accurate detail. Therefore, at a distance of two meters to three meters, what one sees on canvas is a number of barong moving rapidly, seemingly to blur the beauty of the details. However, if one comes closer at about 30 cms away, the details of eyes, teeth, fangs and fur come into focus.

The presence of Mastrum, with his barong on canvas, has apparently increased the number of Balinese artists who present the roots of their culture using a new approach. He combines the abstract, expressionist painting technique with the details of the traditional technique. Indeed, there is nothing new on Ketut Mastrum's canvas.

Art observer Jean Cocteau considers that Ketut Mastrum's strength lies in the variety of colors. One is immediately reminded of the festive colors of the sesajen (ritual offerings) in Bali throughout the year. Maybe there is another force, an indefinable force from the inner world. "When I am painting, I often imagine the barong that I have seen at the Natarsari or Pucak Padang Dawa temples," he said.

By imagining the things that way, he pays spiritual respect to the sacredness of the barong as a mythological realization of the incarnation of Siwa.

"I cannot free myself from such myths and sacred values. My father was a pemangku (religious functionary), my grandfather was a (wooden) barong mask sculptor," he said. Now Mastrum is also capable of making barong masks. The possibility is not foreclosed that the barong sculpture of Ketut Mastrum will be laid to rest in a temple and later on worshiped by the community of the temple owner.

"However, it is sure I will not stop at barong themes. There are many things to be explored and I am looking for them," said the painter whose barong painting combined with ritual images was nominated for a Philip Morris award.