Paintings about Bali's mystical lifestyle on display

Paintings about Bali's mystical lifestyle on display

Canadian artist Marsha Stonehouse first visited Bali in 1984. Inspired, she returned in 1990 and produced a series of paintings that gives a unique insight into the magical island's mysterious and sometimes sinister culture. Roberts Pearson reports.

JAKARTA (JP): There's nothing like too many tourists to exorcise the magic from a culture. And Indonesia's resort island of Bali, now almost as famous for its abundance of holiday-makers as for its culture, would seem a prime candidate for suffocation.

But if a new exhibition by Canadian artist Marsha Stonehouse is anything to go by, Bali's ancient charm is alive and well. Her The Magical Island series features almost two dozen watercolors and oils, capturing the essence of Bali's mystical Hindu lifestyle.

Sponsored by new insurance joint venture Modern Sun Life and organized by the Focus on Canada Committee, the exhibition is on display at the Regent Hotel until tomorrow.

"Bali is like a living theater. Fantasy and reality are interwoven so that the people literally live out their mythology," said Stonehouse.

Born in Canada, Stonehouse obtained a degree in Fine Art from the University of Western Ontario in 1972. She studied painting, drawing, lithography and photography at the Three Schools of Fine Art in Ontario in 1975-77 before completing a Winter Studio Program, at the Banff School of fine Art in Alberta in 1979. In 1993, she attended a summer painting program at the Slade School of Art in London.

Unlike other artists of her generation, she has always been more interested in natural symbolism and mythology than in the trends sweeping mainstream art. While others were exploring Post- Abstract Expressionism, with its bleak view of tormented beings in a hostile modern world, Stonehouse was abroad studying the art of other cultures.

"My particular interest is in mythology, trying to understand how foreign cultures deal with the other dimensions. In North America you don't often see that -- there aren't many artists interested in those areas."

In 1984 she became perhaps the first Canadian artist to paint a series based on Australian Aboriginal art. Starting in Darwin, she and a companion traveled south through the Outback, part of it with an aboriginal man called Wianjee.

She set up shop in Sydney for several months before completing the work in Canada. The result was her Dreamtime series, exhibited in Canada in 1986.

"I wanted to find out how the Aboriginals perceived the world," she said. "How they imbue geography with mysticism and animism."

The series received a mixed response at the time. "People who had been to Australia enjoyed it. But others found it hard to relate to. The colors were so different -- there were a lot of earth tones, brilliant blues. It also contained Aboriginal imagery picked up along the away, such as Lightning Man and serpents."

The paintings have enjoyed a lasting appeal, however. "It's over 10 years now but the paintings are still selling. We're starting to see more reproductions of Aboriginal art in Toronto which you would have never seen a while ago."

As part of the Australian trip, Stonehouse visited Bali for the first time, heading straight to the village of Ubud. "At that time, there were not as many tourists. Being one of the few foreigners there, it felt like I was being washed over by the entire spectacle. I wasn't aware of my own presence or that of other tourists."

The 1984 trip, though only two weeks long, was enough to stimulate her interest. In 1990-91 she returned for six months to gather ides for another exhibition. The trip led to the paintings now on display in Jakarta, The Magical Island series.

Completed in Canada in 1992 and first exhibited at the Indonesian consulate in Toronto, the series originally consisted of 33 paintings done in a mixture of watercolors and oils. At least 12 have been added since.

The pieces combine traditional motifs and details from the natural world to create a dazzling array of color and form. Apart from the use of similar symbols, there is no resemblance to traditional Balinese art. The style is free and uncluttered. In some, temples shimmer on aqua backgrounds or are tucked away below angry violet skies. Others feature no more than waving palm fronds or beautifully rendered water lilies.

The use of color also varies. In oil-on-canvas pieces such as New Moon Festival, vivid reds compete with sky blues. Watercolor pieces such as First Offering, on the other hand, evoke an early morning freshness with a blend of gentle yellows and pinks.

Borders are embellished with Bali's checkered Yin and Yang pattern, details of temple decorations and other motifs lending the works a tapestry-like flavor. Some pieces have no borders at all.

On the whole, the result is unique but unmistakably Bali. Its aim is not only top capture the island's bright side, Stonehouse said, but also to reflect Bali's undertone of dark legend and real-life black magic.

"Bali is like a theater -- there is light and color but it also has a sinister side. The demons are never far away," she said. "The dark elements are evident in the temple offerings. Pig fat made into little flowers, for instance."

Interestingly, she funded both the Australian and Bali series though advanced purchases by private patrons. A small group of friends and investors paid upfront for the right to have first choice of works when the series was completed.

Stonehouse has already begun another, more abstract series exploring the inner being. But the appeal of Bali lives on. She still occasionally adds to The Magical Island series and has returned to the island several times as a guide for groups of artists interested in studying local technique.

While in Toronto, she passes on her interest in the natural world by teaching inner city children to pain forest murals. One of these was sponsored by the Forest Industry Association and displayed at the Toronto Science Center and International Airport for two years.

She lives in inner Toronto with husband her Peter, her two step-children and two cats. Despite the house's urban location, nature is never far away. An 800-acre park glistening with ice and frost in winter,is just meters away, on the other side of the road.