Welcome to AGUNG RAI Fine Art Gallery
The paintings in this catalog have been selected from the collection of Agung Rai. The entire collection, with works from the early century to the present, gives the viewer an idea of the evolution of Balinese painting in time, and the range of modern art in Indonesia. It consists of representative works of every style of Balinese painting, and works by Western artists that encourages and supports artists from Bali, the collection also includes paintings of foreigners in Indonesia and found, or continue to find inspiration among the Balinese.
Agung Rai chose works from its collection based on what he described as a spiritual connection he feels between an image and itself, if the paint has taksu. Taksu Bali is a word for a power that can be detected, it can not be intentionally or sought through the study. You can call divine inspiration, a gift, a kind of charisma that can be inscribed by God in an artist, dancer, musician, sculptor, writer, speaker, or a healer. Taksu is not constant, do not stay with a person, but that appears if the person is in a good state of purity, or otherwise considered fit to receive a divine gift. Taksu is a novice painter can produce a work of astonishing power and grace.
According to Agung Rai
The concept of taksu is important for the Balinese, in fact, for any artist. I do not think you can just plan to paint a beautiful picture, a picture perfect. The issue of taksu is also one of honesty, for the artist and the viewer. An artist will follow his heart or instinct, and no matter what others think. A painting that has a magic that you do not need to be developed, the painting has just spoken.
A work of art that is difficult to describe in words must be seen through the eyes and a heart that is open and is not influenced by the painter’s name. In this honesty, purity is a connection between the viewer and the point of view.
While the debate on the arts of Bali and Indonesia is beyond the scope of this catalog, refer the reader to the works cited in the bibliography. The following descriptions of the styles of painters intended as a brief introduction to the work in the catalog, which were selected using several criteria. Agung Rai is what everyone considers to be an outstanding work of a particular artist, is a unique example of a period, school or style, and contributes to a better understanding of the development of paintng Bali and Indonesia. The Company was established artist Pita Maha in 1936 by Gde Agung Sukawati Cokorda a royal patron of the arts in Ubud, and two European artists, the Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet and Walter Spies, a German. The stated purpose of the society was to support artists and artisans working in various media and style, were encouraged to experiment with materials and Western theories of anatomy and perspective.
The company strives to provide high quality work of its members, and exhibits the best works were carried out in Indonesia and abroad. The company has ceased to be active after the beginning of the Second World War. Pita Maha members several paintings are included in the catalog, including Ida Bagus Made especially noted for his paintings of religious and mystical Bali Agung Anak Gde Raka and Turas, including the seabed has been an inspiration for many young painters.
Painters of the village of Batuan, south of Ubud, known since the 1930s by a dense, highly detailed paintings Bali ceremonies, daily life, and more and more “modern” Bali. In the past, artists used watercolors since the introduction of Western artists materials, watercolors and acrylics have become popular. The paintings are produced by applying several thin coats to a drawing in ink shade. The range tends to be dark, and crowded composition, with many details and a little flattened in perspective. Batuan painters represented in the catalog are Ida Bagus widja, whose paintings of scenes from Bali to cover the sacred and the profane, and I Wayan Bendi whose paintings of the collision of Bali and entertainment abound in Western cultures, acutely observed vignettes .
In 1960, Arie Smit, a Dutch-born painter, began to invite children Penestanan, Ubud, come experiment with oil paints brilliant in his studio in Ubud. The time has developed the style of young artists, distinguished by the use of bright colors, graphic quality on the shadow and some perspective game, and concentrate on scenes and activities of daily life in Bali . I Ketut Tagen is the only young artist in the catalog, which explores new forms of representation scenes of Balinese life, while remaining rooted in the strong sense of young artists of color and design.
The painters’ academic artists “in Bali and other parts of Indonesia, in fact, a diverse group including nearly all share the experience of having received training in Indonesia and foreign institutes of fine arts. A number of artists who came of age before the Indonesian independence was declared in 1945 had no training in the academies of art, but studied painting on their own. Many of they eventually become instructors of the institutions of Indonesia. A number of young artists in the catalog of researchers have studied the old masters, whose work appears here as well. In Bali, the role of the academy of art is relatively minor, whereas academic paintings of Java is more developed than the indigenous or traditional styles. academic painters dominated Western techniques and studied various modern art movements in the West, his work is often influenced by surrealism, pointillism, cubism and abstract expressionism. Painters in Indonesia is trying to establish a nation free of the “modern Indonesian art” that is, back to Indonesia and cultural issues in the region. The range of styles is very wide between the artist Affandi, West Java, whose expressionistic depictions of scenes of Bali are renowned internationally Dullah, a Central Java known for his realistic paintings, Gunars Nyoman, a Balinese who creates distinctive expressionist paintings the patterns of traditional Balinese shadow puppets ; Done Wiant, a summary of pointillism without him other painters from Indonesia.
Since late 1920, Bali has attracted Western artists as residents in the short term and long term. Most schools had been formally trained in Europe, and his paintings reflect many artistic traditions of the West. Some of these artists have played an important role in the development of Balinese painting in recent years thanks to support and promote local artists. The contributions of Rudolf Bonnet and Arie Smit have already been mentioned. Among the other European artists whose different visions of Bali is still admired Hofke Willem Gerrard, whose paintings of Bali in traditional costume are skillfully rendered studies of curtains, lights and shadows, Carel Lodewijk Dake, Jr., whose bad mood paintings capture the atmosphere of the temples of the holy places from Bali, and Adrien Jean Le Mayeur, known for his portraits of Balinese women languid.
Agung Rai feels
Art is something very private. It depends on what is shown, and the spiritual bond between art and viewer. People have their own opinions, which may or may not agree with my perception.
We encourage visitors to learn about the art of Bali and Indonesia, the ants find it possible to establish the purity of the connection “he describes. He hopes that his collection is considered a resource to be actively explored rather than passively enjoyed, and that will be enjoyed by artists, researchers, visitors, students and students from Indonesia and abroad.
AGUNG RAI Fine Art Gallery Collactions
