Ubud is indisputable center of Balinese art especially for painting with its numerous talented artists and many excellent paintings. However there are artists of talent emerge outside Ubud whose style and substance appear to develop entirely separately, not conforming to the styles that develop in Ubud. And one of these talented artists was I Gusti Made Deblog.

I Gusti Made Deblog was born in 1906 in Taensiat, Denpasar municipality. He learned the art of painting especially portrait painting at the age of thirty-one from his Chinese friend, Yap Sin Tin, who made his living by drawing portrait of his clients with contee (hardened coal) and Chinese ink on paper. Unfortunately drawing portrait was not Deblog’s best talent, hetried to sell his drawing but failed miserably.

Portraiture did not fit with Deblog, his mind was more occupied with heroes from Mahabharata and Ramayana epic. Instead of portraits ordered on commission from clients, on his papers emerged fantastic scenes of folktales Mahabharata and Ramayana epic which came from his vivid imagination. The first successful Deblog’s painting in this genre that drew much attention from officials, scholars and artists alike, was “The Birth of Guna Tama, the Son of Dukuh Kawi” done in contee on paper. This drawing can be seen in Puri Lukisan in Ubud. The success of “The Birth of Guna Tama, the Son of Dukuh Kawi” was followed by his other drawings. Most of his drawings have found their way into art collections and museum abroad.

All of his paintings are all on paper in contee or Chinese ink. His style shows the style of his Chinese friend and teacher, but his main forms are derived from the traditional shadow puppet, while the substance of his work is specifically personal. Anak Agung Made Djelantik, author of “Balinese Painting”, in this book say that Deblog’s painting is expression of a cosmic-magic experience which the ancient epics and folktales seem to evoke in depths of his extraordinary mind. Moreover, he added that Deblog’s paintings are charged with magic and seem to constitute a catharsis from his innermost subconscious self, emerging out of tension occurring in the realm between genius and insanity.

Material for this article were taken from Anak Agung Made Djelantik’s “Balinese Paintings”

Popularity: 3% [?]