Tomorrow, Saturday (6/14/08) Bali Art Festival, a month-long festival participated by all regencies in the province of Bali and from other provinces in Indonesia and several foreign participants, like USA, Korea, Japan, Australia, will be opened with a grand opening ceremony that involve 3000 artist from all over the paradise island of Bali. This opening ceremony will be held in front of the Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat Bali (Bali People Struggle Monument, at Renon Square Denpasar. The main attractions of this opening ceremony is the parade various art performances and cultural treasures from each participants of Bali Art Festival that usually involve thousands of artists.

The Bali Art Festival 2008 will be held from June 14 until July 12 in Bali Art Center Werdhi Budaya at Jalan Nusa Indah Denpasar. The theme of Bali Art Festival 2008 as the cultural event overall is “Citta Wretti Nirodha—Self Restrain toward Balance and Harmony”.

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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.

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Hell from Balinese point of view can be seen in the ceiling of the Kertha Gosa, the traditional courtroom of Gelgel Kingdom in the heart of Semarapura town, Klungkung Regency. I think picture will tell about the Balinese vision on hell better than words so here are some pictures that show various punishments for the sinned souls in hell painted with the classic Kamasan style.

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A permanent exhibition room in Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA) is immortalized as Anak Agung Made Djelantik Room to honour Anak Agung Made Djelantik’s dedication for art and culture of Bali especially Balinese painting. This permanent exhibition room houses the watercolor paintings of Anak Agung Made Djelantik, the founder of Bali Walter Spies Foundation and the Honorary President of German Walter Spies Society. A strong bond between Walter Spies and Anak Agung Made Djelantik is showed by the position of this new room that is next to Walter Spies Room.

Left to Right: Bulan Trisna Djelantik (the doughter), Anak Agung Rai (owner of ARMA), Horst Jordt (President Walter Spies Society Germany), and the picture of Anak Agung Made Djelantik

The watercolor paintings of Anak Agung Made Djelantik which are exhibited here depict the fateful events in Anak Agung Made Djelantik life, from early in the childhood up to retirement years. The theme of the paintings range from the black magic to culture shock, from temple to boat race, in short the themes of the paintings cover all aspects of Anak Agung Made Djelantik life.

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I Gusti Nyoman Lempad might be the one of the most talented artists ever born in Bali. He was a master craftsman, designing and building monumental gates, carving temples and palace decorations, making barong mask, cremation towers, nagabandas (papier-mache dragon for royal cremation) and above all painting. He was also well versed in old Balinese literature.

Title : The Dagger Attack On Rangda
Artist : I Gusti Nyoman Lempad
Media : Ink and tempera on papper
Size : 24 x 33 cm
Year : 1939s
Courtesy : Neka Art Museum

I Gusti Nyoman Lempad was born in Bedulu in 1862, he was multi-talented as is father who was also excellent craftsman, architect, and painter. In 1875, his talent offended his patron and fled to Peliatan then to the protection of the court in Ubud; Lempad was 13 at this time. He left behind in Bedulu an important legacy as architect and sculptor. He was an excellent sculptor who reputed in particular to have introduced the unfinished style of in stone sculpture, in this style the characters are roughly hewn and bereft of all iconographic traits.

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Kamasan is a Balinese village located in the regency of Klungkung that is renowned for the diversity of arts and crafts produced there. Skilled artisans’ turn out goods made from bamboo, wood, iron and even discarded bullet shells left over from the Japanese occupation of the island during WW II.

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