Lighten up!

anyone hanging around the bali art scene knows that
balloon-like egos and narcissistic strutting are standard fare among artists and gallery owners. in the battle to become king of the hill, the biggest victim is a much-needed sense of levity

Historically, Balinese and Indonesian art were anonymous until westerners brought their ways and began clamouring for signatures. This does not mean that the great masters of Indonesia’s past were not acknowledged – everyone from king to peasant knew who the most talented artists and artisans were.

The same situation existed largely in the west until the early Italian Renaissance, which marks the first appearance of self indulgent artist superstars who would keep the Pope as well as Medici princes waiting for hours.

In Bali, this would begin in the 1930s when tourists and art collectors from the west demanded that the paintings and sculptures they bought be “signed by the artist”. Since the art was not made for local consumption and it was considered rude to refuse a request from a guest, those early artists did as they were bid. In some cases, such as Gusti Lempad who could only write in Balinese, the paintings were signed by other family members. Little did anyone realise that by doing so they opened the floodgates of future artistic megalomania!

The bad news for the vast majority of artists is that few among them will ever achieve the status of Picasso or Matisse no matter how much they or their gallery owners rant and rave. The drive for stardom planted in the already-sensitive artistic mind can result in numerous negative effects including narcissism, delusion and even mild forms of schizophrenia. In Bali, this translates to openings that often ooze with gravity reminiscent of state funerals, religious cult meetings or heavy metal concerts.

The British artist Paul Whitehead is the perfect counterpoint to this insanity. This is not to say that Whitehead is sane (in fact he is a certified nut case) but that he long ago realised that he had nothing to prove to anyone, thereby liberating himself from all the ballyhoo. “Who wants to be Van Gogh, anyway?” After all the guy only sold one painting in his lifetime (to his brother), cut off his ear to spite a bully who could not care less (Gauguin) and has been portrayed as a crazy spontaneous artist even though his letters prove that he was completely calculated and lucid about what he was doing.

Although Whitehead might not have been completely lucid when he began designing album covers for the likes of Fats Domino in London’s Swinging Sixties, by the time he created a series of ground breaking designs for the mega-group Genesis, which defined the new music art of post-psychedelic era, he probably had some inkling of who he was and what he was doing. Ironically, exactly like the ancient Balinese artists, while the insiders knew him and sought him out, he was for the general public largely anonymous. The lack of ego stroking probably did him well.

Today, Whitehead has settled in Bali and now specialises in paintings that can be best described as visual puns intended to nudge into contemplating the state of the world. While his work utilises juxtapositions that can be compared to those of Belgium Surrealist, René Margaritte, this is only coincidental. Paul Whitehead does not aspire to be anyone else except himself. This was proven by his December exhibition Questions? at the Ganesha Gallery at the Four Seasons Resort Jimbaran.

Curiously one of the least expected children of his self-effacing humour is occasional and perplexing profundity. This can be seen in the painting, Accident, whereby a cup of spilled milk (don’t cry over it) has created a puddle on the floor in the shape of Bali, which asks many more questions than can ever be answered.

Although its message is clearer, Furniture, the image of a giant tree with a bird and tiny boy reminds us of the multifunctional uses of the tree, as well as deforestation. It could easily be a poster for Bali’s Green School.

The power of less pretentious and more focused work can also be seen in the current exhibition, Intelligent World, which features the latest works of two Balinese graphic artists, I Made Saryana and Mega Sari. Amazingly Saryana and Mega Sari, both whom formally studied in Jogjakarta, have chosen the oldest and most difficult of all the graphic arts – woodcut, which is usually associated with Albrecht Dürer and Katsushika Hokusai.

Their choice of this ancient medium was courageous not only because of the difficulty of the technique, but more so because the lack of understanding and appreciation of all classic graphic arts – woodcut, etching and stone lithography – by Indonesian collectors who have favoured paintings on canvas since the Sukarno Era. Fortunately, a growing number of collectors have come to understand that signed, limited series of art prints are not only modestly priced and attractive but also genuine art, not cheap photocopies. These techniques also have unique qualities as explained by Mega Sari and Saryana who emphasise that their original attraction to woodblock making was the edgy textures that result applying multiple handcut wood blocks to handmade paper.

Saryana shows his mastery of the art in complex, colourful compositions inspired by Balinese mythology and everyday life. In Pura-Pura Baik (Making Believe Everything Is All Right), he makes use of angular lines and the tension of a coiled naga (dragon), the symbol of the Balinese Underworld, to express an ambivalent emotional state of being. Another print, Endless Prayer, is also an absolute masterpiece.

In comparison, the prints of Mega Sari, who has held numerous exhibitions in Japan, is like her gender, decisively more feminine and subtle in colour and form.

In particular she is attracted to flowers seen in A Parade of Dragonflies and still life compositions with vases. Like Saryana, the surfaces of her prints are highly textured and complex but instead mirror a radically different but equally valid perspective. Twenty five years after the publication of E. F. Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful” and the first year of the 2nd decade of the 21st century (Y2K + 10), it is probably a good moment to remember that Bali is a small island. While large egos are inevitable, lets celebrate smaller victories and accomplishments too. Like the cool clear water of mountain streams, the benefits are many. Artists and megalomaniacs take note of Paul Whitehead, I Made Saryana and Mega Sari – deflate your ambitions and lighten up, at least occasionally.