In my guest post “Artsy Abroad: Fear, Frustration, and the Art of the Forage” last month, I described the time I spent at the beginning of the year in Batuan, Bali, seeking out artists to interview during a month-long arts writing grant. I was lucky to find an abundance of artistic inspiration during this time and am excited to share this with you now…
Ketut Jaya Kaprus’ studio in Batubulan, Bali, Indonesia. Photo by: Ellen C. Caldwell.
One of the first artists I was introduced to was Ketut Jaya Kaprus. Kaprus brought a sampling of images and videos with him (see the video at the end of this post) and this meeting sparked a wonderful and ongoing conversation about art, the environment, and our artistic inspirations.
Soon after this initial meeting, Kaprus invited me to his home studio in Batubulan and then to his friend Made Budhiana’s studio in Denpasar. I spent the day with Kaprus, Budhiana, another artist Wayan Sunadi, and my friend and translator Sudipa Yasa from Bali Purnati. Together, we discussed their experiences at art school, their artistic community and arts collectives in Bali, and their work.
top | Ketut Jaya Kaprus, detail from one of offering paintings. Photo by: Ellen C. Caldwell.
bottom | Kaprus’ examples of physical offerings, the inspiration for much of his work and color palette. Photo by: Ellen C. Caldwell.
When I arrived at Kaprus’ studio, he began by showing me a handful of his smaller framed works – all of which were naturalistic in style and depicted detailed paintings of the daily offerings one sees all over Bali. As a Hindu priest in his home village, Kaprus is inspired and motivated by traditional Balinese customs and ritual symbols – all of which he incorporates into his work. These smaller paintings beautifully capture the details of the offerings that are an integral part of everyday life in Bali. Kaprus became interested in making these offerings at a young age, and later, he began transforming the physical offerings into representations of them as well.
left | Interior of Kaprus’ studio in Batubulan. Photo by Ellen C. Caldwell
right | Kaprus painting in his studio during the interview. Photo by: Ellen C. Caldwell
Besides these realistic paintings, Kaprus is more known for his loud, colorful, and abstract paintings. Monumental and larger than life, in many cases, these paintings covered every inch of his walls—a physical symbol of the way in which art and the creative process takes up every aspect of his spiritual and psychic being. Seeing both of his painting styles together shows how the colors and symbology from the offerings are the literal inspiration for and translation of the larger abstract paintings. In this way, the smaller works shed a light on the meanings and jumping off points for his larger works.
After a wonderful studio visit and interview with Kaprus, we headed to Budhiana’s studio in Denpasar. Simply put, Budhiana’s studio is the stuff of dreams.
The entryway to Made Budhiana’s studio in Denpasar. Photo by Ellen C. Caldwell.
A large, two-story barnlike structure, it has all the right lighting, large open spaces for his huge canvases, an amazing sound system and movie projection setup, books and music to inspire the mind, and art to inspire the senses.
Budhiana is an established international artist and he sees part of his role in Bali as being a mentor for fellow artists. He invites artists to apply for short residencies to share his lovely studio space while working on their own practice. He is also a lover of classic rock, so much of our day was cast to a soft pulsing soundtrack of Hendrix, Zeppelin, and Clapton: an undercurrent, as if the studio’s lifeline.
left | Inside Budhiana’s studio. Photo by: Ellen C. Caldwell.
right | Inside Budhiana’s studio. Kaprus, Sunadi, and Yasa pictured from left to right. Photo by: Ellen C. Caldwell.
Budhiana’s work is generally large (a minimum of about 4-6 feet wide) and very colorful. Steady lines of bright reds, yellows, and oranges pack the canvases’ frames and tell a larger story. Humor and visual narrative, both large and integral parts of Balinese culture, are as much his medium as the paint and canvas themselves. Their friend and colleague from Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta (Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta/ISI Yogyakarta), Wayan Doel Sunadi, was also there to show me his paintings. Sunadi’s work takes the comedy up a notch too, as he plays around with humorous subjects and viewers’ expectations for contemporary Balinese painters (as with Mystery of Sunglasses).
left | Wayan Doel Sunadi, Mystery of Sunglasses ( detail ), 140 x 200cm, mixed media on canvas, 2013. Photo courtesy of the artist.
right | Wayan Doel Sunadi, Tarbang, acrylic on canvas. Photo courtesy of the artist.
A final interior of Budhiana’s studio. Photo by Ellen C. Caldwell.
None of these artists paint in the older, traditional Balinese styles in any conventional sense, but they all show their artistic roots in different and distinct ways. Through symbology, humor, and narrative, they all ground their practices in older and existing elements of Balinese painterly traditions and themes while experimenting with new and distinct styles that highlight contemporary Balinese culture.
Ketut Jaya “Kaprus”: Artwork and Inspiration from eclaire on Vimeo.
“Ketut Jaya Kaprus: Artwork and Inspiration,” 2014, Film director and editor: Dadi Reza Pujadi, Music by: Jeff Schmidt: live solo, and Marcus Miller: solo bass, A Free Parking Working Film. Video posted courtesy of the artist.
Are you loving these little virtual foraging trips through Bali as much as I am? Thanks so much to Ellen for sharing her adventures and to the artists for opening their studios. More to come from Ellen next month!
Are you an artist, arts writer, or blogger who is planning a residency or trip abroad and would like to share your own Artsy Abroad story? Shoot me and email via the Contact page and let’s chat!
