Contemporary
worlds
Indonesia

I Made Wiguna Valasara

I Made Wiguna Valasara’s works push the established boundaries of Balinese painting, which he first encountered as a child watching his uncle, the senior Balinese painter Nyoman Erawan, at work. Valasara’s artistic trajectory has included explorations of colour and line ‘to create an optical illusion of space, volume and depth’,¹ experiments with collage in a wide range of materials, and the manipulation of the canvas ground to create dimensionality. These investigations of multiple materials and surface structures were paralleled by recurring appraisals of the subjects of Valasara’s works, which swung from representations of recognisable Balinese themes, to abstract or geometric patterning, and finally a return to figurative images including flora and fauna, iconic images from the Western art canon and quintessential Balinese scenes. Conceptually this path reflected the artist’s initial rejection of his Balinese-ness and its associated ‘universe of symbols’, and a subsequent acceptance of his cultural heritage and the symbolism inherent in Balinese motifs and scenes.

The threads of Valasara’s artistic evolution come together in Rekonstruksi semesta (oposisi biner) (Reconstruction of the universe (binary opposition)) 2017. The work takes the form of a pair of canvases, stitched in various coloured threads and padded to form a three-dimensional image. Thus the canvas becomes the painting. The left panel shows preparations for a Balinese funeral procession, with a packed throng surrounding the bade (cremation tower) as it is elevated on the shoulders of a group of men. Women carrying offerings precede the tower, and shrines, temples and waving palm trees are silhouetted against the sky. Narrow bands at the top and right of the canvas are the only areas left void in a packed, dynamic composition. The dense and detailed format, and the subject, is characteristic of ‘modern Balinese’ paintings in the Batuan style.

This scene is repeated in the right panel of the diptych, except that all references to the event and the participants are removed. The exception is a lone figure who stands somewhat hesitantly looking over his shoulder, as if wondering where everyone has gone. The discrepancy between the panels highlights the communal nature of Balinese culture and questions whether it is possible to withdraw from society and continue to live in Bali outside the existing socio-cultural framework. Valasara’s explorations of subject, symbolism, space and form are linked to his experiences of acceptance and rejection, independence and belonging.

Carol Cains

1. All quotes in this entry are from Agung Hujatnikajennong, ‘Lukisan-Lukisan’, at indoartnow.com, accessed 10 December 2018.