THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok - page 193

compositions of scenes from daily life are crudely drawn with minimal attention to per-
spective, outlined in black like in a child's colouring book, and often washed over in weird
shades of pink, purple and blue.
All the major museums have works by some of the original Young Artists from the 1960s,
the most famous of whom include I Ketut Tagen , I Wayan Pugur , I Nyoman Londo ,
I Nyoman Mundik and I Nyoman Mujung . The Neka Art Museum in Ubud devotes a
whole gallery to Arie Smit's own work.
ACADEMIC AND BALI MODERNISM
Bali's Modern artists, both indigenous and expatriate, are sometimes labelled as Academic ,
meaning that they've studied and been influenced by Western modernism but have settled
in Bali and paint Balinese subjects. Many of the best-known are graduates from the
Yogyakarta Academy of Fine Arts in Java, and some are or have been part of the Sanggar
Dewata Indonesia art movement, whose style - loosely defined as Balinese Hindu abstract
expressionism - has been the dominant form of modern Balinese painting since the 1970s.
Although the style has been somewhat devalued by the countless poor-quality abstracts
sold in souvenir shops across Bali, works by the most famous Academics - including Af-
fandi , Anton H and Abdul Aziz , all from Java, the Sumatran-born Rusli , and from Bali,
Made Wianta , Nyoman Gunarsa, Nyoman Erawan and Made Budiana - are on show at
the Ubud museums and the Nyoman Gunarsa Museum near Semarapura. Of these import-
ant modern artists, Made Wianta is probably the best known internationally; he represented
Indonesia in the Venice 2003 Biennale, with a video installation on the Kuta bombings.
Penestanan
West of Campuhan is the still-traditional hamlet of PENESTANAN , which became famous
in the 1960s for its so-called Young Artists , who forged a naive style of painting that's since
been named after them. Some are still painting, but Penestanan's current niche is bead-mak-
ing , and the village has several shops selling intricately decorated items.
Penestanan is accessible from the side road that turns off beside the Blanco Museum, but
the most atmospheric approach is via the steep flight of steps a few hundred metres further
north along Jalan Raya Campuhan, just south of Symon's Studio. The steps climb the hill-
side to a narrow westbound track, which passes several arterial north-south paths leading to
panoramic views (many of which have been appropriated by new villas), then drops down
through ricefields into the next valley, across a river and through a small wooded area, be-
fore coming to a crossroads with Penestanan's main street. Go straight across (west) if you're
heading for Sayan (600m away), right for Taman Rahasia hotel after 200m, or left for the
circular walk back through the village to the Blanco Museum in Campuhan (1.5km). There
are several places to eat en route, including Made's Warung .