Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pengosekan Community of Artists showroom
Off Jl Raya Pengosekan • Daily 9am-6pm • Free
Pengosekan is known locally as the centre of the Pengosekan Community of Artists, a co-
operative founded in 1969 to help villagers share resources, exhibition costs and sales. The
cooperative was so successful that most of the original members have since established their
own galleries, but the spirit of the collective lives on in the
Pengosekan Community of
Artists showroom
. As with other local communities of artists, the
Pengosekan
painters de-
veloped a distinct style. Their art also features increasingly on carved picture frames, boxes
and small pieces of furniture.
Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA)
Jl Raya Pengosekan • Daily 9am-6pm • Rp40,000 • 0361 975742,
armabali.com
Pengosekan's main attraction is the impressive
Agung Rai Museum of Art
, or
ARMA
.
Founded by Ubud art dealer Anak Agung Rai, its collection nearly matches that of the Neka
Art Museum; there's also an excellent public-access
library
and research centre here, and an
open-air dance stage. Access is either via Jalan Hanoman or through the main gateway on the
Pengosekan-Peliatan road.
Bale Daja pavilion
From the main entrance, pass through the temporary exhibition hall and across the garden
to the large
Bale Daja pavilion
. The downstairs area celebrates the life and work of
Walter
Spies
and includes life-size reproductions of his work along with some typical Ubud-style
paintings such as I Ketut Sepi's
Cremation Ceremony
and Anak Agung Gede Sobrat's
Baris
Dance
. Its upstairs gallery gives a brief survey of the development of Balinese art, though
the labels aren't that helpful. Historically speaking, you should begin with the
wayang-style
canvases that are hung high up on the walls overlooking the central well, which are in typic-
al seventeenth-century style, though experts think that they date from much later. Ida Bagus
Belawa's
Cock Fighting
is thought to have been painted in the 1930s and is a good example
of a modern subject done in traditional two-dimensional style.
Also on this floor, the
Batuan-style
art focuses on real life too; the works are instantly re-
cognizable by their extraordinary detail.
The Island of Bali
by the popular I Wayan Bendi is a
fine example: crammed with archetypal Balinese scenes, it's also laced with satire, notably in
the figures of long-nosed tourists poking their camera lenses into village events. If you look
closely you'll find a surfer in the picture too. Look out also for the pen-and-ink cartoons of
I
Gusti Nyoman Lempad
,
an important Ubud character.
Bale Dauh pavilion
Across the garden, the
Bale Dauh pavilion
is dedicated to works by expatriate artists. The
content reads like a directory of Bali's most famous expats, with works by Rudolf Bonnet,
Miguel Covarrubias, Donald Friend, Theo Meier, Antonio Blanco and Arie Smit and by ex-
pat Asian artists Chang Fee Ming (Malaysia) and Damas Mangku (Java). The highlight is
