This exhibition represents two Balinese painters from different generations who apply similar techniques of Balinese traditional painting as the basis of their creative development.

Teja, young painter from Sanur has being developing is own distinctive style, which is underlain by characteristics from the Balinese Wayang Style, since the 1990’s. On the other hand we have the late, lamented Dewa Putu Mokoh who learned the Pengosekan style of painting at a young age; thence he was able to become independent of the mainstream and then developed his own stylistic and distinctive works.

There has been no close personal relationship between Teja and Dewa Putu Mokoh. However, the identical creative exploration by both of them, who stand for two different generations, can be perceived as different customs within the contemporary art development of Indonesia. Their existence indicates that the style of traditional Balinese line painting , is alive and well in the development of contemporary art. That is that the development of contemporary art via its esthetic exploration that still reveals the theme line of the ancient classical Balinese Wayang Style.

Teja has employed his mastery in transforming caricatural forms as the exploration principle within his works. Actually, puppets are creations with distorted forms and he recreates their basic structures which have been standard. He has restructured them to be more unique, exposing Teja Astawa’s distinctive form of exploration. In short, he has accomplished to domesticate puppets from their collective habitat, into his own personal style and language.

Teja’s openness to a variety of interpretations, pretensions and meanings reflects his authenticity to dissimilar matters, even the spontaneous ones. An idea coming to his mind may be compositionally adjusted so that it does not interrupt, or is intentionally meant to be an aesthetic distraction that evokes the viewers attention.

The writer believes that it is Teja’s incredible imagination that leads his creativity. When a play, for example, can be sensed philosophically, Teja’s inclination for diverse possibilities may not plainly present the aesthetic phenomena. Furthermore, a value is perceived in the process he is in. The ability to perform continuous explorations is a reflection of an artist’s creative power.

Dewa Putu Mokoh, a simple man, was born in 1934 in Pengosekan, Ubud and painted with a distinctive naïve, child like style. He was a brave artist who depicted compositions, uncommon with the Ubud standard, through his small narratives of daily life.

All of those experiences can be seen on some of his artworks. Sometimes he just displayed a fabric is hanging on his painting, it might be a common thing but when the writer looked deeply on the detail, it shows the compositional aspect consciousness of Mokoh.

Image: © Dewa Putu Mokoh, Kendra Gallery