(8/9/2010)
In a dual exhibition at the Ganesha Gallery at Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay two young Balinese abstract artists, Ida Bagus Urip Candrabayu and I Wayan Setem, demonstrate that the magnetic powers of pure abstract art are detached from any stimulus from the visible world. The scenes are not stylized or disguised forms seen by the eye but, rather, visions which trace their origins to internal concepts and emotions. As suggested by the exhibition's title of "Passing by a Coloured Space" they are also explorations of color in space. The passing should be perceived as a suggestion of circumambulation of a destination that will never be reached – an eternal pilgrimage.
While similar, there are subtle but profound differences between the works of these two young men. The younger Candrabayu tends to choose subjects anchored in reality such as the rhythmic
"Stripes" which features asymmetrical rows of orange jelly bean forms on a dark background of feelings. The best example of the latter is the work
"Block Head" expressed in stone-like forms (the closest anything comes to reality in the show) and graffiti scribbled background.
In contrast, Setem's works, such as
"The Mystery of 3 Circles in a Red Box", while deceptively descriptive of what we see on the canvas, also imbue the image with Pythagorean other worldliness and even esoteric magic. Indeed, in many ways, pure abstraction can be seen as the most internalized, if not spiritual-intellectual, of art styles. In the hands of the naturally mystical Balinese who posses a love of color celebrated in the island's religious life, abstraction takes on new meaning in what is a stereo view of space and color.
Passing by a Coloured Space
Abstract Art by Ida Bagus Urip Candrabayu and I Wayan Setem
September 3 – October 4, 2010
Ganesha Gallery
Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay, Bali
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