Made Wianta

Made Wianta (born 20 Dec 1949) is an Indonesian artist who is concerned with social and cultural changes and social issues.[1] He has been described as one of his country's best known artists.[2] Being a multi-modal artist, his artworks come in the form of installations, performances, paintings and even poetry. He is best known for his thematic use of geometric expression, where he uses and manipulates various shapes to express his views on society through his artworks.

Personal History

Made Wianta was born in the village of Apuan, Tabanan, Bali. Possessed of an intense concentration of energy, he is bubbling and constantly moving. His creation flows from the depth of his psyche. Over two decades, some 14,000 works of art have emerged from his energy and creativity. Those art works are widely known and have been exhibited nationally as well as internationally at prestigious galleries and museums. Wianta is a multi-modal artist. His mastery of color and form on canvas is matched by his mastery of words in poetry; body movement in dance and sense of rhythm in music. He often combines all three into "installations" or "happening" art such as will happen at the upcoming Art and Peace event. Wianta is an artist with strong sense of environmental awareness and social responsibility. His environmental awareness has materialized into several art installations such as "Forest and Life" in Apuan, Tabanan (1999) "Sound and Nature" in Apuan, Tabanan (1997); "Water, Fire, and Air" in Apuan, Tabanan and Gajah Wong river, Yogyakarta, Central Java (1995). His strong sense of social responsibility prompted him to hold several exhibitions to donate his paintings for sale in support of many social causes. These include a fundraising exhibition together with other artists at the Bali Cliff Hotel to help poor regions of Bati (1995) and the sale of several paintings to help AIDS research in San Francisco and the earthquake victims of Flores, Indonesia (1993). Since 1992, through his "Wianta" Foundation, he has collaborated with the Ford Foundation to help preserve endangered traditional art and culture in Bati. And, in 1991, he staged an "Art Camp" in Apuan to bring together many Indonesian and international scholars and contemporary artists.

Personality & Vision

A creative artist who is inventive, he uses his passion towards environmental issues to create works full of energy, materialising is environmental awareness into installation works. Having a great sense of social responsibility, the subject matter of his works are often pertaining to the events occurring in his own surroundings. He does installations and performance art to convey his concerns about social and cultural changes. His inspirations come from observing nature.

While much of his work is informed by social unrest, the actual practice of art appears to be deeply nourishing, even spiritual, for him. For him, making art is a daily practice; a discipline. It is an essential tool in developing a sense of internal peace, and transmitting that peace to the external world.

Made Wianta seems to also construct his thoughts in a nonlinear manner. He jumps from one subject to another, as if always thinking about a number of different subjects at the same time. “I don’t really have a certain linear way of creating,” he explained when asked about his process while creating his works “I just do whatever comes to mind naturally.”

When speaking about his work, he becomes highly animated despite him being a man of solemn countenance. The sensations he experiences while creating, he says, are akin to those a monk might enjoy while immersed in counting his mala beads. This shows the spiritual aspect of creating his work, as he engages in activities of similar patterns to those of a monk in meditation.

He hopes to bring about new projects of paintings, performance art, installations and a new book in the near future. In 2017, Wianta plans to highlight the role of Indonesia in the contribution to the Treaty of Breda of 350 years history, which has helped shaped the world.

Wianta's paintings are classified under different periods, according to the artist himself.[3] They include:

Art

Made Wianta, being a multi modal artist, is best known for his paintings and installations but also has works of performance and poetry. His mastery of colour and form on canvas is matched by his mastery of words in poetry; body movement in dance and sense of rhythm in music. He often combines all three into “installations” or “happening” art.

Unlike most old and modern masters, Made Wianta does not create drawings as a preparation for full-fledged paintings. His work on paper stands on its own and constantly stimulates his intellect and creative powers. Made Wianta's early drawings are technically very elaborate and draw on centuries-old Balinese beliefs and imagery. In the early seventies, Wianta freed himself from this overwhelming local influence and gave free rein to his imagination, which has been constantly fed by his own personal experiences and by more universal preoccupations. Besides his drawings, Wianta has produced an extensive body of work consisting of paintings and installations. Surprisingly, in recent years his calligraphic paintings have been thoroughly influenced by his drawing practices

During his early career, Wianta studied the Balinese classical wayang style of painting from master artists in Kamasan, Klungkung. His drawings of Balinese spirits and creatures has novel, peculiar and personalised shapes. When used colours, the works were similar in structure to his drawings but did not have figurative elements. Instead he began painting in a kind of abstraction that systematically used small dots of colour with a mix of linear contours and flat surfaces. Then he went on to create geometrical constructions that combined spontaneous calligraphic strokes. In the exhibition; Dreamland, he included “2002 kg of rice spread in an oval shape so as to symbolise the Balinese world and the Balinese rose of the winds. On the eight directions of the compass of the rice mound are distributed remains and Balinese offerings.” This juxtaposition speaks to the mingling of traditional Balinese culture with the new influences that arrived on the island with tourism. He even visited slaughterhouses to procure the blood of cows (a sacred animal to Hindus in Bali and India), and applied it to the images of the slain and wounded.

Selected Works

Growing Hands (1983)
Chinese ink on paper
55 cm x 3.75 cm
A painting made with Chinese ink. Wianta considers this to be a paitning during the Karangasem Period.

Unformal Object II (1998)
A painting that combines both western and Asian medium, using both oil and acrylic as well as Chinese ink. This work is considered to be completed during the Dot period, displaying an influence of pointillism within his artwork.

Golden City on Blue (1995)
Chinese ink and acrylic on canvas
A painting which comprises geometrical shapes. Mediums include Chinese ink, acrylic with gold-leaf on the canvas. This is a work he considers under his Quadrangle Period.

Purple Calligraphy (2010)
A painting completed on fragrant canvas with acrylic. Strong Chinese painting influence can be observed.

Calligraphy on the blue gate (1995)
Acrylic and gold on canvas
247 cm x 117 cm

Broken Triangle (1990)
Oil and acrylic on canvas
120 cm X 91 cm

Golden City On Blue (undated)
Chinese ink, oil, and gold-leaf on canvas
30 cm X 30 cm

Current Projects[4]

Projects:

Exhibitions:

Awards:

Social Activities:

Collections:

Book Publications:

References

  1. ↑ Ooi Kok Chuen, "Made Wianta: Shaman or genius?", New Straits Times, May 31, 2004  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) .
  2. ↑ "Indonesian artist to exhibit paintings in Italy inspired by Bali bombings", AP Worldstream, November 23, 2003  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) .
  3. ↑ Heng, Edmund. "Made Wianta website". Made Signature (Official Artist Website). Made Wianta. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  4. ↑ Heng, Edmund. "Made Wianta CV". Made Signature (Official Artist Website). Made Wianta. Retrieved 2015-03-10.

External links