Thursday 28 February 2013

Pelebon Dewa Nyoman Batuan, Pengosekan Ubud, 23 February 2013




 

DEWA NYOMAN BATUAN, founder of PENGOSEKAN COMMUNITY OF ARTISTS , superstar spiritualist, entrepreneur, mentor. During the 1970s and 1980s Dewa Nyoman Batuan was the cover boy for mystical Hinduism in Bali. His paintings were magnificent mandalas of Balinese spiritual and ceremonial life. His art was featured on the cover of Victor Mason's "The Haughty Toad" (BAP press, 1975) and in Han's Hoefer's/Apa Press' first guidebook "Guide to Bali". . He was ebullient and articulate : his interviews in many films and documentaries light up the screen --films such as the Blaire brothers' RING OF FIRE ( he was their landlord and mentor for many years), "Bali --Island of the Gods" (Philip Noyce Director) and David Attenborough's film on Bali for the BBC. As an entrepreneur he combined the talents of his very artistic community with the needs of the tourist industry , most famously in a five year collaboration with designer Linda Garland. From this dynamic duo came many iconic items of the Balinese handicraft world -- the carved banana tree, the banana leaf plate and the very depressed naked woman coffee table base. Dewa Nyoman Batuan's painted umbrellas and decorative ceilings were the 'must have' items for the fashionistas of the 1990s. He collaborated with all the great ex-pat. designers of his generation. He helped launch the career of his cousin Dewa Mokoh and a battalion of other balinese beauty warriors and international artists. He was a great contributor to his community and to the image of Bali as a magical, spiritual island and was rewarded for this with a magnificent cremation attended by many greats of the Balinese art world. He is survived by six siblings , his wife , his three children and many grandchildren.







































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Some of Dewa Nyoman Batuan's Work