50%

I WAYAN BUDIARTA (Born in Batuan, 1993)

What first comes to mind? 50% off! Yeah, we all wish! But should we discount life, or expressions of life? It’s worthy to ponder.

With 50 percent I WAYAN BUDIARTA is challenging our viewpoint – our way to view the world around us, and in the end, our view of ourselves. By his own admission Budiarta is still 50/50 – unsure what’s next – questioning and trying to find out who he is and what he wants to be when he grows up. Sounds familiar? He is not alone.

Budiarta has been raised in an environment where art is everywhere, surrounding him, and cornering him. Art to him is ubiquitous. Art is a reflection of his own life experience, and his cultural heritage and memory. Art becoming a part of his life, and a life in art is beckoning him. He questions himself to the point that he does not really know who he is, where he is going, or what he is doing.

His inaugural solo exhibition, 50 Percent forces him to question all that he knows well. He is at the crossroads, a point in life where he dares not choose, should he be stuck forever.  Or should he enjoy his life at the intersection of endless possibilities. Isn’t that paradise for an artist? Celebrating quo vadis (a Latin phrase meaning “Where are you going?”)  Budiarta has courageously and rightfully chosen it as a place to be. For it promises a path to realize his full potential.

Without realizing we build artificial walls among communities of painters; either educated vs. autodidact, or modern vs. traditional. Budiarta has decided that he would like to be in between – a position he dares to be in. In his exhibition he presents again and again the dichotomy of these two man-made opposing polarities, while giving expressions of both the benefits and disadvantages of his journey along his chosen path. Interestingly, he concludes that being on the edge of these boundaries is the best place to be. As the boundaries shift he can adapt and this then becomes his constant source of challenge and creativity. He will never be stagnant. What a wonderful and courageous choice it is to live on the edge!

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

Group exhibition, “TAKSU BATUAN, an inspired Village Tradition,” Art Museum Batuan, Bali (2012)

Group exhibition accompanied the launch of “Inventing Art – The Painting of Batuan Bali,” Museum ARMA, Ubud, Bali (2012)

Group exhibition, “Modern-Traditional Balinese Painting Exhibition,” Museum Puri Lukisan, Ubud, Bali (2013)

Group exhibition, “New Generation of Batuan Painting Exhibition,” Museum ARMA, Ubud, Bali (2015)

Group exhibition, “Rwa Bhineda, the Art of Opposites,” Bentara Budaya Bali dan Titian Art Space, Ubud, Bali (2016)

Group exhibition, “Neo Pitamaha – a brutal contrast of concrete and Kamasan painting,” Rudolf Bonnet House, Ubud, Bali (2016)

Solo exhibition, “50%,” Titian Art Space, Ubud, Bali (2017)