keliki painting

Bali art – Keliki style paintings

 

When you arrive in Bali from the airport around Kuta, especially at night, you will be greeted by a sudden rise in temperature, the smell of burned wood and incense, mystical statues of demons dooming up from smoky corners, curly ornamental decorations everywhere you look. Your first motorbike trip will lead you through rise fields as far as the eye can reach, until they rush up like a tidal wave against Bali’s giant volcano’s. You will feel alive more than ever, not only because of the near-death experiences you’ll experience while making sense of the seemingly anarchist Balinese traffic, or the near misses of anything that has tales or feathers along the bumpy Balinese roads. Life here is breathing from every aspect of Balinese culture. You will find yourself stuck in traffic behind yet another ceremonial procession or dreaming away on the rhythmic sounds of a gamalang being played while you imagine the mythical Balinese gods performing their magical dances while contemplating the fate of its god-fearing people.

A fate that is not only controlled by the smoky and colorful offerings that fill the streets. Tourism strikes Bali hard. While it is for many a primary form of income, Bali holds the worlds worst examples of when tourism goes horribly wrong. The party-filled streets of Kuta or the prostitute filled bars of Sanur hold a gloomy prospect for Bali’s future.

Fortunately Bali’s culture is impressively strong and it is still passed on from generation upon generation. With so many cultural expressions, it is harder to choose talent than find it. However, the following talented artist really stood out. Granted, the style is definitely not unique, but Iwayan’s (1982) Keliki-paintings hold a promise of eternal Balinese culture. He welcomed me in his typical Balinese home in Keliki, the hart of one of Bali’s most traditional and most precise hand-paintings. His painting-group not only makes beautiful and very detailed paintings of Balinese culture, they also teach their skills to next generations to come.