Biography of I Wayan Bendi

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I Wayan Bendi

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Biography

In English

I Wayan Bendi – 1950-2020 (Indonesia)

I Wayan Bendi was a living legend, the leading practitioner of the Batuan style of painting which developed in Bali in the 1920’s-1930’s.

He was born in 1950, in Batuan, a village near Ubud. He still remained rooted to his birthplace, where he had his studio and art gallery.

The Batuan style of painting is very intricate and detailed, crammed with many “stories”. Paintings in this style are tightly crowded with teeming crowds and scenes that depict all the traditional aspects of Bali life, like rice harvests, temple rituals, dancing girls and fantastical theater masks.

A Batuan picture usually has a sober monochrome color palette, because of the initial application of black and grey paint on the canvas surface as base. But Bendi is also an artist with a mischievous streak. For a Batuan artist, he is considered very colorful with his ‘soberly bold’ colors like brick red and light olive. Then there’s his ‘thing’ about helicopters. Bendi usually has one somewhere in his crowded agrarian scenes, and part of the fun is to hunt for it. Another favorite, the t-shirt clad, inquisitive tourist with his intrusive, long nosed camera lens, snapping away amid the water buffaloes and rickety taxis. It’s a Bendi trademark that speaks volumes about his concern for Bali’s relationship with the almighty tourist dollar.

Bendi expanded his focus to capture traumatic events that has impacted Indonesia, from the Bali bombing to the tsunami. Always, Bendi’s witty, observant paintings are like a macrocosm of modern Bali life.

The artist has exhibited in Japan, Netherlands, Belgium and New York.

In Balinese

In Indonesian

I Wayan Bendi, lahir tahun 1950 di Desa Batuan, Gianyar, Bali. Dia belajar melukis pada ayahnya, Wayan Taweng. Dia adalah salah satu ikon seni lukis gaya Batuan yang sangat popular di kalangan kolektor. Karya-karyanya sangat kuat menampilkan gaya Batuan dengan tema-tema kontemporer. Dia telah memamerkan karya-karyanya di dalam dan luar negeri, seperti Museum Rudana, ARMA, Museum Puri Lukisan, Museum Neka, Museum Fukuoka Jepang, Bentara Budaya Bali, Taman Budaya Bali, Singapura, Amerika, dan sebagainya. Ciri khas lukisannya adalah kecenderungan menggunakan warna oker dan munculnya ikon pesawat terbang dan helikopter yang berpadu dengan suasana pedesaan Bali. Dia banyak melukiskan perkembangan Bali dengan pariwisatanya yang riuh padat. Dia adalah pelukis yang sangat produktif. Prinsip hidupnya adalah melukislah terus selagi masih bernafas. Dia meninggal pada tanggal 15 Juli 2020 karena penyakit diabetes.

http://sunjingalleries.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-wayan-bendi-b-1950-indonesia.html

Examples of work

5386-43 Schilderij getiteld Modern Times 60.7 cm x 50.7 cm, 1991

Bendi is considered by other Batuan artists to be something of an outsider, due to his unconventional use of caricatures and sketches, which can be drawn quicker than the elaborate detail which is present in other works by Batuan artists. His works primarily depict the modern history of Indonesia and the behaviour of tourists. (Hohn 1997: 161) The eldest of the sons of Wayan Tawang to start painting. -- The Virtual Museum of Balinese Painting

https://bit.ly/30lUkp8 from the Virtual Museum of Balinese Painting

Barong Dance, mixed media. 90 x 64 cm

http://sunjingalleries.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-wayan-bendi-b-1950-indonesia.html

Lukisan Wayan Bendi