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WAYAN_SIKA

                                                   May  01, 2006
                                       Additions:  June 18, 2006

On my trip to Bali, I
was fortunate enough
to be able to stay with          DANGERBABY
a friend of Dangerbaby's
in Champuan: Wayan Sika
                                                 
I know of Sika largely just as a friend of            
Dangerbaby and most Americans are probably            
similarly ignorant of his work -- even Americans      
with more involvement in the arts world than I...     
                                                      
This is a pretty crazy state of affairs...  As it    
happens he's famous in Indonesia, and very well known
in Europe, Japan... but somehow the United States has
never had a show of his work.  Not even at the Asian
Art Museum, let alone the SFMOMA, which is the kind
of setting he deserves.

I was impressed with his art: he has
a large body of modern "abstract"
work, and yet it remains an art of         For example, he puts a lot of
Bali, there are spiritual elements to      emphasis on the traditional
it that grow out of Balinese               mystically significant five
traditional culture.                       colors: red, yellow, blue, black,
                                           white

                                                 BALINESE_MUSIC


                       This is an art by someone who
                       believes in a supernatural/spiritual
                       dimension to the power of art


                                                 There is a Balinese
                                                 tradition of Rerajahan,
                                                 which I gather are
                                                 drawings that are
                                                 intended to function as
                                                 magic charms, like the
                                                 European "hex signs", but
                                                 much more elaborate.





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