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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 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
does modern "abstract" work, and
yet it remains an art of Bali,           For example, the emphasis on 
that grows out of the traditional        the traditional mystically     
culture.                                 significant five 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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