I Wayan Andita
Mantra and Painting

Commonly mantra (spell) is either sung or (spelled). This holy poem is reverberated to honor and praise the greatness of God. However, some mantras/spells are also written for preservation and documentation purposes. If mantra is sung, the denotation rhythm will produce a charming sound magically, whilst if mantra is written, then it will produce a word combination that composes a sentence, which is full of meaningful symbols.

And what if mantra is shaped in the form of a painting? Can this beautiful aspect be painted? Is the painter able to describes the symbols within the mantra itself?, or is it possible for mantra itself to integrally perform as a mantra of all senses, symbols, and magical values?
A young painter I Wayan Andita, born in Ubud in 1972, concludes that mantra is his painting’s aspiration. Andita, who is usually called Yanik, confesses that he loves to use mantra as his painting’s theme. “I often bring mantra into my painting for inspiration, because inside mantra, I feel that there are many repetitions. This is truly an interesting concept to become a painting,” he said when Bali Travel News met him at his Borneo Art Studio in Ubud.
For Yanik, painting is not difficult work, and by painting mantra, he finds unrivaled amenity. This surely has a secret. “Actually painting is not just a matter of course, each of my paintings contains a special aim, and if there is any similarity in symbols with other cultures or doctrine, it is just a cultural interact,” he said sharing his secret.
If we think about it, it is not easy to perform these things without excellent skills and knowledge about painting and the mantra technique itself. What a fortune for Yanik, because he is already skilled in painting the decorative Ubud’s style before. As a Balinese Hindu who lives in Bali, Yanik became accustomed to hear all mantras that are sung in traditional ceremonies.
But, Yanik didn’t wholly absorb the mantra; he only takes the pith of certain mantra. Yanik catches the basic essence of mantra, which are its repetitions. “ In my paintings, there always exists the geometric shapes and repetitions, and also the shape of holy letters that I transformed into a new form,” he explained. Whatever consists in Yanik’s paintings, whether geometric shapes, line, scope, colors or holy letters, is not analyzed randomly based on erudition of mantra. Yanik’s painting’s more creates himself to express personally and store a lot of secrets. Like the wise letters that are contained in his paintings also have many artistic considerations, you don’t need to read, just feel with a universal sense.
Yanik’s paintings are fueled with many symbols and holy letters, geometric shapes, motives and colours. Yanik arranges all of these aspects on his canvas with many considerations. Yanik feels that his job is sensuous, because, as a Balinese Hindu, this profession is closely linked with his daily life. He also uses the fine art theory as a basic effort to produce quality and universal work.
Before becoming a painter, Yanik was engaged with the traditional Ubud style. Whilst at college at STP (Tourism School) Nusa Dua, he was involved in a motor accident, which finally made him decide to take up painting as his profession. To enlarge his knowledge and perception, in 1994 he traveled around Australia and visited many museums there, and as the result of his trip, he adopted the Aborigine art form and uses this as an inspiration font for several of his works.
In 1996 he worked as a designer of Saritaksu, and also with a communications company. From there, he gained much knowledge about drawing techniques. Again, in 1997 he traveled abroad to Switzerland, where he performed exhibitions in several places. Also, Yanik gave painting demonstrations on streets and at parks.
As a painter, he has performed exhibitions in Kuta, Denpasar, Ubud, and Gianyar. In fact, at the beginning of next year, from the 2nd – 31st January, Yanik will exhibit his paintings. On this occasion, he will display his newest works with the theme “Visual Mantra” at Rebel’s Art Gallery, Jl Andong, Ubud, with some of his works taking the beauty figure of a woman as the focus of mantra.
(BTN/Gung Man)

Symon

If you pass the path road in Sanggingan Ubud heading towards the Neka Museum, on the left side you will notice a unique building. This semi-open building is fueled with colorful paintings of big proportions. This is the house of Symon the painter who was born in Midwest, America in (1947). Symon who was raised in a rural area of the USA, started to learn how to paint at the Cranbrook Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan. After visiting several galleries in USA and Europe, he became interested in sculpturing. In 1968 he learnt the art of statue sculpturing at Emilio Greco, Academia Belles Artist Roma.
Since 1972 Symon has remained in Bali. He often paints Bali’s gorgeous nature that unites with human existence. Seen in his paintings, is Symon’s strong character and excellent painting technique. His line has vigor and seemly wholesome, the colors look sharp, indicating the nature of a tropical climate, which is rich with sunshine, maybe influenced by the northern Bali panorama at his painting studio. Certainly, northern Bali is known of its heat, more so than southern Bali. Seemly the northern sun is hotter, so it’s able to reflect various nature dyes. Symon catches a variety of concepts with his unique style.
For the 10 years that he has stayed in Bali, Symon has succeeded in producing hundreds of paintings. His works have been exhibited in several places such as the British Museum London, Yantra Gallery Amsterdam, Basle Art Fair in Switzerland, and in 1994 at the Solander Gallery Canberra, Australia.
(BTN/Suteja Neka)
Director of Dharma Seni Art Foundation which manages the Neka Art Museum, Ubud-Bali