Sculptor Ir. Wayan Uliana
Contemporary Tropical Asian Life Style a la Cempaka

Under the heat of the sun, he remains to complete his works. While holding a chisel and mallet, he looks so skilful at carving every single corner of the stone into expected shape. Thus Ir. Wayan Uliana undertakes his routine works. Even though he holds a bachelor degree in agriculture, he prefers to indulge his aesthetic drives inherited from his father and succeeding his father in managing the operation of his gallery.

That afternoon, he was completing a hermit effigy sitting in cross-legged posture, an order of his customer. "Whether or not I have an order, I keep on working and working," he tells Bali Travel News. According to Uliana, in accordance with its function, an effigy is classified into two, namely the one intended for decoration while another is for sacred purpose or called "pratima". Later, it would very much depend on its placement. "If it’s displayed on the courtyard of the house compound, hotel and shopping complex, it belongs to the decorative category. While, the sacred one or "pratima", is the one placed at temples," he explains. In terms of its motif, an effigy is classified into two, namely traditional and modern. Traditional motif habitually represents the figures of gods-goddess, ogre and other traditional figures, while the modern effigy is made in compliance with the order received from a customer or with the inspiration of the sculptor.
Only few tools and materials are used to make an effigy. They are chisel and mallet, while the material employed is sandstone. However, considering it’s now difficult to obtain it, Uliana replaces it with stones imported from Java, better known as Yogya stone or limestone. Stone of this kind is widely used by sculptors in Bali. "Apart from being sold at cheap prices, it also has better quality," he says.
For an experienced sculptor as Uliana, the process of making an effigy is not so complicated. "First of all, I should prepare the material of the effigy," he says. Having found an appropriate stone, he makes the basic shape of the effigy. It means that the stone is formed in accordance with the expected model up to half-made. This process is called makal. Furthermore, the half-made shape is completed to make intake effigy. It is called ngukir or carving. An effigy is customarily completed by two or three workers. One does the makal process and the others do the carving. If the effigy is extremely large, more than one worker undertakes the carving process. Time required by the making of this depends on the size and level of difficulty of the effigy itself. As comparison, at the same level of difficulty, a small-size effigy will be completed within no more than a week, while if it is larger will take him more than a month.
An effigy categorized into the small one has the height of 60 cm and wide 20-30 cm and the large category measures 80-150 in height and 25-50 cm in width. In the meantime, the price of his effigy varies depending on its size. The small one is sold at IDR 250,000-300,000 and the large at IDR 500,000-5,000,000. "These are selling price chiefly sold to foreigners, but for the locals it would be sold at 20-30% cheaper," Uliana explains. Sculpturing works of Uliana have penetrated overseas market. He has exported his works to Australia, Germany, Japan and the United States. Do you have any interest in it? Simply come to gallery of Ir. Wayan Uliana on Jalan Raya Batubulan, Sukawati district. (BTN/Primartha)

Eddy Hasby was born in 1966 in Palembang, Indonesia. He started to work in journalism in 1989 at a local daily in Yogyakarta and joined the Kompas daily as a photographer. He has covered all social political events apart from business and sport – including the Thomas and Uber Cup competitions in Glasgow, Scotland and the Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He also covered the transfer of sovereignty of East Timor in Dili. Eddy won the Grand Prix award for the ACCU (UNESCO) World Photo Contest 1995, and was profiled as an Indonesian photographer in the 1997 and 1998 programs "Asia Who’s and Who" of NHK Japan Television; he was named best photographer in the 1992 National Journalistic Photography Contest, and won the silver and bronze awards in the Salon Photo Indonesia, Canon Asia Pacific Photo Contest, Nikon calendar 1999. He participated in joint exhibitions; the 1992 Yogyakarta Arts Festival, with the Association of
Amateur Photo Artists (HISFA); the Indonesia Journalistic Photographs with the World Press Photo 1992 at the Erasmus Huis, Jakarta; the exhibit "Dari Lengser Hingga Semanggi" (on the reform movement) with the Association of Indonesian Photo Journalists in 1999; the ARENA exhibit (sports photographs) at the Indonesian Journalistic Gallery in Jakarta, 2000. Solo exhibits were the "East Timor and Indonesia Children" in Indonesia and Tokyo and in other cities in Japan, among others at the Museum World of Peace together with the World Press Photo 2000 exhibit in Kyoto and Fukui until 2001. His "Sugarcane Blues" was held at the Antara Gallery of Photo Journalism in Jakarta, 2001. Eddy also contributed to the books "Arung Samudra" (sailing the Ocean, 1995) and "Komando – Mengabdi untuk Negara dan Bangsa" (Komdando – Serving State and Nation, 1997). The Long and Winding Road East Timor – 2001. (BTN/*)

Flying Kites, 1986

Kite flying is a popular pastime among the young and old in Bali during the dry season months from July to September when strong winds are blowing. The most popular shape for kites is called bebean (like a fish), from the word be (fish). Village children sometimes improve kites with large dried leaves; a boy here flies a heart-shaped leaf while seated on a cow. A small group of tourists with their cameras are taking pictures of the live scene, while a couple of government officials calmly look on. Trees bend in the strong breezes, and clouds in the sky appear wind-swept.
I Made Budi (from Batuan, Gianyar, Bali), in addition to being a painter, also is a carver, musician, and dancer. He usually combines traditional themes from Balinese religion and mythology with contemporary images of reality on the island. Budi first popularized the idea of showing tourists in his works. Award: Darma Kusuma (Bali, 1992). Collections: The Contemporary Art Center (Honolulu, Hawaii, 1978), East-West Center (Honolulu, 1988), Festival of Indonesia (USA, 1990-1992), Museum Nasional (Jakarta, Indonesia, 1995). (BTN/suteja neka)