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Gianyar,
Regency
Renowned
for its Fruit Sculptures
You have definitely seen a wooden sculpture.
It can be in the form of god or goddess
figure, human, animal, flowers, fruits or
trees. All of these sculptures can be easily
encountered in the Ubud areas.
God-goddess
or human sculptures for instance can be
found at Mas Village, Ubud. If you prefer
the four-legged animal sculpture, Teges
Village is the hub of this product. Meanwhile,
the product of insect sculpture is at Nyuh
Kuning hamlet and that of floral motif like
fruits, flower and trees at Kalah hamlet.
Sculpture in the motif of fruits, flowers
and tress belong to a newly category. I
Nyoman Togog developed it since 1982. Nyoman
Togog is a naturally born artist from Kalah
hamlet, Peliatan village, Ubud. He once
received the Upakarti award for his entrepreneurship
on the creation of wooden fruit sculptures.
More than that, he also makes tree sculptures
in the form of large banana trunk or tiny
orchid.
Nyoman Togog learned to sculpt under guidance
of I Wayan Keneng at Nyuh Kuning hamlet.
Due to his preceptor he could make many
motifs of sculptures, likes that of animal,
human and so forth. Proceeds of his work
are sold to Ida Bagus Tilem. Tilem is a
son belonging to one of the celebrated artist
from Mas Village namely Ida Bagus Nyana.
In 1982, Togog was asked to make mangosteen
sculpture used to store jewellery. He then
picked a mangosteen behind his house. He
deliberately selected the defected fruit
as he found it more challenging and complicated
in its making. Having completed this work,
he presented it to the order giver. Since
he was immensely satisfied with such a work,
Ida Bagus Tilem paid it at the same amount
of two trucks of timber. From thenceforth,
Nyoman Togog continued to work and work.
"In 1983, I began to make coloured
fruit sculptures. In fact, it was sold well.
Afterwards, I made banana trunk and this,
too, became in demand. So did the rambutan
trunk he made. The first buyer of the rambutan
trunk was Soeharto (Former President of
Indonesia). Due to abundant orders at that
time, he then recruited some sculptors.
Most of them were from Tegallalang. That’s
the reason why at Tegallalang many people
sell such kind of sculptures," explained
Nyoman to Bali Travel News.
Are you interested to see his works? Just
visit his gallery on Jalan Raya Teges. Before
entering his gallery, you will find a number
of workers who are busy painting fruit sculptures
or arranging flowers. "I have not many
collections at hand as they have been collected
by my enthusiastic clients," he added.
(BTN/Made Suambara)
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