Klungkung, Ancient Kingdoms

I Wayan Jiwa : Generation Puppet Painter

Kamasan is a tourism village that is located in Klungkung, Bali. This village is about 2.5 km from Semarapura or 41 km from Denpasar to the east.
Kamasan Village houses the tourism interest for art and culture such as silver handicrafts, gold, bullet shell sculptures and traditional puppet paintings of Kamasan style.
I Wayan Jiwa is one of the Kamasan style puppet painters who lives in Banjar Sangging, Kamasan. Puppet painting for I Wayan Jiwa is a kind of generation work that has been with him since elementary school from the year 1951. Puppet painting is a joy for him and even more so as he has memories of his parents sitting and working on puppet paintings. He supports his family in his profession as a painter, as do more than half the inhabitants of Banjar Sangging villager, Kamasan
I Wayan Jiwa is a painter who has spent more than half of his life putting art-ideas on the canvas. Now, at the age of 57, he is still energetic, and painting is still his premier job. From 1985 up till now, Wayan Jiwa’s painting works already decorate government or private office walls, such as banks and many star hotels in Bali such as Sanur Beach Hotel and Grand Hyatt. The Kamasan puppet paintings of the size 1,5 x 2,5 m sell for about Rp. 800.000. Even the tragedy in Legian, Kuta has not affected the orders for I Wayan Jiwa. He also often participates in painting exhibitions at several hotels.
The stories that are depicted in Wayan Jiwa’s puppet paintings are Ramayana, Mahabharata (epics from India), and Atma Prasangsa (the story of Atma’s life and journey). He usually paints on canvas, pere stone, Chinese kencu, and watercolours. Now, Wayan Jiwa’s talent is being passed down to both his children. (Wawan)