Nice End

Thursday, May 3

It was a beautiful morning with bright sun. I slept very well and felt energized in the morning. No rush, all fine, so smooth. I had ‘proper’ breakfast because I managed my time well with internet and packing. I started the day very well.

Our program sounds promising in the last day. I was quite happy to end the tour with meeting nice energetic persons. It started with Antonio Blanco Museum. Initially I was not too excited about it after visiting the museum at least three times but of course it’s different this time because Mario – Blanco’s son – took us a tour.

I saw him several times in the premises when he’s doing his art project but only yesterday I learned about what’s in his mind about his father. He is a painter himself. We could feel that he is ‘struggling’ under father’s shadow to be himself but of course he would never come to the level where his father gets a very well recognition as ‘Balinese’ and artist. He paints very well though and it’s good that his object is different that of father did.

I talked to him while waiting for the ladies to finish tour in second floor. I have done the tour several times so I preferred to talk to him. I was interested in how the family keeps track of the painting especially the important ones. Blanco liked to buy his paintings back from collectors to put in museum. He is very ‘dedicated’ to his museum. Obviously he is a lucky man to be able to collect his own painting while keeping good living during his life. Mario said that one painting could ‘feed’ the family for a year or two so Blanco ‘affords’ to collect his own painting. Interesting.

I also asked how Mario, as son, deals with painting forge. It’s interesting to know that Mario knows his father’s stroke well although he hardly came close to father at work (his father preferred to be quiet and alone when painting). He knows that a painting “doesn’t call him”. It’s tough to be the only person to ‘endorse’ the original painting. Painting market in SE Asia involves a huge amount of money that people have to see him to make sure they don’t keep fake one. He is doing well in this case I could see. He is very proud of his father work therefore he would not ‘make money’ by endorsing fake painting for the sake of earning extra. He has more than enough to have a good life.

We talked more about his life as boy and later as the only son who has to look after his father’s wealth and how he raises his kids as the next Blanco generation. Unique family and lucky family to be given such talent.

The next visit was not interesting at all. The artist learned to paint from Arie Smit, the maestro, but then he ‘copies’ his style. His work is not bad but the idea is not fresh and original. I’m not impressed.

I took some of the ladies to my favorite bookshop in the opposite gallery. Of course we had no time but Vive managed to buy a nice old postcard books and I bought a book about Balinese characters. Nice.

Our next visit was Balinese painter – Kasta – who does traditional Balinese painting in modern way. It looks like Putu Bedil’s in different hues. I very much like his style. I have to keep my liking though after learning the price of my favorite one – USD 30,000. I believe he doesn’t make the price. His art is good.

Sumio was the next. Japanese, my favorite artist. He doesn’t like to be labeled as ‘furniture maker’ or ‘sculptor’, he does many so he prefers to be called ‘artist’. He used to make ‘useful art’ like fancy chairs with arty details, bench, table,… I’m lucky to have one long bench of his – I bought three years ago after my first visit – because he doesn’t want to make furniture anymore. He feels that people don’t appreciate furni-art as they appreciate art installation. I understand his way of thinking although actually I very much admire his bench in my house as a piece of art. I love to caress and admire the work. It’s Chiko bench now though but that doesn’t mean that I appreciate it less :-)

Sumio is ‘original’ as person. He invited us to enter his world. He kept his 80s music blasting quite loudly, he moved around in his own bubble, sometimes he stopped and talked to us, or stopped to eat choco bean from a jar,… I liked to see him feeling shy and awkward having 8 ladies (Susa joined from Canggu) invading his bubble. Authentic.

We felt refreshed after meeting Sumio. It’s always nice to meet artist and his works in his studio. We are not so lucky this trip because many Balinese artists we visited showing his house more than his studio and works. They must have thought that these ladies like to see ‘clean’ place. Often we felt disappointed because they said that their work is in studio which is far from where we were. A culture we learned this trip. Now we know what we should tell an artist to prepare when we visit, we want to see their work and the studio as well.

We had fabulous lunch at Warung Enak. It’s perfect that we had chance to eat there. We ordered many many dishes and shared. It was a good food, good place, good value,… Lindy is good. She had collected kitty before the trip so we didn’t have to share every time we eat and we were happy to still have kitty to the last lunch together after all luxury meals and wine we had during the trip.

Peng and I were baked in sun in car during the trip. Sun was shining very brightly. Take-away coffee helped a bit to keep us awake. The next artist we visited, Duatmika, was the same. He showed only 4 paintings in his nice house. He kept the rest in his studio near Ubud aaargghhh… So disappointing. The ladies moved slower and had lost attention by then. It was too hot and not interesting.

We stopped by a place I call ‘temple accessory shop’. Lindy spotted when we passed. Of course we could not keep the shopping short. We shopped like shopaholic including me, frequent Bali visitor. It shocked me that the price is very reasonable. We had even smaller space in car now with boxes and huge plastic bags.

And I liked the highlight of the trip, Mangu Putra. It’s a very nice closing. Fab! He is a well-known artist with over USD 20,000 worth work. His studio is simple and modern. Another shy artist with cheerful wife as manager, perfect combination. We interviewed him slowly how he creates his work. It’s a real challenge to make an artist speaks about his artwork. He paints landscape and realism in big canvas. Different.

We had good coffee and Balinese snack in their Zen garden. I enjoyed sitting in an open air looking at nice house and good art. Very inspiring. It’s a perfect place to say goodbye to Vive and Moni who had to leave a day early. We stayed longer to chat with Mangu and wife – actually we didn't want to leave, too cozy :-)

It’s almost dark when we checked in a hotel in Legian. We were all tired that we could not decide where to go for dinner. We chose La Lucciola by Legian beach after long discussion. It’s a hot place that we had to wait in lounge half an hour to get a seat. Jean and Peng were not well; the rest were just tired and longed for bed. I slept directly. No more energy left.