Work Analysis: Welcome! Am I an Actor of the Balinese Opera, or a Mere Servant of Tourism?
Posted by: crazyhamster on: July 6, 2009
Photo and story credit: www.dede-eri-supria.com
http://dede-eri-supria.com/arts/1980-2001/Welcome-Am-I-an-Actor-of-the-Balinese-Opera-or-a-Mere-Servant-of-Tourism.html
Welcome! Am I an Actor of the Balinese Opera, or a Mere Servant of Tourism?
2001
80 cm x 70 cm
Dede Eri Supria
Analysis (By me, so not neccessary the best, just a point of view)
A social commentary by Dede eri Supria on the clash between the culture in Bali and the packaging of it as a tourist attraction. Bali is a fast growing tourists hotspot where tourists expects to get a glimpse of Asian culture. In this painting, Dede raised the example of balinese opera, an artform prevalent in Bali. From the title of the work,it shows a diminishing status of the art form in Bali as the modernism and globalisation caused the art form to be presented as a money attracting product used to boost the country’s economic wealth but not its culture wealth.Additionally, through the usage of Dede’s hyper realism techniques, the painting depicts an actor that looks real but yet not alive, capturing the physical and omitting the spiritual value of the actor.
The actor is being superimposed on a a background that lacks orderliness to show how the Balinese Opera had been affected by urbanisation. Wooden crates and sticks are all used item from constructions. These items have clogged up the stage and the artist seemed to be out of place. This messiness and chaos in the surrounding creates a contrast and tension with the intricate design of the actor’s costume. It shows how the art form had actually been ruined by acts of modernisation and all that remains are superficial and incomplete. Yet the tourists who paid money to “experience” the culture are unaware that what they are experiencin are not the true essence of the art form.
The actors’ intense yet at the same time empty expression on his face shows how the actor is merely a puppet or tool of tourism. When one mention opera or acting, the expression and emotion of the actors shows the spirit of the performance. A good actor is defined by one who is able to use his expression to convey his emotions. In the painting, the actor is staring into blank space, wrinkling his eyebrow, yet one can feel the emptiness in his eyes. His eyeballs transfixed on the object seemed to lack spirit. Through his eyes, one can see no plot, no character, no emotion. He is as if an empty shell. There are nothing within him, just as the balinese opera has nothing within it as an artform as it is being furiously packaged and presented to the world.
There are frames around the actor’s neck and a stick that seemed to go throw the actors head, showing how modernism is controlling and stiffling the expression of the actors. Actors on stage are akin to artists in a studio. They create their art according to what they feel and want to convey. In this painitng, it shows otherwise. The actor has a frame around his neck. This symbolises the stiffled creativity and input that the actor has on his own show. He is more likely to act out a plot that has proven popular with the tourists than to be able to act out a plot that is less popular but is more to his liking. The stick that goes through the actors head symoblises that acts of urbanisation had invaded and affected his mind and way of thinking. Maybe the actor is not even affected by the stiffling on expression, but has otten used to it.
The robbing of expression, creativity, emotions leads Dede eri supria to raise the question for the actors of Bali opera. Are they still actors that they once were, or are they just merely a tool to earn money. Under the pressure of the rapid changing society, every artform have to evolve and keep up with time. In the case of Bali Opera, Dede eri supria is questioning if it is truly evolving or is it slowly losing its battle with modernisation and losing its essence.
Can be compared with
Dancing in the midst of Flower
2001
70 cm x 80 cm’
Barong Express
2001
70 cm x 80 cm
Anyone keen to come up with a comparison analysis?
3 Responses to "Work Analysis: Welcome! Am I an Actor of the Balinese Opera, or a Mere Servant of Tourism?"
July 6, 2009 at 5:11 am
Mmhm. Jiaying, why not u attempt another prac/ comparison with other pieces. I think my attempt is not exactly good, but it helps me (for myself) to think. I think my problem is somewhat with my language.. lol SO TRY IT TOO!
And for the others…
TRY WRITING AN ANALYSIS BEFORE GOING FOR THE TEST TML!
P.s. I love ur comparison 
July 6, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Personally I am unsure about the commentary on the ‘messy structure’ behind, because it could really very well and actually be Balinese props. I don’t know either, so maybe it should be looked up on.
What I have noticed is actually the paradoxical use of hyperrealism and the distortion (of scale) of the body. The feet are too small for the body, the posture awkward, the head disturbingly exaggerated in size. I think the idea of the expression containing nothing can be augmented — the posture and gesture is unstable as seen by small feet and arching forwards. Is Dede trying to suggest that the dancer (or the image of it) will soon fall? That tradition teeters on the verge of collapsing?
The clothing, gaudily exotic, seem almost like packaging to underscore the attraction — which is what tourism attempts to sell, as it is attractive based on how distant the experience is from oneself, whether physically or in terms of culture. The further something is, the more desirable it becomes. Difference and distance, in the case of the costume, is exaggerated in order to make it appear more attractive.
Furthermore, the gesture and expression of the dancer appears almost confrontational, even if the eyes appear hollow. What is this confrontation Dede is attempting to create? I feel that the eyes of this dancer seem to almost interrogate its audience, which are perhaps tourists or even fellow Indonesians. Perhaps Dede attempts to both accuse them of tainting culture but also give a call to action for his fellow Indonesians to conserve culture. This tension between real culture and false culture, hollow and real feeling is subtly observed; it requires a reconciliation that Dede urges his viewers to.
July 6, 2009 at 4:45 am
hey victor, thanks for putting this up!
just to comment — be careful with the use of the word modernism — a bit loosely used here.
From dictionary.com, it’s:
“The deliberate departure from tradition and the use of innovative forms of expression that distinguish many styles in the arts and literature of the 20th century.”
as mr dan has mentioned before, do not confuse this term with what is actually something else — globalization, the western demand of eastern culture, or the exploitation of balinese culture by capitalism etc
hehe made this mistake in blocks one and got a lot of question marks as reward :O
to add on:
the messy structural thingums at the back not only suggest incompleteness, but also a sense of instability, almost going to fall apart — the stage, hurriedly set up, reflects the “tourist” form of Balinese opera, which too is an unstable facade. In fact, the contrast between the exquisite detail of the clothing and the ramshackle background may offer a critique on this “tourist form” of opera, which supria perceives as little more than flashy costumes serving to awe the tourist crowd, who can be easily fooled.
–jiaying