Vintage Balinese Painting: Antique or New Vintage-Style? A Buyer’s Guide
A vintage Balinese painting can mean two very different things: a genuinely old painting, usually from the 1930s through the 1970s, sold through auction houses and specialist antique dealers, or a new painting made today using the same classical technique and antique-inspired look, most often the Kamasan wayang style or a deliberately aged, sepia-toned palette-knife […]
Acrylic vs Oil Painting: Which One Should You Buy in Bali?
Quick Answer: Acrylic vs oil painting comes down to drying chemistry and climate fit. Acrylic dries fast, water-based, and resists Bali’s humidity better, while oil dries slowly, oil-based, and rewards patience with deeper blending and richer surface texture. In a tropical climate like Bali’s, acrylic is generally the lower-maintenance choice, while oil remains preferred by […]
Ubud vs Seminyak Art Market: Where to Really Buy Art in Bali
Quick Answer: Ubud’s art market is a cluster of stalls and small shops built around bargaining, with inventory that ranges from genuine village-school paintings to mass-produced decorative pieces sold side by side. A Seminyak gallery like Arts of Bali works differently, fixed marked pricing, a curated selection, and resident artists who often paint the piece […]
Balinese Art: The Complete Guide to Styles, Symbols, and Collecting in Seminyak
Balinese art is the broad term for painting, carving, and craft produced on the island of Bali, and it is best understood through three separate lenses: which classical school a piece follows (Kamasan, Ubud, or Batuan are the three with the deepest documented histories), what genre or subject it shows (village life, dance and ceremony, […]
Buddha Painting Bali: 8 Original Portraits, From Rp750,000 Pieces to New Arrivals
Buddha painting Bali refers to original Buddha portraits made by artists working in Bali, most often using a raised sand-texture technique on canvas. Arts of Bali currently holds eight such pieces: five priced and in stock, ranging from Rp750,000 to Rp3,500,000, and three brand-new arrivals still being priced. Bali is a Hindu-majority island, not a […]
Kamasan Ganesha Painting: Bali’s Elephant God in Two Sacred Techniques
A Kamasan Ganesha painting depicts the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesha using the classical wayang-style technique of Kamasan village, Klungkung — flat profile figures, natural pigments, and gold leaf, following the same visual rules used for Bali’s epic paintings. At Arts of Bali, the subject also exists in a second, contemporary form: a sand-texture relief painting […]
Batik Cendrawasih Painting: Indonesia’s Bird of Paradise in Wax-Resist Art
Batik cendrawasih painting is a wax-resist textile artwork depicting the cendrawasih, or bird of paradise, Indonesia’s most recognized bird and a cultural symbol most closely tied to Papua and the Maluku Islands. The design is drawn by hand with hot wax using a tool called a canting, then dyed in stages so the waxed areas […]
Garuda Wisnu Kencana Wood Carving: The Ramayana Story Behind 7 New Relief Panels
Garuda Wisnu Kencana wood carving depicts Lord Wisnu (Vishnu) riding the mythical eagle Garuda, one of the most recognized sacred images in Bali, hand-carved by local artisans as standing statues or as low-relief panels set into a carved forest scene. The same subject inspired Bali’s 121-meter GWK statue in Ungasan, though the wood pieces in […]
Bali Bronze Statue: The Meaning Behind 8 Hindu Deities in Cast Metal
A Bali bronze statue is a cast metal figure of a Hindu deity, made using the lost-wax technique passed down through generations of Balinese metalsmiths. Each deity carries its own meaning: Ganesha for beginnings and removing obstacles, Saraswati for knowledge and the arts, Shiva for meditation and transformation, and five more covered in this guide. […]
How to Tell an Original Bali Painting from a Print
An original Bali painting can be told apart from a print by checking four things, in this order: the certificate of authenticity, the texture of the paint surface, the artist’s hand painted signature on the canvas itself, and the back of the canvas. A genuine oil or acrylic painting shows raised, uneven brushwork you can […]
