Page 11 - Momentary Lapse

Roaming the streets of Bali is like the welcome of a pet dog. It will bark, sniff and sometimes
growl or lick the guest. In a work entitled “Ambush,” Palguna shares his experience of starting
again in Bali, featuring two male and female figures, surrounded by a group of dogs. These
dogs seem curious to move closer, sniffing, as if to intimidate the presence of these two
people in their territorial area. But these two people are ready with a stick of wood and a white
flower in the hand. Palguna also highlights the rapid physical development that has an impact
of excluding the original residents, threatening extinction or loss of existence, as told in the
work “Post Mortem.” A breeze, a feeling of home that Palguna feels has deeply changed, has
awakened extraordinary energy in him, clearly revealed through works which are full of criticism,
anxiety and innuendo, environmental change, lifestyle, and social phenomena.

Palguna’s return to Bali did not simply break the ties with Yogyakarta; in fact his heart is still
tied to that city. Cardboard wrapping items that still have a typical sticker for shipping goods
bear witness to the ties between Bali and Yogya, processed into three-dimensional work entitled
“Pandora’s Box”. This work refers to him as a father with three children. The return to Bali is full
of mystery, like Pandora’s box—there are mysteries and uncertainties. But this must be faced,
because his return to Bali is driven by responsibility as a father in ensuring the future for his
family and children.

Visually, Palguna’s work speaks in light and simple imagery, but actually it embraces a high
degree of complexity. The intelligence of the artist is in expressing a complicated sense of his
presence again in his homeland with a language that appears harmonious. Criticism, protest
and anger are packaged in a poetic surface.

I Wayan Agus Eka Cahyadi, S.Sn., M.A
(Lecturer FSRD ISI Denpasar)