Paon –
Living in Gallery with I Wayan Sadu

In the 24 Hours Living in Gallery program at Komaneka Gallery, I raised the theme of “Paon”/”Kitchen“. In general, a place to live or a dwelling will always have one, either the simplest or the most modern kitchen. And if you were to move or change your residence, the ‘paon‘ must first be established. This exhibition concept came from my everyday life and also from my immediate environment.

The paon is a building, room or place to carry out an activity. These activities are to process ingredients from raw to ready to be served. Of course, from the processing of these materials, the maker starts from the voice of their heart; the taste and feeling will unite within the dish that they make.

For example, if the mood is sincere, happy and joyful, I am sure the dish will taste delicious to eat. Which then leads to a body that feels healthy, fresh and most importantly provide a clear thought to continue their life. Furthermore, [the paon] is a place to carry out the facilities and infrastructure for an activity, such as a ceremony.

The paon is also a meeting place for coolness and warmth, namely by having a water place close to the fireplace. And the paon is a gathering place for family members. So the paon is very special and important.

I WAYAN SADU
Sayan, 30 April 2022

Paon –
Living in Gallery with I Wayan Sadu

Ever since the first edition of Living in Gallery at Komaneka Gallery, I’ve witnessed how each artists have their own preferences when they paint. How each artist respond to the Gallery space is part of what makes this short residency special, as they use the Gallery for their own personal studio for the week. While some artists need to listen to their favorite music, and some even allow guests and passerby to watch their process, I Wayan Sadu paints in silence. His paintings also has a silence presence in them that could only be captured by the artists himself.

In this month of May, Komaneka Gallery presents ‘Paon‘ by I Wayan Sadu. Sadu is the 11th artist in the Living in Gallery program. He has 9 paintings in oil paint or mixed media paint. This exhibition was painted in a total of 24 hours within 3 days, the exact time that Sadu allocated for himself.

The exhibition title ‘Paon‘ comes from the Balinese word for ‘kitchen’. Its meaning is likened more towards the word tearth’; simply and literally, a hearth is a fireplace that keeps the whole house warm. Figuratively it is a source of comfort for the inhabitants of the house. For Sadu, the ‘paon‘ is not merely a kitchen but also a place for gathering in a traditional Balinese home. It is where fire and water meets, and a place which keeps the family fed and happy.

Each painting is a vivid snapshot of Sadu’s childhood home in Sayan, a village west of Ubud. Currently he lives in his own house not far from it with his wife, who is Japanese, and their 2 children. In Sadu’s family home, his elderly parents have a traditional paon or kitchen which is designed to be used for communal and wood-fire cooking. Sadu reminisce that it is the kitchen they have inherited from his grandmother, and although it’s been renovated, the firewood stove and traditional kitchen tools, like in the paining ‘Topo‘ which is a traditional woven water filter, is still being used.

Listening to Sadu talk about each painting and its subject matter, they represent his pride towards Balinese ingenuity. He commemorates these traditional innovations and honor them through his paintings. In ‘Lenggatan Gantung‘, it is a simple admiration to the traditional hanging kitchen rack that is made with bamboo and wood. These racks hang the beams of a traditional wood-frame standalone pavilion in a typical Balinese compound home, and they are tied either with a natural fiber and hung without the use of modern nails.

Every artist has different strategies to tackle the creative and physical challenges of this residency. Sadu has already sketched each canvas beforehand. In reality he was one of the first artists that Pak Wayan, Komaneka Gallery’s enthusiastic manager, approached in 2021. Sadu’s last exhibition at Komaneka was in 2003, and Pak Wayan was keen to invite him to this exhibition as a long time friend of the Gallery. Sadu was also intrigued by the challenge, and he immediately thought of the concept immediately. You can view some of his sketches with such intricate linework that are just as expressive on paper as they are on canvas. These sketches are made over a year ago and Sadu is happy to see them realized and finally on the walls of the Gallery.

Gek Sri Pande W
12 May 2022