Refresh –
Living in Gallery with I Made Sumadiyasa

After 11 exciting artist residencies and exhibits, Living in Gallery at Komaneka Fine Art Gallery comes to a close this month. Living in Gallery invites artists who has previously exhibited at Komaneka Gallery to paint within the second-floor airy gallery space and in a time frame of 24 hours.

As our finishing act we invited I Made Sumadiyasa back to the gallery in his solo exhibition ‘Refresh’. The title of the exhibition is formed by Made’s mantra during this residency: “Refresh your mind.” Within Komaneka’s gallery space, Made was inspired to paint with brighter and much more colorful tones to convey the optimism of his mind and the space itself. In the aftermath of the chaos this Pandemic has brought to our lives, Refresh was a palette cleanser for Made to tap into his inner self and extend his energy onto the canvas.

Made’s peculiar approach to painting is physical as much as it is mindful. One of the criterias of Living in Gallery is painting within a cumulative of 24 hours. It is up to the artist whether they would like to use their allocated hours within a day or spread out for a few days. Made personified this time limit and maximized it; he finished his paintings within 2 days. He also started painting at 2 AM, an unconventional time. Coming into an empty gallery calms his mind to start painting. The painting ‘Morning Grace’ and ‘Morning Light’ are odes to the morning. When I see these paintings, I recall a quote by Jawarharlal Nehru who said Bali was “the morning of the world” when he visited. Like Nehru, Made points out that the Balinese are sun worshippers and that Bali’s energy is at its height at the crack of dawn

The improvised nature of his practice may be a reference to Abstract Expressionist artists of the West. However this dynamic nature of self expression has existed in Bali as well- namely in music. One particular one that Made identifies is with Gong Kebyar, a Gamelan ensemble where the kendang or drummer player leads the gamelan players and dancers to improvise its movements. The outcome of a Gong Kebyar performance is an explosive and spontaneous arrangement of vigorous Gong melodies with lively dancers. Just like the kendang or drum player, which is often the leader of Gong Kebyar, Made guides us to the spirit of Bali and Komaneka Gallery.

Besides Gong Kebyar, music and sound is another inspiration for Made. He has always been passionate with his guitar playing while his wife Nyoman has always been a Balinese dancer. Nyoman and his 2 teenage daughters (his eldest daughter is currently in university in Jogja) are always there to support Made during this residency. They come and liven up his process, which affects his surroundings and inspiration. During this opening, Nyoman and Made will perform a duet and their daughter Hening has choreographed a dance for everyone to see.

One of Made’s first solo exhibition after graduating from ISI Yogyakarta (Art Institute of Yogyakarta) was at Komaneka Gallery. He told me that he’s always managed to pay for all his schooling through painting- selling portraits commission, landscapes and Ubud style flora and fauna paintings. And throughout the years he is happy to come back to Komaneka Gallery to explore his craft and capture his state of mind. He is eternally grateful of painting as it is both a gift and a mystery, that painingting has taught him life lessons just as much as he has studied painting for the craft itself. In ‘Refresh’, Made’s body of work is a thank you note for this practice as well as a return back to his roots, on an upward journey for better times.