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About arts and cultures in Bali
Artistically, Bali is a mixture of culture and tradition. Balinese have
the natural ability of absorbing different cultural elements and blending
them with their own. For centuries, artists and craftsmen in Bali worked
under the patronage of priests and ruling classes, decorating palaces
and temples. As their designs followed strict aesthetic and religious
guidelines, the artists generally did not have much room for personal
expression. With the arrival of European artists in the beginning of the
20th century, this soon began to change. local artists started to develop
their own individual styles.
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Carving
goes back many centuries, when temples and courts needed symbolic
decorations and beautification's. During the 1930s, carvers started
moving away from stylized religious figures and created new forms
from mythology and everyday life. Some highly imaginative sculptures
became lengthened and deformed. The natural shapes of branches and
roots also provided inspirations to many artists.
Stone carvings were mainly used to decorate temples and palaces.
An Industry has now developed producing items for general decorations.
Bali's modern day centre of stone carving is in the village of Batubulan,
situated halfway between the towns of Denpasar and Ubud. |
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