Gaya Gallery, the leading contemporary art space in Bali, presents one-man
show of Wayan Karja. The opening of the exhibition will be on Friday, April
9th 2004 at 7 p.m and run through May 25th 2004, located at Gaya Fusion of Senses,
Jl. Raya Sayan Ubud, Bali. In line to the title of the exhibition of "Blue
of Karja", thus in this exhibition, Wayan Karja's artworks will be dominated
by blue color, a color in which he found peacefulness. Born in Ubud, Karja's
first formal fine art education was at The Indonesian Art School in Denpasar,
Bali. There he majored in Painting from 1981 until 1985. Karja then studied
for 5 years in fine Art and Design at Udayana University in Denpasar, gaining
his Drs degree. In 1999, Karja completed a two-year program at the University
of South Florida, USA, attaining his Master of Fine Arts majoring in Painting
and Printmaking.

"BLUE OF KarJA"

Artist's Statement


"Why should I worry about the parching sun? I create the blue spring within
myself." (Juan Ramon Jiminez)

Based on "Pengider Bhuwana: The Color of Life" my previous body of
artwork on the Mandala circle, I am moving on to paint in a series of colors.
I have been using red, yellow and orange as major colors in my paintings in
contrast to the colors of nature, the dominant green and blue that surround
my studio. I wanted my space to look warm by using red, orange and yellow. All
of A sudden, I had the feeling that although red is very attractive, it is also
very aggressive. I could not sleep for a night, but why? I felt a thirst inside,
longing for calm, peace and silence within myself. It is these experiences I
would like to share with others through my artwork. My heart was drawn to blue,
my head thinking a lot about the blue ocean, the blue sky and the mountains,
the meeting point of the blue tones on the horizon. Blue the color that came
out of my paintbrush.

My Blue is based on my dreams, imagination and experiences while traveling
the world. I want to see and imagine blue not only from one island to another,
but across the whole planet and throughout the universe. It began more then
twenty years ago, when I sat on the beach or in the rice fields looking at the
horizon. Questions arose. What is beyond the horizon? What is above the blue
sky? Where are the white people from? Since I was teenager, I had dreamed of
traveling toward the horizon, to see the countries of all the visitors in Bali.
Yes, I did.

My first flight was in 1986, to other islands in Indonesia, and then in 1994
to Europe. I have traveled every year since then.