Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I ketut Tagen



Tagen was born in penestanan in 1940,he started to learn how to paint when he was 23.his teacher was arie smith a Dutch painter who came to bali in 1956 and later became an Indonesian citizen,he is still living in bali today.

Tagen’s paintings were unique. He had a different style compared to arie smith’s other students. His signature style is to paint “faceless” people,using strong colors.This unique artistic style is very interesting .The genre “young artist” influenced by arie smith can only be found in penestanan village.

Tagen went to Singapore for an exhibition, managed by Mr.lim chung ket

here are some places that showed his paintings…
- Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, California, 1964)
- Smithsonian Institution Young Artists Touring Exhibitions : (U.S.A., 1964-1965)
- National Museum (Singapore, 1970-1971)
- Alpha Gallery (Singapore, 1972, 1974)
- Balai Seni Lukis Negara (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1983-1984)
- Singapore Art Museum (1994)
- Museum Nasional (Jakarta, Indonesia, 1995)
- Indonesia-Japan Friendship Festival (Morioka, Tokyo, 1997)

Tagen is popular on Balinese art scene,he also has his art in:
-Arma museum
-Rudana museum
-Neka museum
-Puri lukisan museum


This is only a few pictures of Tagen`s work







Tagen has 3 children,two boys and a girl.One of the boys has taken after his father’s artistic abilities, his name
I nyoman suwirta
and was born in penestanan on 17 august 1976,he began learning how to paint when he was 10.He learnt everything from his father and now has the same “young artist”style as him.
There is no doubt he will be the next Tagen…
If you would like to see or buy one of the Tagen’s paintings,you can visit him at Penestanan kelod,Ubud,Bali.
Call him on (+62)81338310670