Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Dutch Painter Depicts Timeless Archetypes of Bali

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Monday, May 26, 2014

Dutch Painter Depicts Timeless Archetypes of Bali

Jakarta Globe, Tunggul Wirajuda, May 26, 2014

Paul Husner's work tries to capture the unique essence of the Balinese
concept of harmony between nature, people and culture. (JG Photo/
Tunggul Wirajuda)

The two-dimensional image of a Balinese landscape drew in the viewer. Painted in a style reminiscent of late 19th century painter Paul Gauguin, the painting is dominated by the imposing skyline of Mount Agung, a mountain sacred to Bali’s Hindus.

Titled “Ricefields On Mount Agung,” the oil on canvas by Swiss born artist Paul Husner aptly portrays the mountain’s literal and figurative place in the Balinese psyche.

Surrounded by a juxtaposition of lush foliage, temples and rice fields, the edifice seems like the center of Bali’s world and a bedrock of its people’s psyche.

Life seems timeless and almost utopian on its slopes. On the right, farmers worked neatly terraced paddy fields according to the Subak system, whose renown won it Unesco World Heritage Status. In the foreground, women set out with their offerings to their local temple, highlighted by imposing spires and colorful streamers.

The scene, which is as idyllic as it is archetypal, is one of 28 paintings featured in Husner’s exhibition “Bali,” which is currently at the Erasmus Huis cultural center in Jakarta.

“The scene is very much in line with Tri Hita Karana, the Balinese philosophy of attaining harmony between nature, people and culture. The spirituality that defines the Balinese identity acts as a magnet for artists around the world and kept its art scene thriving,” Husner says of his works, which were made between 2008 to 2014. “As an archetype, Bali’s spiritual landscape is certain to thrive. I did not put signs of modernization, like its new airport and highway made in the wake of the island’s thriving tourist industry, since it is but a transitory reality.”

But Husner isn’t oblivious to the changes that Balinese society is subjected to, as he showed with works like “Balinese Woman and a Sacred Banyan Tree” and “Temple Festival in Sidemen: Balinese Women With Cocks.”

The former, which shows a woman walking past the banyan tree with offerings to the gods, seemed to be unflappable in going about her daily activities. But the twisted branches of the tree are a metaphor for the challenges that modern life, such as inflation and rising prices, seem to play in going about her daily life.

On the other hand, “Temple Festival in Sidemen: Balinese Women With Cocks” is perhaps a double entendre. On one hand, the cocks have long had a cherished place in Balinese agriculture due to their breeding for cockfighting, a favorite pastime on the island, while their crowing might signal the enroaching of modernization.

Both works are noted for their bright, vivid colors and distinctive use of lighting.

“It is said that the light in Bali is unique, and this is part of the reason why many painters are drawn there. The same [quality] has also been said about Dutch light,” says Dutch Ambassador Tjeerd de Zwaan about Husner’s work and their beginnings in the Netherlands in 1964.

“Bali is rich in archetypes of various religions, whether they be Hindu, Christian or Muslim, as well as that of other beliefs.

“But much of this was only captured in painting relatively recently, as it only gained in popularity less than a 100 years ago in Bali. Before then and up until now, installation art predominated on the island,” says the 72-year-old artist, who first came to Bali in 1964.

“But it didn’t take long for the medium to catch on. After all, it captures the underlying character of Bali’s archetypal image, namely its power and beauty.”

Husner captured this through his 2013 work “Nyepi Ceremony in Batukaru Temples” and “Balinese Temples in Jatiluweh, Bali.”

In the paintings, Husner gave the natural surroundings a decorative, intricate touch that is just as likely to come from the temple’s walls. The works are also noted for their darker use of shade.

“The paintings are among those that touch on, or embrace, the darker side. Admittedly, this has unsettled some people who found them and other works to be a bit sinister,” he says.

“But then, Hindu belief has always emphasized embracing the darker side of things as well as those that are more pleasant.”

“Bali” is Husner’s third exhibition at Erasmus Huis.