DENPASAR, balitourismnow.com — Four Balinese artists — Edy Asparanggi, I Gede Sugiada, IB Suryantara, and Dewa Gede Agung — are presenting a joint exhibition titled Vernal Artistic at Santrian Art Gallery, located within the grounds of Griya Santrian Beach Resort & Spa in Sanur.
The exhibition features 23 artworks of varying sizes and styles, united by themes of environment, harmony, and balance. Each artist brings a distinctive visual language, creating a rich and diverse artistic dialogue.
The exhibition officially opened on Friday, May 8, 2026, with an inauguration by I Wayan Kun Adnyana, Rector of ISI Bali, accompanied by gallery owner Ida Bagus Sidartha Putra. The opening ceremony was marked by a floral ribbon-cutting at the gallery entrance. The exhibition will run through June 26, 2026.
“The theme presented in this exhibition is truly compelling,” said Prof. Dr. Wayan Kun Adnyana during his opening remarks. “It speaks of an artistic springtime — perhaps even what we might call a Balinese pop sensibility.”
He explained that “pop” seeks to preserve something perpetually fresh, youthful, and renewed. “Spring carries that same spirit,” he said. “A season rooted deeply in strong trunks and living growth that reaches far beneath the surface.”
Curator I Made Susanta Dwitanaya noted that the exhibition represents the culmination of long periods of contemplation, experimentation, and artistic exploration undertaken by the four artists within their own creative “laboratories.”
After stepping away from the exhibition stage for some time, the artists immersed themselves in visual and conceptual exploration. Vernal Artistic becomes a reflection of this renewed creative season — a blossoming of artistic vitality.
The title itself evokes an “artistic spring,” a moment when lines flow dynamically, forms and spaces refuse stagnation, compositions pulse with movement, and colors rediscover their aura. Artists who once embraced silence now reemerge with renewed creative energy.
They paint not merely to depict, but to bring life into being. Their works become reflections of time, memory, and selfhood — all slowly fermented through patience and lived experience.
Every brushstroke, line, composition, and spatial arrangement pulses like new sprouts reaching toward light, much like spring buds growing into trunks, branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruit.
Vernal Artistic transforms silence into color, stillness into rhythm, and frozen moments into living compositions. It marks the return of these artists to the illuminating spirit of creation — a creative spring experienced by Putu Edi Asparanggi, I Gede Sugiada “Anduk,” Ida Bagus Suryantara “Cooh,” and Dewa Gede Agung.
Among the featured works, IB Suryantara presents a panel painting titled Bhuana Agung Bhuana Alit, a composition assembled from smaller individual works, each carrying its own meaning (bhuana alit), before merging into a greater unified whole (bhuana agung) symbolizing balance and cosmic harmony.
The piece is created using recycled paper carefully arranged into intricate compositions. Discarded paper materials are transformed into objects of artistic value, reflecting the exhibition’s environmental consciousness.
Other works draw from the visual iconography of traditional Balinese wayang imagery, reinterpreted through deeply personal narratives rather than being bound to classical epic storytelling typically associated with Balinese painting traditions.
Themes such as Rwa Bhineda — the Balinese philosophy of duality and balance — also emerge throughout the exhibition. Strong linear elements, characteristic Balinese forms, and explorations of sigar warna coloring techniques enrich many of the featured works.
Putu Edi Asparanggi presents a work titled Ngintip Capung (“Peeking at the Dragonfly”), depicting a playful Barong figure surrounded by naturalistic foliage rather than stylized ornamentation. Here, the Barong is portrayed not in ceremonial performance, but in a lighthearted interaction with dragonflies.
This surreal sensibility also appears in his work Bedawang, inspired by the giant cosmic turtle of Balinese mythology believed to support the earth. Through warm color palettes and mythological imagery rooted in Balinese visual culture, Edi develops a deeply personal visual language. Decorative Balinese artistic elements are rendered volumetrically, giving traditional motifs new dimensional presence.
Meanwhile, I Gede Sugiada showcases works distinguished by warm color palettes, dynamic compositions, and evolving visual structures. In recent years, Sugiada’s paintings have embraced brighter, more luminous tones compared to the darker atmospheres explored in his earlier periods.
His compositions combine plastic organic forms — human figures and ornamental vegetation — with geometric structures arranged into rhythmic motifs. The contrast between dynamic organic movement and geometric order creates compositions that may appear spontaneous, yet remain harmoniously balanced within vibrant warm hues.
Dewa Gede Agung, meanwhile, introduces his latest visual explorations centered on line and ornamentation. He describes his artistic process as a metaphor for the life cycle of a plant: beginning as a seed planted in the soil of ideas, sprouting into lines, and gradually growing into tendrils — or util in Balinese terminology. []