Art in Bali

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The upcoming 2026 Bali Art Calendar

Exhibition at Artotel Sanur In 2025, Bali’s art scene continued to flourish through a rich and distinctive annual calendar shaped by ritual, tradition, and contemporary creativity. Unlike many global art destinations, Bali has relatively few large-scale commercial art fairs. Instead, the island offers a deeply immersive cycle of annual events that integrate art into everyday life, landscape, and communal experience. The calendar opens with one of Bali’s most visually striking cultural moments: Ogoh-Ogoh Night . On the eve of Nyepi, the Day of Silence , towering sculptural effigies are paraded through villages and cities, combining craftsmanship, mythology, and performative spectacle. The following day, Nyepi brings the entire island to a standstill — a rare collective pause that resonates deeply with artists and creatives, often inspiring themes of reflection, balance, and renewal. As the year unfolds, contemporary art takes center stage through events such as Ubud Open Studios , a hi...

The 2025 Bali Art Report

With more than 200 events, standout exhibitions, and rising artistic talent, 2025 cemented Bali’s place as a leading force in Indonesian contemporary art. The year 2025 marked a remarkable chapter for Bali’s art landscape. Despite global and national turbulence, the island’s creative pulse not only endured — it thrived. Bali’s art community demonstrated its signature resilience, innovation, and collaborative spirit, reinforcing its position as one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic cultural hubs. This year, more than 200 art events were recorded through Bali Art Guide, averaging 15 new group or solo exhibitions opening each month . The sheer volume alone signals a thriving ecosystem, but it was the quality and ambition of the programming that truly defined 2025. Standout highlights included the ever-expanding Ubud Open Studios, the landmark retrospective “50 Years of Apel Hendrawan,” the sweeping curatorial narrative of “Parallel Legacies in Flux” at UAG, and the celebratory USK Bali an...

Sketching a Nation—Urban Sketchers Bali at 13

Urban Sketchers Bali marks its 13th anniversary with an expansive exhibition that celebrates sketching as both an art form and a method of witnessing daily life. Featuring 111 artists, the show brings together 331 sketches, 90 sketchbooks, and 19 international sketchbook pedestals responding to the theme Sketsa Nusantara. These works portray Indonesia in all its contrasts—Jakarta’s relentless bustle, Ubud’s meditative quiet, the textures of street food stalls, the elegance of fine dining, and the coexistence of slums and elite spaces. The exhibition intentionally presents sketches without frames, preserving the immediacy and authenticity that define the Urban Sketchers ethos. Each work is a direct response to a moment, a place, and a lived experience, forming a collective journal of Indonesia’s diverse urban and cultural landscape. Urban Sketching has evolved from centuries of human mark-making, transforming the sketch from a preparatory tool into a complete artwork. This anniversary s...

Southeast Asia’s Artistic Crucible: Why Art Jakarta 2025 Remains a Must-Visit Hub

Set to take place from October 3–5, 2025, at JIExpo Kemayoran, Art Jakarta is gearing up for what promises to be Indonesia’s most anticipated art fair. With 75 notable galleries hailing from 16 countries, the fair has cemented its position as an organizer playing an increasingly vital role in Southeast Asia’s art world. The 2025 edition signals a strong global commitment, securing major names like the prominent European gallery Esther Schipper, Tina Keng Gallery, and Kaikai Kiki, the art institution founded by renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. But beyond the impressive roster, the heart of the fair lies in the testimonials of the exhibitors, whose motivations reveal Art Jakarta's unique power as a platform for connection and dialogue. The Irresistible Draw of Jakarta For international exhibitors, Art Jakarta serves as a crucial entry point to the dynamic Southeast Asian audience. A representative from Kaikai Kiki Gallery, which is based in Tokyo and represents a mixture of...

What is ‘Balinese Art’? - Deconstructing the Category

“What is Balinese art?” At first glance, the answer seems obvious. The phrase conjures images of intricate paintings, barong masks, stone temple carvings, or dancers frozen in stylized poses. Yet this apparent clarity is deceptive. The very category of “Balinese art” is not timeless or neutral, but historically shaped, politically constructed, and deeply entangled with the gaze of outsiders. Sida Karya by i Wayan Sudarmayasa Traditionally, creative expression in Bali was inseparable from ritual and community. Art was not an autonomous field but a branch of devotion. Paintings illustrated sacred epics for temple pavilions, masks embodied spirits for performance, and textiles clothed both gods and humans. These objects were rarely signed, often ephemeral, and valued for their spiritual efficacy rather than artistic “innovation.” To call such practices “art” at all is already a translation into Western categories. The notion of “Balinese art” crystallized during the colonial era. In the 1...

Special Announcement - Muralis

[ENG] - Hello Bali Art Guide Community, A few months ago we were contacted by a Belgium group called Muralis , asking us to help spread the word about their upcoming event in Bali. We saw an opportunity for artists in Bali to get some International exposure. So we agreed to share their open calls through our network. Recently we were alerted to the document shared to artists from Muralis with some concerning features. Bali Art Guide is not a part of this project at all but we feel a responsibility to the community here so we would like to translate and clarify some key points that Muralis is suggesting. The document they sent is NOT a contract . This means that there is room for negotiation. Any artwork selected and sent to Belgium is done at the cost to the artist , not Muralis. Packing, shipping and insurance is the responsibility of the artist . If you want your artwork returned to Bali then Muralis can refuse your request If they agree then the artist is responsible for the cost ...

Art as Ceremony: The Disappearance of the Artist Ego in Bali

In the Western canon, the artist is often a singular figure — genius, rebel, visionary — whose signature, style, and personal story are central to the artwork’s meaning and market value. In contrast, Balinese art has long functioned within a radically different cosmology: one where the artist is not a solitary creator but a channel, a vessel through which communal and spiritual forces are made manifest. Artwork by i Wayan Suala This difference begins with intention. Much of what is traditionally considered “art” in Bali — from stone carvings and paintings to textiles and temple ornamentation — is created not for aesthetic contemplation, personal expression, or commercial sale, but for upacara (ceremony). These objects are ephemeral offerings to the gods, the ancestors, or the unseen world ( niskala ), and are often destroyed, buried, or allowed to decay once the ritual purpose is fulfilled. In this context, the individual artist rarely signs their work. Skills are passed down through ...