INDONESIAN ART

Fibre Naturale

A wide range of items, both useful and decorative are made from natural fibers such as pandanus, rattan, bamboo, vetiver root, etc.
Bamboo, while exotic in the west, is one of the most practical natural plants.
The uses of bamboo in Indonesia are numerous and Indonesians utilize bamboo extensively for a variety of items including baskets, winnows, cups, buckets, furniture and woven walls in traditional homes.
Bamboo was originally used for practical items around the house, these have been further developed into new items which sell well as souvenirs.
In combination with other material such as coco shell, rattan, and other natural material, bamboo was created into a variety handicrafts and home decoration item.

Wayang - Indonesian Puppets

Puppets have been used for centuries in Indonesia to tell the stories of the ancient epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabarata, as well as ancient myths.. Puppets fall into two major classifications - wayang kulit - the leather or shadow puppet of Central Java, and wayang golek - wooden puppets of West Java.
There are several varieties of wooden puppets.

Wood Carvings

Wooden carving traditions and skills can be found throughout the Indonesian archipelago, with the most famous being from Bali, Central Java, Madura, Sumatra and Irian Jaya. Different areas developed very different traditions so that many items are immediately identifiable as being created by particular ethnic groups. Most popular with expats are Javanese and Balinese wooden image carvings, Jepara lattice-like three-dimensional reliefs and Irianese primitive carvings.
Even amongst wooden carvings from a particular province, differences in design, style and subject matter are easily evidenced after some study. Irianese tribes such as the Asmat, Dani, and Komoro have very distinctive styles of carvings of totem poles, weapons, figures and utensils.
The use of ancient spirit masks have given way to masks used in many traditional dances. These highly stylized masks, topeng, depict the various characters in the story told by the dance. . Amongst the most famous masks used in dance are the Rangda and Barong masks from Bali.
In this traditional dance, performed often for tourists, the interaction of Rangda, representing evil, and the Barong, representing good, restores the harmony between the good and evil in life.

Paintings

Painting as an art form was really developed in the 19th and 20th century and includes batik paintings, the highly stylized paintings of Bali which depict village and traditional life as well as modern oils and acrylics. Famous Indonesian painters such as Raden Saleh, command high prices on the international market.

Textiles

The diversity in Indonesian textile forms is astounding and is yet another representation of its rich cultural Sample of Batikheritage. Indonesian textiles include hand drawn and stamped batik, the design of which takes months to create; double weave ikat from the islands of Nusa Tenggara, ship cloth from Lampung, silk Bugis sarong from Sulawesi, gold-painted Balinese prada fabric; shimmering kain songket from Palembang utilizing silver and gold metallic threads weft in woven cotton or silk ikat; and Tapis weavings from Lampung.
The symbolism of the various ethnic groups is evident in the variety of textiles. Color, shapes and their arrangements all have special meanings. Certain designs can only be worn by women or men, or only by the members of the royal family or nobility.