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 I
used to have lots of money until it got rotten. I was not too
happy. Happiness did not count on much money you owned but it's
inside your heart.
This expression was once
conveyed by a master painter in Ubud, Bali, I Gusti Nyoman Lempad. He
was known as a spiritual and social artist during his lifetime. He
was awarded on Honor Art by the Indonesian Government about three
decades ago. Lempad became a famous painter in
Balinese art. He was an illiterate but with
brilliant ideas, having discussion with his fellow artists such as
Rudolf Bonnet, Yean Billow, Ketut Tantri and Margareth Mead. His
works have been collected by domestic and foreign collectors. He
was born in Bedulu in 1857, he probably borne the longest life in
the country, and died on April 25th 1978 in his home village. A
man during his life who always devoted harmony between macro and
microcosmic. This was affected by his talented
father, I Gusti Ketut Mayuko, who was an "Undagi"
traditional architect during Blahbatuh Kingdom. He was repelled by
the king due to his brightness. Mayuko saw his son's talent, that
was the reason he was not sent to a formal school. "Don't be
a smart, because if you're smart you will have a short life.
Modesty give your long life", that's his father always told
him.  Became
bright was not eventually avoidable. Lempad learnt his education
from his experience and nature. In the beginning he painted in
black and white, later as he mature, then in color. He was never
influenced by others, he moved on his own inspiration.
His
characteristic of his painting was completed. Sometimes put bits
by bits of details of strokes. To him what most important was
complete lines. This idea behind it was that he saw life was never
ended. Lempad was probably well known abroad
rather than in his country. One day there was an artist from
Yogyakarta (Central Java) who was curious of getting to paint an
old man that was sitting by the street. When the artist got back
to Yogyakarta, he was told and shocked that the old man happened
to be Lempad, the master painter from Bali.  An
Australian doctor named Atlas, admired Lempad long life, about a
hundred years old at that time. He came to Lempad to help maintain
his health. "I don't need a doctor" said Lempad. This
was not his resistant of getting a doctor, but that was typical
Lempad.
Lempad was no a materialistic. He often
easily gave away his paintings to those who he adored, such as Ir.
Soekarno (the first President of Republic Indonesia) and the astronaut
Ronald Evans. In 1930 he with Rudolf Bonnet, Walter Spies and
other local artists established a non profit organization
"Pitamaha". The goal was to promote the quality of their
works and at the same time to have discussed exhibition in major
cities such as Amsterdam, Tokyo and Paris.
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