Baturulangun Batuan

The Baturulangun Batuan Artists Association is a community of artists dedicated to the preservation and development of the Batuan Painting Style. The association is an officially recognized organization under the authority of the Batuan Village Government and serves as a platform for painters across generations to sustain artistic continuity, strengthen regeneration, and foster collaboration within Batuan’s art ecosystem. Working together with the Batuan Village administration, the association has played an active role in safeguarding this tradition, including the successful registration of Batuan Painting Style as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indonesia by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, as well as its recognition as Communal Intellectual Property (Traditional Knowledge) by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia.

Quintessential Batuan Style 

Batuan Village is located in Sukawati District, Gianyar Regency, and has long been recognized as one of Bali’s most important centers of art. The village’s artistic history is reinforced by the Batuan Inscription issued during the reign of King Marakata (Sri Dharmawangsawardhana Marakata Pangkajasthana Uttunggadewa), dated Icaka 944 (1022 CE). The inscription records the existence of the citrakara profession—painters or image-makers—during the Ancient Balinese period, indicating that painting has been an integral part of Batuan’s cultural life for more than a thousand years.

In the early twentieth century, the development of the Batuan Painting Style entered a crucial phase through the figure of I Nyoman Ngendon. Rooted in the wayang painting tradition learned from local masters, Ngendon later developed a renewed aesthetic approach through intensive engagement with the artistic and intellectual dynamics of his time. During this period, Batuan painters were not only active within their local context but also interacted with anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, as well as European artists such as Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet. These cross-cultural encounters facilitated exchanges of knowledge and perspectives that contributed to visual and narrative innovations in Batuan paintings.

Alongside I Nyoman Ngendon, several contemporary Batuan painters—including I Ketut Kobot, I Made Djata, Ida Bagus Togog, and I Dewa Putu Kebes—played significant roles in shaping the character of modern Batuan painting. Their works reflect creative responses to the intersection of local traditions, anthropological inquiry, and cross-cultural artistic exchange during that period.

A century later, the Baturulangun Batuan Painters Association was established in 2012 as a response to a crisis in the sustainability of the Batuan Painting tradition. This crisis was triggered by major shifts in Bali’s tourism ecosystem from the early 2000s onward, particularly following the 2002 Bali Bombings. The sharp decline in international tourists and collectors—who had long been the primary economic supporters of Batuan painters—had a direct impact on artists’ livelihoods. Many painters were forced to change professions, work part-time as painters, or abandon painting altogether. In earlier periods of crisis, especially in the early 1980s, the number of active Batuan painters had reportedly dwindled to only a few dozen.

At the same time, Bali’s tourism orientation increasingly shifted toward mass entertainment and popular arts, further marginalizing traditional painting practices in the market. Younger generations in Batuan faced a dilemma between continuing a demanding artistic tradition—requiring strict discipline and lengthy processes—or pursuing forms of artistic expression perceived as more economically viable within contemporary tourism. Within this context, Batuan painting was often regarded as labor-intensive and less financially promising.

These conditions motivated painters of the period—particularly I Made Sujendra—to initiate the formation of the Baturulangun Batuan Painters Association as an ideological, educational, and collective platform. The association was conceived not merely as an organizational body, but as a cultural strategy aimed at safeguarding the continuity of the Batuan Painting tradition by:

• Sustaining the aesthetics and techniques of the Batuan Painting Style amid market pressures.

• Revitalizing painter regeneration through more open and structured transmission systems, including free painting classes for school-aged children and collaborations with primary schools.

• Shifting the previously family-centered aguron-guron (master–apprentice) transmission model toward collective community responsibility.

• Repositioning Batuan painting within the landscape of cultural tourism, not merely as a commodity, but as a living heritage with educational, social, and cultural value.

Following its initiation by I Made Sujendra, the association’s leadership was continued by I Ketut Sadia and is currently led by I Wayan Diana. Its regular programs include free weekly painting classes for children, collaborations with primary schools in Batuan and Sukawati, collective exhibitions, and ongoing engagement with artists, researchers, and cultural institutions.