Arie Smit

Arie Smit

Description:
ADRIANUS WILHELMUS SMIT, better known as Arie Smith, was born in1916 in Zaandam, Holland. He studied graphic design at the Academy of Arts in Rotterdam. Smith was sent to the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) for military service in 1938. He worked as a lithographer for the Dutch army’s Topographical Service in Batavia (Jakarta) and made maps of the archipelago.

In early 1942, Smit was captured by invading Japanese forces at the start of World War II in Asia and the Pacific. He spent over three years in forced labor camps as a prisoner of war and built roads, bridges, and railways in Singapore, Thailand, and Burma. After the war ended in 1945, Smit was released and returned to the new Republic of Indonesia. He became an Indonesian citizen in 1951. He taught graphics and lithography at the Institute Teknology Bandung (Bandung Institute of Technology) in West Java, and pursued his own artistic interests during this time.

Smit first visited Bali in 1956, and after two months he decided to make this island his permanent home. He has lived in dozens odf different villages across the island over the decades. In the early 1960s Smit gave art supplies to teenage youths in Penestanan village near Ubud in Gianyar, south Bali. With minimal instruction but lots of encouragement, they created a naive style of genre painting that became known as the Young. Artists Style. Except for the imaginative use of color, their works differ in style and content from Smit’s own paintings. In recognition for his role in the development of painting on the island, Smit received the Dharma Kusuma award in1992 from the government of Bali. The Arie Smit Pavilion was opened at the Neka Art Museum in 1994 to display his works and those of contemporary Balinese artists.

A very creative and productive artist, Smit often experiments with his style to show refreshing new views of familiar scenes. His works evoke the light and colors of late 19th century Impressionism, but he never paints on location. He sketches outdoors and then creates works back in his studio. Elements of early 20th century Fauvism also appear in his works, but his style are features which he developed while living and working in Bali. Smit is a master of color and composition. Repeated elements, often simplified to their very essence but still recognizable, create visual rhythms. His vibrant paintings focus on the people and places of Bali with his own special “broken colors” technique to show the beauty and deeper rhythms of life.

Award : Dharma Kusuma (Bali, 1992). Collections : Meseum Bali (Denpasar, Bali), Penang Museum (Malaysia). Exhibitions : East West Center (Honolulu, Hawaii, 1998), Center for strategic and International Studies (Jakarta, 1990, 1996). Neka Art Museum (Ubud, Bali, 1992, 1994-1995), Singapore Art Museum (1994), Museum Nasional (Jakarta, 1995), Indonesia – Japan Friendship Festival (Morioka, Tokyo, 1997).

	Title : Landscape   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 70 x 93 cm   Year : 1993
Description:
The extremely fertile soil and land of Bali is evoked by this rich landscape full of tropical trees and ricefields. Terraces break up the mountain sides; their various colors indicate different stages of planting and growth of rice. Blue and white show flooded fields, green the growing plants, and yellow the ripening grain. Rhythmic lines flow and brush strokes move throughout his densely textured painting. Rugged mountains in the distance give way to cloudy purple sky with hints of green to link in to the verdant land, creating a lively and totally unified composition.

	Title : Shrines Beneath The Banyan   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 57.5 x 41.5 cm   Year : 1972
Description:
A group of small shrines stand like silent, mysterious guardians below a towering banyantree. The enormous height of the tree is made clear by the rough, spontaneous brush strokes in the trunk and long aerial roots. The colors are cool, evoking a quiet and lonely mood. For the Balinese, however, it would be a haunted setting that evokes fear and respect. Large, old trees are believed to be the dwelling places of powerful spirits. Shrines and altars for offerings are built beneath such trees for their resident spirits.

	Title : Portrait Of Suteja Neka 2   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 51 x 50 cm   Year : 1991
Description:
While the artist rarely does portraits, this study of Neka Art Museum founder, Suteja Neka, shows him in a calm and casual mood. His facial expression is very relaxed, and this light feeling is further enhanced by the white headcloth. There is warmth, visually and emotionally, due to the use of red in the background, hibiscus flower, and color of his shirt.

	Title : Coral Temple At Sanur   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Acrylic on canvas   Size : 149 x 144 cm   Year : 1994
Description:
Various temple structures made of coral appear less massive because of their light colors. Along with similarly colored tree trunks, they stand out in stark contrast from the surroundings, giving power to their shapes. The multicolored ground and upper leaves along with pale figures break up the darkness. The human figures are dwarfed by gates, towers, and trees, yet a man relaxing in a pavilion and women sweeping or sitting with their baskets are well integrated into this Balinese scene.

	Title : Temple Gate   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 65 x 50 cm   Year : 1979
Description:
Framed by trees, attention is directed towards the kori gelung (crowned gate) or kori agung (great gate)or of Balinese Hindu-Buddhist pura (temple). Warm reds dominated the scene, but contrasting cooler hues are interspersed throughout the painting which adds more visual stimulation. Brush strokes are rather light and suggest s mysterious mood by giving a semi-transparent appearance to the otherwise solid architectural forms. The minimal details of bricks and thatching and spontaneous calligraphiclike brush strokes which indicate foliage further add to this feeling.

	Title : Dreaming Of His Village   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 65 x 50 cm   Year : 1986
Description:
A Balinese youth sits with a dreamy expressions in his eyes. Images appear to float by in the background. Warm colors used in the boy and pura (temple) contrast with the cool background. Specks of blue in his hipcloth unify the composition. Streaks of color in his skin give hom forn and dimension as the dream world drifts by. The mood is of romantic suggestion but is not sentimental.

	Title : Full Moon Ceremony   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 70.5 x 95.5 cm   Year : 1994
Description:
In the stillness of a tropical Balinese night, the bright full moon is a heavenly beacon of comfort and reassurance against the darkness. For the Balinese it is time of ritual activity as two women carrying banten (offerings) appear to be on the verge of leaving a pura (temple) after a ceremony. Some of their offerings lie on the ground in front of the temple’s candi bentar (split gate). Standing nearby like a giant, silent guardian is a sacred banyan tree with its massive trunk wrapped in cloth. The mood is full of mystery and further emphasized by the dominance of blues.

	Title : Galungan Holiday   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Acrylic on canvas   Size : 92 x 95 cm   Year : 1991
Description:
Every 210 days the Balinese celebrate the thanksgiving feast known as Galungan, when deified ancestors visit their descendants. Penjor (bamboo offering poles decorated with palm leaf ornaments) line the roadsides. People dress in their finest clothes to visit temples and the homes of friends and relatives. This experimental style uses larger but separated spots of color to show the lively, fistive mood of the holiday. Highlights of yellow act spotlights to focus attention on gates and people. The repeated motifs establish a visual rhythm throughout.

	Title : Low Tide   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Acrylic on canvas   Size : 115 x 138 cm   Year : 1988
Description:
Dense broken color patches create shapes in this dramatic panorama of the north Bali coastline. The turbulent sky is reflected in the calm sea at low tide, causing the two realms tp merge in spite of their different moods. An unusual focal point is provided by the brilliantly colored orange sun. The beach, by contrast, is a warm arc of color that serves as a kind of visual resting place. Unity is achieved in the work by the balanced placement of colors and organic forms throughout.

	Title : Resting   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 80 x 80 cm   Year : 1981
Description:
The relaxed sitting posture of this Balinese youth makes him look like a fine sculpture. His skin and muscles are like polished wood gleaming with highlights of white. The cloth draped around his lower body gives a strong, solid quality to his legs. The warm colors and flowing lines of the cloth and the youth;s arms and torso are unified. They contrast with the cooler background full of angular and abstracted forms.

	Title : Floral Cascade   Artist : Arie Smit   Media : Oil on canvas   Size : 96.5 x 63 cm   Year :
Description:
Although these tropical blossoms are arranged together like a still-life, they appear in a natural setting. Briliant red flowers like hibiscus and ginger are contrasted with white frangipani and yellow marigolds. The lush green leaves and blue background intensify the colors of the flowers but also gives a cool feeling.