Paintings inspired by the Balinese Princess!

16/02/12

Some fabulous paintings by two female Spanish artists, Mersuka Dopazo & Teresa Calderon.
Mersuka is an artist who has exhibited her works in various parts of the world & about eight
months ago, she met Teresa for the first time in Bali.

The creative atmosphere of Bali has driven these two foreign artists to engage in an artistic experience that is entirely new & unexpected in the course of their careers in the world of art.

In the collaborative works signed by both artists, Mersuka & Teresa have taken the subject of Balinese women, which they named, “Balinese Princess”. Mersuka, in particular, was fascinated by the beauty of Balinese women, especially those seen in traditional events. "Balinese women are particularly captivating, with a special charisma"

Mersuka-Teresa’s works are like a “travelogue" from an exploration of a new territory. The creative passion of both artists as if overwhelmed with the tension between the spell & ecstasy of adventure and the need to “tell” the adventure.

Mersuka-Teresa’s visual artistic language is the 'naive style' of painting. Mersuka & Teresa played with forms & medium in a free, loose, manner. The figures are constructed in a simple form, as if emerging from the innocence of a childs imaginary world. Their works are boisterous and cheerful, full of imagination & fantasy. Pattern of face, particularly the womans face with head-dress, is the dominant feature of the paintings. Although depicted simplistically, the images of faces in the paintings are the construction of the images of the faces suggests the complexity of describing a new territory of experience: the personal discovery of Bali.

In Mersuka-Teresa’s paintings, a maze of lines, overlapping colors, scattered & dripping paint – various imageries that seem floating between the conscious & the subconscious. This is emphasized with elements of collage – an artistic technique that has been applied by Mersuka in her own individual works. In this respect, Mersuka & Teresa has implemented a “feminine artistic practice” by arranging various trivial, domestic, “found objects”, such as scraps of paper, as an integral part of their collaborative paintings.