Lot 675 Dα

I Ketut Murtika (born 1952) belongs to the Batuan school of painting, which is practiced by brahman artists in the village of Batuan, situated ten kilometers to the South of Ubud. The Batuan paintings were often crowded representations of either legendary scenes or themes from daily life, but they portrayed above all that fearsome nocturnal moment when grotesque spooks, freakish animal monsters and witches accosted people. Gradients of black to white ink washes are laid over most of the surface so as to create an atmosphere of darkness and gloom. In the later years, the design covers the entire space that often contributed to the crowdedness of their paintings.
Major Batuan artists were the key proponents of the Batuan School in the Pitamaha Artist Association. The spirit of Pitamaha period is still strong and continued by the contemporary Batuan Artists such as I Made Budi, I Nyoman Bendi, I Ketut Murtika, I Kenur and others. I Ketut Murtika's art has been shown worldwide, including France, Holland and a number of Asian countries.