• Choose to answer Question 1 OR Question 2. • Question 3 is required of all students. • One extra credit question.
1.
How are Balinese cultural values represented (seen) in their works of art?
Choose one (or two) work of art from the Gallery of Balinese Art or from WEBSITE: Survey of Balinese Arts.
• In Assignment 2 the emphasis was on understanding how the society understands their art. • In Assignment 3 the emphasis was on methods of interpreting works of art.
Combing those lessons, along with your chosen work of art(s) offer an interpretation that answers the above question. Remember, you need to write a detailed description of the work of art before beginning the interpretation even though it is embedded.
2.
Choose any combination of Balinese forms of artistic and aesthetic expression (painting, music, performance such as ‘wayang,’and masks) and describe how they represent the stories and mythologies of the Balinese.
Begin by describing some of basic concepts the Balinese people have about the universe, the place of humanity within it, and how nature is the embodiment of it all.
This is the essential quality of the idea of a three-part (tri-partite) view of reality. We learn of these also through their Stories and Mythologies. (Make sure you understand what ‘mythology’ means as I have discussed it.) In this question, the concept of Balinese ‘correspondences’ is applicable.
3.
How does Balinese art function as a means of connecting with the natural world while at the same time cultivating within an audience the motivation to protect the planet from further environmental degradation?
Conclude your response by answering, in detail, how can we in the West better understand our role in protecting the environment from a study of Balinese art?
Within the history of all art, there are expressions of humanity’s connection to nature. From the caves of paleolithic societies, ancient Rome, and into our own day, these forms of art have reflected the conceptual, philosophical, and religious beliefs that represent those relationships. Many societies, such as we see in European history, ‘nature’ is perceived as chaotic, wild, and menacing. Nature is evil and our enemy. Or nature’s chaos can be tamed by civilization. The former can be seen in some of the art of the Northern Renaissance of the fourteenth and
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