Art in the Shell, the Uniqueness of Egg Painting

The island of Bali, often referred to as the "Island of the Gods," is not only a famous tropical tourist destination, but also a place where art and culture thrive. Nestled among the exotic Indonesian islands, Bali offers more than just beautiful beaches and stunning natural scenery. The island also offers a variety of beauty from its tourist villages. There are so many tourist villages on the island of Bali that many local and foreign tourists mean. One of the famous tourist villages is Batuan Tourism Village located in Gianyar. There are so many things that visitors or tourists can explore when visiting this village, one of which is the icon and this village is Pura Puseh Batuan which has also become a cultural heritage. Batuan Village Puseh Temple in Sukawati, Gianyar is a cultural heritage building where there is a stage building where Gambuh Dance is performed, as well as a place where visitors get a loan of a piece of cloth that must be worn to enter the temple. The exterior of Pura Puseh Pura Desa Batuan has delicate and beautiful carved ornaments. This old temple has reportedly undergone several renovations to arrive at its current form. The entrance gate of Pura Puseh Pura Desa Batuan is a bentar temple made of red bricks decorated with floral ornaments and curls that are common in temple buildings. This bentar temple separates the nista mandala (jaba pisan, the outside of the temple) from the madya mandala (jaba tengah, the center of the temple). On the left wall is a landmark in Balinese and Latin letters that reads: "Pr Puseh Pr Desa, Desa Adat Batuan, Saka 944", which gives the year of its establishment.

Mr. I Wayan Sadra's residence which is also a place to store his collection of egg paintings (Photo Source: Personal Collection)

In addition to the Puseh temple in Batuan Village, it is also home to a very rich artistic heritage, which reflects the beauty, majesty and deep spirituality that has taken root in the community in Batuan Village.  Art in Batuan Village is not just entertainment or an ordinary form of artistic expression. Art itself is part of the daily lives of its inhabitants, becoming a language that connects them to their ancestral heritage and deep spiritual beliefs. One of the famous arts that has become a culture here is egg painting.

Collection of Egg Paintings at Mr. Wayan Sadra's Residence (Photo Source: Personal Collection)

Egg painting is a fairly unique painting art from other painting arts, because this egg painting art uses eggs or egg-shaped wood as a painting medium. Painting on canvas or on two-dimensional media is already common but what if the media used is an egg or egg-shaped wood. One of the art shops that is famous for its egg paintings is Mr. I Wayan Sadra's art shop where there is an egg painting craft (Egg Painting), which displays the excellent quality of egg painting works. At first Mr. I Wayan Sadra made paintings on canvas media only, because many competitors and boredom Wayan Sadra switched to other media, namely egg media. Mr. I Wayan Sadra began working on making egg paintings in 1997 with his family. In addition, Mr. I Wayan Sadra's inspiration so that he could develop egg paintings was initially there was a Ngaben Ceremony and in the procession of the ceremony there was an object called Damar Angenan. There is an egg medium used as a lamp and that is where Mr. Wayan Sadra painted the lamp because it is considered to have its own uniqueness. Although the medium used is eggs, Mr. Wayan Sadra still develops local culture and Balinese culture which is poured on canvas and passed down to children who have the talent to paint.

Mr. Wayan Sadra (Photo Source: Personal Collection)

Wayan Sadra's artworks have a very unique look. Creativity and painting skills applied to eggshell media are developed and explored into items of high artistic value. Various types of eggs are used as painting media ranging from chicken eggs, duck eggs to ostrich eggs. It is not easy to paint on eggshell, its round shape and breakable structure make this process requires skill and precision. It is not surprising that Mr. Wayan Sadra experienced difficulties when painting on this egg media, because the egg should not be held and if it is held, the color of the painting cannot or is difficult to adhere to the egg. Therefore when painting eggs Mr. Wayan Sadra uses the help of wooden sticks to help paint on eggs, besides that another difficulty is that we as egg painters cannot copy and paste the design itself because the media used is different from paper or other two-dimensional media. But clearly if we want to paint, we should not be afraid, because there is a term in painting and any art, don't be afraid of being wrong and nothing is wrong.

Egg-shaped Albasia Wood as a Medium for Painting (Photo Source: Personal Collection)

Egg painting is a painting made or drawn on eggshell media. The eggs used include chicken eggs, duck eggs measuring 5-6 cm, goose eggs 10 cm, cassowary eggs 14-21 cm, and ostrich eggs 19-22 cm. Apart from using real eggs, there are also eggs made from wood. The commonly used wood is albesia wood which is shaped like an egg. In painting eggs using colored designs and designs that are black and white or gray. Because of this high level of difficulty, it is not surprising that this egg painting is in demand by almost all circles and also this egg painting has been exported to foreign countries.

Egg Carving Collection by Mr. Wayan Sadra (Photo Source: Personal Collection)

In 2000 he opened an egg painting art shop on Jln Negara, Batuan Village, Sukawati, Gianyar. At the art shop he often makes and reproduces the art of egg painting, because many orders he invites children and people who want to learn the art of the craft, because many children are interested in painting with egg media then Mr. Wayan Sadra has a desire to create jobs engaged in the arts so that later the children of his guidance can open their own businesses in the field of crafts, especially egg painting, which will also be able to support the economy. Through egg painting, the book can develop and preserve Balinese art by providing new innovations in the products that will be created.