The artist I Gede Made Surya Darma is not only good at scratching on canvas, but also good at performing arts due to his attractive works that can sedate visitors. Have a look at his creative processing in a performing art entitled Blind in Paradise at the Griya Santrian Resort Swimming Pool in Sanur on Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 6). The artworks presented are meant to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic hitting the world. The movement is not too complicated, but meaningful. Sometimes the meaning conveyed is expressed through his own flowers, paper and paintings.

More interestingly, this performance art implemented a health protocol by wearing a mask and keeping a distance. Players are playing musical instrument or gamelan instrument while Surya Darma as the main player remained to put on mask, even the masks seemed to be part of the art performance itself. The audience in attendance seemed to be immersed in this truly natural work. Visitors who attended were fascinated by the colorful balsam flowers on the water surface which also resembled a charming painting.

The performance of Surya Darma’s art was once organized at the National Museum of Bangalore, India on November 11-25, 2011 in an International Performance Art Festival entitled Dawn-Dusk Live Art 2011. This work was collaborated with his painting entitled Pedanda Baka due to the closeness of the concept.

This time, the man from Tabanan collaborated with musician DJ Kamau Abayomi (California, America), a puppeteer from the Bali Kembang Arts Studio I Putu Purwwangsa Nagara (Wawan Bracuk), D Jimmy Tedjalaksana (musician and founder of Virama Music Studio) and I Kadek Dedy Sumantra Yasa (artist).

When making performance, Surya Darma covered the swimming pool with various kinds of flowers as a symbol of paradise itself or the beauty of worldly life. Meanwhile, the painting entitled Pedanda Baka is allowed to float among the flower sprinkles in the swimming pool. “I want to raise local wisdom or folklore like Pedanda Baka which contains a lot of moral messages that can be used as life guidance,” he said.

Surya Darma also spread print on paper about the history of the virus hitting the world and its impact, reconstructing the history of the virus as a reflection to always be vigilant. He began by singing the song entitled Alas Arum which is usually sung by a puppeteer before the performance of the puppet story. He interpreted it as a symbol that God created nature, preceded with a beautiful vibration or sound namely AUM or OM. “I try to reflect on the natural creation process by singing songs and responding to the strains of gender gamelan instrument, guitar, DJ, Didgeridoo and jimbe music,” he explained.

Sowing flowers into the pool symbolizes the macrocosm. The painting entitled Pedanda Baka symbolized by the water is a symbol of the wisdom in the Tantri story itself. “I float on the surface of the water with flowers and paper printed about the history of the virus sweeping the world. My eyes are closed as a symbol that I cannot quite see what is right and what is wrong as if being blind in the glamour of worldly life. With this uncertain world situation, I would like to invite the audience to reinterpret local wisdom from the traditional story of Pedanda Baka as well as other local folk tales as life guidance in the current era,” he explained. (BTN/015)