philosophy & style

"Painting is a beautiful thing for me, the process of making paintings is like that of making the offerings by Balinese people. While painting entertains and relaxes me, the creation of a painting helps me to understand life in more depth. Sometimes it gives me answers to my curiosity about God."

philosophy

Karja combines the philosophy of the Balinese Hindu Mandala colours with modern international techniques in order to build a bridge between the micro and macro cosmos.

The mandala functions as a spiritual tool, in its presence the viewer is not only affected by each colour in particular but by the balance of colours through which a state of inner harmony is created in the viewer.

For example red might not only symbolize passion or heat but may also reduce those sensations by reflecting or absorbing those energies.

Karja believes in art as therapy and as a tool of meditation to bring inner peace and healing for both the artist and the viewer.

The Mandala colours each have a corresponding body part so that for example, one's lungs resonate with pink and one's heart with white. Colour therefore can have both a healing and nurturing effect on the body.

style

Karja has successfully fused abstract expressionism and minimalism with his own sensibilities as a Balinese artist. Strong vertical and horizontal elements combined with inventive modifications of Hindu linear symbols combine to give each painting an iconic presence.

Wayan has achieved a fusion of eastern and western styles that initially speak of colour abstraction but have within them embedded suggestions from the Hindu faith and cosmology.

In this successful synthesis of styles it is hard to say that Karja is an abstract expressionist, maybe it is more appropriate to categorize him as a spiritual abstractionist.

In a room or gallery filled with Karja’s paintings it is as if one is inside a mandala, surrounded by its colours on all sides, invited to enjoy life and challenged to create an inner balance or harmony for oneself.