Wayan Pande Sumantra

Wayan Pande Sumantra

A classic Kamasan puppet painter, Wayan Pande Sumantra has never diminished his talent in creating artworks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and hopes that through national and international activities on the Island of the Gods, he will be able to revive micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Wayan Sumantra and his wife Made Sinarwati have been producing crafts typical of Kamasan Village, Klungkung, since 1997 until now, especially crafts with traditional Kamasan puppet painting patterns.

The 56-year-old man explained that his craft products include ceremonial tools, fans, bags, sandals, night lampshades, wooden wayang fans, keben (offerings) with Kamasan wayang motifs, cloth wayang fans, key chains and other products with the theme of Kamasan wayang paintings that are worthy of being souvenirs.
Wayan Sumantra has an obsession and noble mission to support the sustainability of his studio, currently his studio is guiding 35 early childhood children voluntarily without charging any fees to learn to paint and color in the house that he uses as a studio.
He said that the existence of this studio aims to preserve the traditional Kamasan wayang painting art. "We want to produce the next generation of Kamasan wayang painting art. All children learn here for free. I am grateful that there are children who want to learn this painting art," he said.

Wayan Sumantra said that since the COVID-19 pandemic his income has decreased significantly. In the past, there were always orders to make souvenirs. Even before the pandemic, visits to his studio were quite busy.
"So those who visit are from various circles, students, tourists and art collectors. But now since the pandemic there have been none," he said. Wayan Sumantra's craftwork continues to grow, starting from only selling Kamasan Wayang painting products with puppet story themes such as Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Dewa Dewi. He said that Kamasan puppets are popular with collectors, optimistic about the future. The existence of Kamasan puppets has existed since the kingdom era in Puri Gelgel, we present puppet stories to take the philosophy of life from the stories depicted.

Wayan Sumantra said that he had been studying Kamasan Wayang art since elementary school age by learning autodidactically from his uncle, in order to help his parents. "Since I was in 4th grade, I was taught by my uncle who was the maestro of Kamasan Wayang, the late I Nyoman Mandra. I paint, when I was in junior high school I was able to sell painting sketches to housewives in the neighborhood where I live," he said as reported by Antara.

Kamasan painting maestro

Since Nyoman Mandra, his uncle who was also a classical Kamasan puppet painting maestro passed away, Wayan Sumantra has been enthusiastic about establishing a studio, because the art of painting must not be lost from the civilization of the times. This traditional painting art must have a successor generation and be preserved as a cultural heritage of our ancestors.

"Kamasan puppets have existed since ancient times, even during the Klungkung kingdom. As the successor generation, I continue to ensure that they are preserved. I am often invited by the Department of Culture in terms of preserving and introducing Kamasan puppet culture through special exhibitions, the only one in Bali and even the world, only here. In preserving Kamasan painting, if not us, who else will fight for it, one of which is by creating a painting studio so that it can attract children in the village to learn the art of painting," he said.

Regarding Kamasan painting his paintings have spread throughout the country, even to several countries in the world, such as Asia, Europe and the United States. For marketing craft products, not only limited to the local market, Pande also penetrates the Indonesian national market and even to foreign countries such as Europe and America.

Wayan Sumantra admitted that his party actively participated in exhibitions held by the district and Bali Province through the Bali Arts Festival (PKB) and participated in exhibitions to several cities such as the State Palace in Jakarta, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and Bandung City as well as exhibitions traveling abroad to the Netherlands and Canada.
Wayan Sumantra's artwork is sold starting from hundreds of thousands of rupiah to tens of millions of rupiah based on the type of work, wood and fabric materials, size of the painting, characterization, and the level of complexity of the work. In fact, the existence of the classical painting Wayang Kamasan has been proposed by the central government as an Intangible Cultural Heritage (WBTB) at the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).