ABOUT
The starting point
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My name is Olivier, and I collect modern Balinese sculpture. I began taking an interest in this type of sculpture somewhat by chance, in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Confined at home, I was browsing an antiques website in search of an object that could find its place on my shelves.
That’s when I came across a statue carved from dark, brown-veined wood, depicting a woman in prayer. It looked like nothing I had seen before. Did I find it beautiful? What I saw in it was a fragment of an unknown and distant world—at a time when my outings were strictly limited. I was intrigued by the strange elongation of the forms and captivated by the beauty of the wood. That was enough to convince me.
I had no idea that this purchase would mark the beginning of a collection that, a few years later, would include more than seventy pieces.​
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My first acquisition is on the right in this image. This sculpture was probably made between 1960 and 1980. On the left is a representation of the god Indra, dating from the second half of the 20th century and bearing the signature of the workshop of Ida Bagus Marka.
Why this site?
The idea for this site was born from the desire to share a few reflections on this collection.
If curiosity has allowed me to acquire some notions of Balinese culture and art, my perspective remains that of an amateur, shaped by Western categories and references. My reflections will inevitably bear the mark of this distance: what can a Western enthusiast see or understand when looking at a Balinese statue? That is the question I wish to explore here.