We chat with Dodit Artawan as we are about to launch our Toko Elami x Dodit Artawan Bali Macet Playing Cards. Dodit Artawan, a Bali-born artist, challenges traditional expectations of Balinese art with his unique and vibrant creations. Using paint markers, he transforms common sights from Bali's streets and everyday domestic objects into colorful, intricate works of art. Artawan's pieces are characterized by meticulous lines and dots, with each object featuring detailed etchings.
Your work often features everyday objects from Bali's streets. How do you choose which items to focus on in your art?
From an aesthetic perspective, I am interested in consumer products, their packaging design and their colors. I like to see objects (industrial products) displayed in shops on the side of the road, such as plastic products with bright colors, grocery stores, mini marts, food stalls, repair shops, souvenirs, street food, retail shops. I like how they display their merchandise, piled up on the floor, all the way to the sidewalk, stacked in glass cabinets, on the walls or hanging on the ceiling.
Likewise with the phenomenon of how people carry excessive goods (overloaded) on motorbikes or pick-up cars. Which we often encounter in road traffic jams, unique and interesting in terms of composition, very aesthetic, but it’s dangerous when you’re on the road.
I'm just trying to adopt to how modern society has become dominated by consumerism. People are celebrated for participating in this consumer culture, where shopping and material pleasures are almost impossible to resist. This consumer-driven and hedonistic lifestyle is both addictive and intoxicating. My observations are as commentary on how globalization has led local cultures to embrace foreign influences, thus displacing their own culture.
