Although considered as one of the earliest forms of art and has a huge influence to the world, nowadays graphic art is not quite popular in Indonesia.
The lack of facilities, studios, and campuses that provide proper art education with a good quality of mentor as well as the scarcity and high cost of materials causes graphic art to not develop well in this country. As a result, not many artists consistently creates this kind of art. Hence, there are few exhibitions and collectors who could support their works.
In Bali, only a handful of artists study and practice graphic art. One of them is Dewa Made Johana, a promising artist who focuses mostly on printmaking technique. Johana has shown his passion and earnest dedication to explore printmaking since his early twenties. Born in 1994, Johana found his path as a printmaker during his study in Art major at the Ganesha University of Education (Undiksha), Bali.
Beside sharpening his creative mind in a solitary process, Johana also actively and voluntarily works as a facilitator for a regular woodcuts (cukil kayu) printmaking workshop in collaboration with Studio Grafis Undiksha. This non-profit program is open for the public in Bali including kids.
Johana’s works of art have been displayed in numerous group exhibitions in several regions in Indonesia such as “Move On #3” at Sandiolo, Surabaya (2016), “Lingkar Semar,” Taman Budaya Jawa Barat (2016), ‘’November On Paper’’ at Bale Banjar Sangkring, Yogyakarta (2017), “Explora(c)tion” at Bentara Budaya Bali (2017), “58 years of Sanggar Bambu” at Gedung Gallery SMSR, Yogyakarta.(2017), “Galungan Cina” Neka Art Museum Ubud (2018) ,”Sukat” Puri Lukisan Museum, Bali (2018), “Happy Ending” Maya Gallery, Bali (2019), and “Special Perception” at Limanjawi Art House, Borobudur temple area, Magelang (2020).
Currently, Johana also uses his talent in printmaking to produce fashion products. He did some experiments to reproduce his art on T-Shirt fabric.
Let’s stay in touch with Johana and his art through:
Instagram : @johana_dewa
Visit his studio at:
Banjar Silungan, Lodtunduh, Ubud