Arts and Crafts in Indonesia

Any connoisseur is bound to be fascinated by the rich variety of Arts and Crafts in Indonesia that has been a legacy of a myriad of influences. Talking of visual arts in Indonesia, the country is not generally known as a treasure trove for exquisite or timeless paintings, but it is known more for its inimitable works of art, which are exclusive to the country. To begin with, there are the often intricate and expressive traditional and modern Balinese paintings. These paintings mostly concentrate on depicting the beauty of nature, marvelous landscapes or illustrate themes from the traditional dances. Apart from the traditional paintings, Indonesia has proved to be a fertile ground for many internationally known painters either Indonesians or Europeans who settled in Indonesia to pursue their creative endeavors.
Most of these are big names in the Art market and their works often fetch very high prices. Today, Modern Indonesian painters use a wide variety of styles and themes. Calligraphy, mostly based on the Qur'An is decorative in its special way.
When it comes to Indonesian crafts as one of the art products, one can choose among the various styles, patterns and designs that are employed in preparing them, mostly inherited as a cultural legacy from their ancestors. In many ways, the colors and forms of these crafts depict the traditional or spiritual values of a particular tribes from certain regions. In some cases these display various meanings related to the ethnic or particular region of origin.
Some of the popular forms of Arts and Crafts in Indonesia are batik, ikat and songket cloth. With the popularity of batik today, it is difficult to imagine that it was once on the brink of disappearance along with ikat, but thanks to the efforts of former President Soeharto, who ingeniously promoted the craft by wearing batik shirts on official occasions.