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Two Girls Passing The Temple
by Arie Smit
(lots #769)
Arie Smit only decided to become a full time painter in 1956, when
he came to Bali upon the invitation of painter Rudolf Bonnet and
art connoisseur and dealerJames Pandy. Although the trip to Bali
was supposed to be a relatively brief visit, the painter decided to stay
on the island, apparently for good, as he remained there for almost
sixty years until he passed away in 2016. “Living in Bali,
I developed an understanding about rural life, especially
community-life and the culture of Bali offered a deep source of
inspiration,” he explained. Once in Bali he clearly gradually
abandoned the careful and delicate delineation of lines in his earlier
works, rendering expressively and no longer focusing on
representational depiction. Arie’s painting began to be more ex-
pressionistic, devoting more attention to his use of light and color.
From his very first year in Bali, Arie had already started to embark
on a new stylistic journey. something that he continued to shape and
reshape throughout his life. The painting, Two Girls Passing the
Temple, shows the artist’s style of the time, still showing the distinct
lines and dots of color that he developed in the 1990s.
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