Born in 1957, Made Djirna studied painting at the Institut Seni Indonesia in Yogyakarta. He lives and paints in Ubud, where his proximity with the fabric of Balinese life and culture conditions his work. By his own admission, his works “- whatever their forms and motives – reflect the magical –ritualism of the rich Hindu-Balinese culture.” The work ‘New Birth’ can be read within Djirna’s recent engagement with figuration. It is also to be positioned within the contemporary political and social crisis in Indonesia. In formal treatment, this work is a typical of the high built up and textural surface effects, as here he gives an ephemeral quality to the work with its translucent washes. Figures too are more abstractly rendered, to suggest again an ephemeral, a-temporal experience.
