The Daydreamer, 1977, acrylic on paper
by Amir Sidharta
Artist
An exhibition of Kay It's works which opened at the Hawksburn Art Workshop
in Melbourne, Australia, in October 1973 confirmed his position as an accomplished
artist. In cooperation with the Hawksburn Art Workshop the artist's friends,
Henry Taibot and Esta Handfield, who had met him in Bali, had arranged for
him to study ceramics and present lectures in Australia. Less than six months
later, Kay It had held three exhibitions there, the last one marking the
opening of the Solander Gallery in Canberra.
Then, an encounter with another Western artist influential in the development
of art in Bali further reaffirmed his accomplishment as an artist. During
his return to visit Bali in 1975 and 1976, Rudolf Bonnet-who had lived in
Bali between 1931 and 1958 with the exception of a brief period during World
War II- noticed Kay It's talent and arranged for him to exhibit in the Netherlands.
In the midst of his preparations for what would have been perhaps the most
important exhibition of his career, Kay It suffered a fatal heart attack
dying in April 1977.
Knowledge of Kay It's existence and genius has been limited because of his
early death. The Bali expatriates who knew him were those who were in Bali
in the 1970s. Others are familiar with his work but were not fortunate enough
to become acqauinted with the artist himself. A retrospective exhibition
of Kay It's work is being held a the Santi Gallery on Jln. Bends in Kemang,
South Jakarta. Running until Nov. 7, it is great opportunity to learn about
his work. Another useful source is David Stuart-Fox's Kay It Whimsical World
of a Modern Balinese Artist (Koez Artbooks, 1995), which is the primary
source of the biographical sketch above. Stuart-Fox was a friend of Kay
It and the book gives reader who never met the painter a opportunity to
find out what he was like