Gate of the Ancestors

A candi bentar — the split gate that marks the boundary between the everyday world and the temple courtyard. Astawa was trained in the Batuan tradition, where a canvas is built from thousands of small ink strokes laid down over weeks, and the darkness between them matters as much as the figures.

Look closely at the flanks of the gate and the carving resolves into faces, foliage and small guardian animals. Step back and it collapses again into stone. That oscillation is the point of the style.

Roughly six weeks of work. Ink and acrylic on stretched cotton, signed verso.