A Comparison and Contrast between Three Worlds of Bali and The Power of Art

The Three Worlds of Bali and The Power of Art are two very different manifestations of the artists’ roles and goal in pursuing art itself. In a nutshell, the artists in the Three Worlds of Bali are pursuing art for religious and cultural reasons. They dance, wayang theater (or the puppet show in English) and Gamelan music were all done to please the gods.This is to bless them and for the balance among the upper world, the watery underworld and the middle earth will be maintained. On the other hand, The Power of Art manifests that artists like Mark Rothko are driven to pursue art to stand up for their political and social beliefs, ergo self expression.Therefore it is very clear that the two are driven by their culture. As Bali, a part of Indonesia which can be found in the Southeast region of Asia, is anchored greatly into religion and religious practices, a great amount of practically everything that men do are for the gods.Their religion have a determining impact on their liv es and existence which only goes to show that art is not a hobby or a interest that they do for their own delight; it is instead an instrument to communicate with the gods, a sort of sacrifice for the gods to listen to their prayers and yield to their requests.Mark Rothko is a Russian born painter who later moved to the United States where he garnered a name for himself as one of the most important people in the Art Industry. Rothko is a very common example of a person who came from the West.Unlike the Balinese artists who perform for a greater power, the likes of Mark Rothko pursue art, in his case, paint because of his socio – political leanings. Self – expression is a very rampant and saleable theme in the Western world.The more bold, the more daring and the more innovative the artists is, the more controversy he generates and the more that people are intrigued. Mark Rothko used art to express himself, to make the whole world hear, by looking into his paintings, wha t he believes in and what he thinks the world is about.Contrary to the driving force of the Balinese artists, we could say that Rothko is more self-serving, although it does not follow that he does not have any regards for the society that he lives in. The fact is, he cares so much about his society that he is not indifferent. Which is why he resorts to using art as a form to express himself and his ideas?However, the Three Worlds of Bali presented a political paradigm through Eka Dasa Rudra. This is a very important ritual to the people of Bali because this is done once every hundredth year (this can be similar but not equal to the Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church) and all inhabitants of the island participate.This aims to transform the 11 demons to beneficial spirits. The Eka Dasa Rudra of 1963 made a volcanic eruption upon the call for President Sukarno to step down from power. The eruption was thought to be the call of the spirits and demon.