Neal Adams Finds His Focus in Bali

October 31, 2010
Neal Adams puts his love for nature on canvas in trademark landscapes. (JG Photo/Richard Horstman)

Painter Neal Adams has found spiritual peace and a wellspring of inspiration — the likes of which he has never experienced before — in his home among the green rice fields and fog-shrouded mountains of Ubud.

He is fortunate, considering he almost never made it there. “I packed my bags and left London for Bali, yet I recall a moment at the airport when I thought, ‘What on earth am I doing?’ ”

Adams, a contemporary landscape artist, first visited Ubud in 1998. Like so many other foreign artists, he sensed something unique about the town and inexplicably felt drawn to it, finally taking up permanent residence there in 2003.

He quickly discovered that he could focus his creative energies better, tapping into a distinctive energy that Adams found very conducive to creative expression.

The town’s culture integrates art and life simultaneously through music, dance, ceremonies, sculpture, painting and rich narratives from Hindu epics.

“Living in Bali, I developed a strong work ethic by painting every day,” Adams said. “I discovered a practice to refine my technique and at the same time carved out a voice in my work — a personal style which was very much my own.”

Adams has always had a creative bent. He was born in London in 1968 and grew up in a creative family. Drawing came naturally to him as a child, he said.

At the age of 14, he started getting private art lessons from James Turner, a professor at the Wimbledon College of Art, near his childhood home.

“I regularly visited exhibits and the National Gallery in London. It became my temple,” he said. “As a child, I loved to venture alone into the chambers and immerse myself in the works of the great masters — Rembrandt, Monet, Cezanne and others.”

He studied their methods and, upon returning home, tried to reproduce their techniques. “I had a burning desire to become an artist,” he said.

Living and painting in his small studio in London, Adams supported himself by working in the printing industry. Later, he was able to sell paintings, rendered in traditional oils, to tourists at the Piccadilly Flea Market in London.

The painter has a distinctly philosophical take on his craft. Adams describes painting as an emotional and deeply introspective activity.

“Painting is like music, it is an expression on an emotional level. It draws from the interior,” he said.

“A painting is a reflection of life and how we witness it. I strive for the emotional connection with the observer that they can feel the painting as well as see it. I believe I have succeeded when I make people view the world in a slightly different way.”

His Zen-like approach probably stems from his love for contemplation, especially outdoors, where he says he “developed a respect, a reverence for trees and nature” as a young boy.

“I adored sitting in gardens but preferred to be within the depths of a forest with a pencil and sketch pad,” he said. “To be in its silence, surrounded by its energy, I had a sense of calm.”

In his paintings, he loves to play with trees and light. His creations strike a balance between realism and abstraction.

His style was heavily influenced by Impressionism, which captured nature in a way that allowed viewers to regard the illusion on the canvas and let their imagination run wild.

Interestingly, his paintings change according to the amount of light in the area in which they are displayed. The artworks seem to flow or shift, depending on a viewer’s vantage point.

Observers will be surprised to see silhouettes, shadows and abstract images appear as they study a painting from different angles.

Adams said the dynamic, almost surreal results, were a vital part of his creative process. “Each piece has its own individual character,” he said. “I produce something unique with every canvas I use and each painting has a life of its own.”

Gold and silver metallic leaves on his paintings, for instance, reflect light and function as background lighting to the painting’s foreground subjects.

The luminous and textured material contrasts starkly with the flat and dark figures of trees, creating a powerful effect.

Adams painstakingly applies the metallic leaves onto the canvas, sealing them in thin films of translucent lacquer. He favors gold metallic leafing since the color has religious significance in Bali. “Gold is God’s color,” he said.

Through this leafing technique, he is able to play up the variances of light and depth of field, creating a striking picture.

Adams’s message has resonated with collectors and art lovers. His paintings sold out in his Indonesian debut at Jakarta’s Canna Gallery in July 2007.

His works are regularly traded at Masterpiece Auction House in Jakarta and each October, he exhibits his paintings in sold-out shows at the JL Gallery Modern Art & Design in California.

In Ubud, his works can be viewed at Orgone Gallery on Jalan Raya, Sanggingan, just up the road from Mozaic Restaurant.

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