Ngurah

Ngurah Gede Merta was born into an aristocratic
family of the province of Singaraja, Bali, in 1976. He
spent his childhood in Italy and was educated in the Netherlands. In the late 90s he returned to Bali to assume family responsibilities and to set up his
studio on the island’s north shore. Painting was always Ngurah’s first love, but he is also an accomplished musician and composer. In Amsterdam as a teenager he created fifteen
minute portraits for travelers in the Jordaan during the day and played Conga at clubs in the evening.
Ngurah works with models in a realistic style but often abstracts his subject matter as the mood leads him. His technique follows the old masters –
multiple thin layers of oil paint mixed generously with linseed oil, classic chiaroscuro technique and multiple glazes to finish the work. Ngurah is a student of the renaissance and says he strives to create classic, timeless compositions with a contemporary edge. The mysterious power of women inspires his work and “evoking the perfection of feminine beauty will challenge me as long as I can hold a brush”.