Indonesia · Painting / Ritual Art
Lukisan Perada / Kamasan Style
Perada painting (also known as Kamasan style, from the village of Kamasan in Klungkung district) is the classical narrative painting tradition of Bali, producing two-dimensional works on cloth or bark paper depicting scenes from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Sutasoma, and Balinese mythology in a distinctive flat, profile-view style derived from the Wayang visual vocabulary. Figures are outlined in black on a cream or red ground, filled with a limited palette of natural pigments (earth ochre, white clay, lampblack, indigo), and elaborately ornamented with gold leaf (perada). Unlike the naturalistic art of Ubud (developed from 1930s Western influence), Kamasan painting is iconographically prescribed — character appearance, posture, color, and ornament are community canon. The painters of Kamasan village are among the last custodians of the full pre-colonial Balinese visual tradition.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not inscribed; recognized in Indonesian national ICH list
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