Wood Carving

WOOD CARVING

Wood carving,like stone carving, has traditionally featured largely in temple and palacearchitecture with little freestanding 'sculpture' work produced commercially.Immaculately carved demons and mythical beings decorate pillars, door panels,lintels and window shutters with the aim of protecting the buildings fromevil intruders. Scenes of legendary figures placed within floral decorset a more pleasant and educational tone. When producing tools and objectsfor everyday use, sculptors had a much freer hand in choosing subject matter.With the arrival of European influences, wood carving started to developalong more innovative and commercial lines.

 Althoughthere have been noteworthy carvers, for example; I Nyoman Cokot, Ida BagusNyana and Ketut Nongos, artistic integrity has suffered as a result ofthe whole villages specialize in producing certain styles of work. Thevillage of Mas near Ubud is probably the best known for its carvings offemale figures, Buddhas, characters from Hindu epics and the traditionalTopeng and Wayang Wong masks.