I N T H E P U B LI C DO M AI N : K A L A F R O M T H E A R T G A L L E R Y O F S O U T H A U S T R A L I A - TAASA Review December 2010

I N T H E P U B LI C DO M AI N : K A L A F R O M T H E A R T G A L L E R Y O F S O U T H A U S T R A L I A – TAASA Review December 2010

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This article was originally found in the December 2010 edition of TAASA Review (Volume 19, Issue 4, Page 22).

The full article is available for free to TAASA Members.

Russell Kelty Kala, Indonesia (Muntilan region, Central Java), mid-9th century (early HinduBuddhist Period, c7th-10th centuries).

Terracotta, stucco, 55.0 x 75.0 x 35.0cm.

Gift of Michael Abbott QC through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2007, collection Art Gallery of South Australia There was a ruined candi The demon’s masks looked As if they were crying silently. Arjuna-wiwaha (Arjuna’s Wedding), canto 15:13 T hose lines from Empu Kanawa’s epic poem Arjuna-wiwaha, composed some time between 1028-35 to honour King Airlangga’s consolidation of authority in East Java following years of devastating chaos, is a reminder that temple ruins displaying giant kala faces above the entrances have been a feature of the Javanese landscape since antiquity. The heritage of Central Javanese candi architecture is synonymous with the extraordinarily skilled use of stone in monuments like the early 9th century Candi Prambanan, near Yogyakarta...