Indonesian art

It is quite difficult to define Indonesian art, since the country is immensely diverse. The sprawling archipelago nation consists of 17.000 islands.[1] Around 922 of those permanently inhabited,[2] by over 1,300 ethnic groups,[3] which speak more than 700 living languages.[4]

Indonesian art

Wood carvings from various parts of Indonesia on display, most notably wayang golek from West Java and Balinese masks and woodcarvings.

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Indonesia also has experienced a long history, with each period leaves distinctive art. From prehistoric cave paintings and megalithic ancestral statues of Central Sulawesi, tribal wooden carving traditions of Toraja and Asmat people, graceful Hindu-Buddhist art of classical Javanese civilization which produced Borobudur and Prambanan, vivid Balinese paintings and performing arts, Islamic arts of Aceh, to contemporary arts of modern Indonesian artists. Both Indonesian diversity and history add to the complexity of defining and identifying what is Indonesian art.[5]