| Balinese Art is rightly famous the world over for | | | | Don't forget to ask for a receipt if you are |
| its colour and boldness of design. The particular | | | | importing goods like this. When you are asked for |
| strength of the Balinese artist is, to my humble | | | | import duty on your purchases, the Customs |
| and untrained eye, the ability to capture the mood | | | | officer will guess (and probably grossly |
| of a landscape or the colours and vibrancy of the | | | | overestimate) the value of each painting and |
| exotic Balinese wildlife. We first encountered | | | | calculate the tax accordingly. If you have a |
| Balinese Art when we spent ten days in Bali as | | | | receipt for your Balinese Art, he or she will be |
| part of a split destination holiday. We did the | | | | obliged to base the tax on that. Don't forget |
| typical tourist thing of taking a coach trip to a | | | | import duty is payable on what you actually paid, |
| gallery but, before leaving, made a note of its | | | | not what the object is perceived as being worth. |
| location and returned the next day by hired car. | | | | Balinese Art has increased in popularity since we |
| The centre of Balinese Art is Ubud and that is | | | | were in Ubud and it is now possible to choose |
| where we bought our paintings. We chose one | | | | your painting online and get it delivered to your |
| acrylic painting of a pair of birds of paradise and | | | | home for a modest courier's fee. The range of |
| another acrylic of a tree full of exotic birds. We | | | | Balinese Art available now includes imitation |
| also bought three batik pictures that were | | | | masterpieces as well as all the traditional and |
| unframed. We were lucky enough to meet the | | | | contemporary paintings that Bali is famous for. |
| two young artists whose work we particularly | | | | Nowadays, there seems to be more oil paintings |
| liked. Buying Balinese Art like this, it was good to | | | | available alongside the acrylic collection. |
| see that the money was going to be largely into | | | | Because of the bright vivid colours and high |
| their pockets and not into the bank account of a | | | | contrast used, it may be best to display your |
| Western European dealer. | | | | collection on a wall painted in a bold-coloured |
| The frames for the main pictures were | | | | emulsion. Wallpaper, unless of the plainest design is |
| hand-carved and a piece of art in themselves. | | | | likely to clash with your Balinese Art so it is best |
| Unfortunately I had not considered the implications | | | | to avoid that. |
| of getting the frames back and, although each | | | | Make sure that each acrylic and batik is well-lit - |
| painting was presented to us in a roll, the frames | | | | celebrate the vibrancy of the colours; don't hide |
| formed a package which made me look like an | | | | them away in the shadows. Your collection is |
| inexperienced terrorist. Rather than risk someone | | | | unlikely to increase in value so don't buy it as an |
| at the airport going into panic mode, I made sure | | | | investment - its true worth is the everyday |
| that the package of frame pieces was thoroughly | | | | enjoyment of its cheerful exuberance. That said, |
| inspected by Airport Security and some of their | | | | you guests are certain to admire your pictures. |
| special tape applied to indicate that they had seen | | | | Good luck choosing your Balinese Art! |
| and approved the package's contents. | | | | |