Description
This iconic painting marks a new point in Budiarta’s career as an artist. It shows Arjuna shopping with one of his consorts. They are wearing traditional Wayang costume, but with all the modern paraphernalia. Arjuna wears a t-shirt, tennis shoes and sunglasses and rolls his luggage, while his companion wears high heels, carries a shopping bag and tends to her pet, Miss Piggy. Obviously the script for this painting does not follow the traditional storyline of Arjuna, the hero and Don Juan of the Hindu epic story, the Mahabharata. Instead, Arjuna life’s story has been freely and creatively rewritten and reinterpreted. Should Budiarta write his own script for his life journey, as an artist at the crossroads of his career? Why not?