Myanmar art, Buddhist art, Lacquer, Murals and Myanmar Painting.

Murals, Buddha statues and other can be considered somehow as a treasures and a pleasures, artworks in the form of precious jewelry composition, beautiful paintings, mostly with a religious or Buddha theme, precious art in the various pagodas in form of marble sculptures, beautiful gold plated Buddha statues and images, relief Buddhist art depicting famous jakata stories.

The relation to art is a bit different as we know it elsewhere; it’s not arts and crafts, its art. A woodcarver has the same status as an artist as a painter, a silversmith the same as an architect or a creator of a beautiful marble sculpture. The idea behind is always the same, objects for religious purposes and decorative items for the house and elsewhere, designs also have always the beauty of the object in mind. Motifs from the real world and imagination plus supernatural often come together, gods, nats , mythological creatures and Buddha paintings or

drawings are pulled together, the best example are the jakata stories which are very popular motifs in temples. Artists always try to find a good balance of all common used parameters that includes floral patterns.

Burmese art is mostly Buddhist art, lacquer art show a different direction, that is very profane where the purpose and a beautiful design has priority. This is tableware, furniture and sometimes pure art objects. Lacquer ware is very decorative and its natural, its not plastic but has similar properties and is commonly used every day.

Mural paintings

is an art form often used in the past inside temple and pagodas are. Contemporary art is again often Buddha oriented but there are plenty of abstract art forms of various types. Buddhist paintings are probably the most colorful and decorative.

Plenty of painting are created every day by a artists, they are very busy and exhibitions of great artwork sometimes even hits Singapore, USA and Europe. Other variant are marvelous woodcarvings and a very special form is so called 'precious stones painting' where the usual painted colors are substituted by gemstones, lacquer art is probably one of the best known.

Words such as the Orient, the East etc. are loaded with exotic imaginations of indigenous identities. This is particular evident in terms of art and cultural which can be experienced by traveling to the country or just have a look for Thailand art in various art shops and galleries in Bangkok or Singapore for Buddha Statues. The desire to see and maybe own something different, beautiful and exotic from far away is for sure a driving motive. Its real exotic and very decorative since Buddhism, sometimes Hinduism and Chinese culture are clearly evident in the pictures.

Myanmar art ancient fresco or mural paintings. Traditional art, Myanmar artist, Buddhist art, contemporary Myanmar art, Myanmar brass art, mural painting.

Contemporary Burmese art

also show this influence. It can be seen in many gallery exhibition in Yangon, Mandalay and other places. Burmese art exhibitions sometimes reach a international audiences in Singapore via private galleries but anyway the infrastructure still needs lots of improvement and should be open to a wider audience. Maybe by government supported exhibitions in Asia and elsewhere
since contemporary artwork has something to tell and this is not only religion. Traditional artwork has often religious components included, they show theology and show that local artists are able to produce paintings and other subjects on high quality. Woodcarving art can be found in the handicraft section.

Brightly colored Buddhist paintings,

driven by a deep ethical impulse, they let the viewer have a glimpse into local artistic value and reflecting the culture. More on Buddhist art. Figurative forms are also mainly around the Buddha theme, all kind of material like brass, bronze, marble, granite, wood etc. is used to create Buddha statues, images and sculptures, they come in many styles, sizes, simple crafted or with objects attached and maybe painted with simple colors and or gold paint. At the Bogyoke Aung San market in Yangon are plenty of galleries having all this on display including fine silver ware made from solid silver not plated stuff, see the silver art items at the Myanmar Art Pictures page.

Oriental art in general is very decorative and a true "eye catcher" in every house, different countries in Asia produce different art, such as Chinese Pop and Malaysia Batik paintings, more.
Very popular is traditional art such as statues of mythical beings, paintings with a countryside theme like oxcart, bullock cart on dusty roads, sailing ships on the Ayeyarwady river and all variation of pagodas and monasteries

Buddhist Painting are true art,

The paintings below are from a exhibition in the Governors Residence Hotel in Yangon. Here is true Asian art by any means with all the components and values someone expects for Asia.

Buddhist art Myanmar usually has good quality and the local artists do a real good job. The quality of paintings is excellent and a real showcase of Buddhist paintings, read more.

Famous mural paintings

in the Pagodas and Temples of Bagan in central Myanmar. Frescoes or mural paintings adorn many of Bagan's monuments. Among other temples with the best preserved frescoes are the Patothamya, Nagayon, Abeyadana and Nanpaya.

The technique to create this mural paintings is, first to smoothen the wall to be painted with a mixture of lime, vegetable and animal material, after it will let dry for a few days. Now the master painter draws the outline with chalk or ink, after this he will apply colors with the help of his assistants. Those colors are composed of compounds made from vegetables, animals (mainly fat) and locally available minerals.

The paintings have no perspective, instead lines of many variations are drawn and pigments with strong colors are used to create lively and expressive pictures.The gaps between the lines are filled with floral and geometric patterns or just some creative inspiration of the artist.

Usually murals and frescoes tell a story, this story is rendered in one picture with many scenes divided by floral boundaries, some space is left to write explanations. The main themes are jataka stories very often blended with scenes of the daily life of that time, more.

Myanmar modern art very often centers on Buddha portraits and Buddha marble sculptures in a very new fashion way, naturally there are some abstract art attempts, its difficult to say something since everyone interprets his own ideas into it. There are plenty of unique painting creations of beautiful flower composition art, maybe with some lotus flowers, orchids, native landscape and quite a lot of Chinese art painting themes.

Great photography, sometimes is shown in the entrance to the pagodas. The entrance walkways to temples and pagodas have lots of small shops left and right, trying to sell all kind of religious items, you easily can find pieces of beauty.

If you are in Bagan have a look at the entrance to the Ananda temple one famous Myanmar Photographer Mr. Bagan Maung Maung will show you plenty of stunning photos he made, real beautiful compositions, you wont find this elsewhere. Myanmar Artists are very creative to create beautiful items made out of solid silver and other not plated materials.A continuous demand for Buddha figures and statues is almost sure, most are donated to monasteries, temples and pagodas.Many shops selling cottage industries items producing are located near pagodas and temples.

Silver art

is a long-standing tradition in creating outstanding silver items with distinctive art pattern reminds very much on antique silver. Silversmith are doing a excellent job, if one has some special request to make some silver items it can be done, for a surprisingly reasonable price, more.

Lacquer art

Is a very special version of artwork and handicrafts. Lacquer is perhaps the most distinctive and traditional of all and the most widely produced and used for the real worlds applied art. Lacquer art was long a favorite of royalty for storing documents and precious jewelries. You can find beautiful lacquer art from Thailand with a little bit more artistic flavor here, more.

The creation of lacquer items is usually in the so called "cottage industries" typical for lacquer is Bagan. Other are centered around the creation of all kind of religious objects or decorative items. They make beautiful marble Buddha images, Buddha statues from alabaster, wood and sometimes granite.

Common households employed lacquer art for everyday use such as keeping betel nuts and leaves or as soup bowls. Monks use a black lacquer ware bowl known as thabeik when asking for alms. Lacquer art - Lackarbeiten - from Myanmar Burma Birma was so highly treasured that Myanmar's kings often presented lacquer objects as gifts to foreign emissaries.

Little is known of how the making of lacquer art - Lackarbeiten -started in Myanmar Burma Birma, although some believe that it may have been introduced from China's Yunnan province. What is certain is that lacquer ware is a traditional Myanmar craft that dates as far back as the 13th century.
How Myanmar artwork of the past was made.
Valued for its artistic beauty and practical qualities ' it is light and watertight, for example ' lacquer ware has many applications. One can find lacquer ware ash trays, bowls, water jars, vases, salvers for temple offerings, cups, jewellery boxes based on an ancient design that double as pillows, traditional betel boxes, plates, storage chests, tables and chairs.