Brian Allen Homepage 

 

I am producing art about Asian things. I am particularly interested in the ancient temples of Bali, Java and Cambodia. I have spent some years traveling and photographing the wonderful Asian ruins in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Java and Bali. This spiritual realm has fulfilled a vision realized from childhood dreams.

 

From early years, I became interested in Javanese temples and in particular Borobudur. Retirement has given me time and resources to discover and uncover the mysteries and beauty of the lost cultures in relation to the Indianisation of South East Asia.

 

I have studied oil painting with Charlie Sheard, Elisa Hall and Celia Gullet and immersed myself in the painting techniques of Florence and Venice. This has equipped me with the tools with which to approach these Asian matters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temples in East Java

 

Sumberawan Temple is a big “stupa” situated 6 km in the northeast direction of Singasari Temple. It is built at the foot of Mount Arjuna, 650 metres elevation of the sea level, and around it is a pond flowing from a spring drinking water for the people of Malang supplying area. In 1937, the lower part was restorated, the rest has been reconstructed under the standard.

 

The temple has a square base, and there are no steps nor any decoration at all. It is consists of the base, the foot, and the body which has the shape of “stupa”. At the high base there is “selasar”, the foot of temple has “penampils” on each four sides. On this foot stand a stupa of a square base and an octagonal base with padma supported, whilst the upper has the shape of a bell ( or “stupa” ), its peak has been lost.

 

It can be assumed that this stupa is a Buddhist building, was built around the 14 th century. In the Negarakertagama book, Prapanca named this place Kasurangganan, meaning the Garden of Angles, and King Hayam Wuruk visited in 1359M.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bayon Temple in Cambodia

 

The most extraordinary monument raised by Jayavarman VII is the on he built in the centre of the new capital he founded about 1200. The Bayon is the most important temple in the city of Angkor Thom. This creation is just the opposite of Angkor Wat. It is an intricate, bewildering and awe-inspiring complex that underwent many transformations during its construction. The Bayon represents the apotheosis of baroque architecture in Cambodia. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Son Temple in Vietnam

 

Champa religious architecture was influenced by that of India, which in its general architecture comprises a main temple surrounded by additional shrines ormonuments. The main temple symbolized the Meru mountains – the centre of the universe and, the gathering place of the gods in India. Surrounding the main temple there were in India deep moats symbolizing the oceans but in Champa art this characteristic is not found.

 

The main temple was not a place for everybody to enter, nor a place for praying or preaching. It was a place for hindu priests and Champa nobles to propitiate the gods. A Champa tower is not large. Usually, inside it there was a linga, a symbol of Siva, which took up most of the tower space with a narrow path for devotees to go around it singly.

 

Small towers or supplementary shrines were for the gods who keep the sky direction. These shrines were too small for worship inside. If a linga was set in a shrine, there would be a narrow path around the altar of the linga as in the main temple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thatbyinnyu guphayagyi temple in Bagan, Myanmar

 

 

The official count of temples at Bagan by the end of 13th Century is said to have been 4446. By 1901 surveys found 2157 monunents still standing and identifiable. Most contemporary references quote 2217 still visible, not including brick mounds.

 

For the most part, the proliferation of temples, stupas (Buddhist religious) and kyaungs (monasteries) are constructed of fired brick covered with plaster and decorated with stucco relief, polychromatic murals and grazed tiles.

 

Temple painting of such figures as Avalokitbsvara, Manjusri and Shiva show an unmistakable Mahayama, and possibly Tantric influence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact email:  brallen1@bigpond.net.au

 

 

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