Tantra, a cartoonist and graphic artist from Buleleng, in the northern part of Bali, is renowned for his creativity. The development of his t-shirt art is testimony of this, for it is a process which has proven his capacity for ‘creative deviance’, which is related to a naughty, cartoon-like humour but in its depiction is much more realistic. For example, Tantra’s t-shirts that depict plates of fried rice, the (now extinct) three-wheeled bemo, or a surfer carving down the face of a wave, are so realistic in their graphic detail that they are as popular among domestic tourists as they are among foreign ones.

Tantra’s most recent designs include a series of portraits of famous people, or graffitti-like designs done with an airbrush. Nowadays, Tantra is careful not to offend anyone with his designs, after he was taken to court for his t-shirt design which depicted a half-naked Lady Diana.

Another cartoonist to enter the business of t-shirt design is Jango Pramartha. Unlike Tantra, who uses a number of artistic techniques to come up with his t-shirt designs, all of Pramartha’s t-shirt designs are cartoons. And also unlike Tantra, Pramartha’s t-shirt designs carry a certain social message. "I am trying to communicate something about society and culture via my t-shirts designs," he says.

One of his t-shirts, for example, depicts a person playing golf, on a serene and clean golf course, except, that is, for the pig that is running towards the golfer, pursued by a man in traditional Balinese costume. ‘See Bali and Smile’ says the motive. Ever the true cartoonist, Jango makes us laugh without sacrificing the underlying social message of his images.

Indeed, many t-shirt designers in Bali have been attracted to cartoons. As well as being funny and quick to attract attention, cartoons are a convenient way to make a social comment in a light and humorous way. This makes t-shirts with cartoon-like motives more parodic than motives made using other techniques. Cece Riberu is another cartoonist to have entered the t-shirt business. "Tourists seem to like my designs," he said from his combie van stall parked at Kuta Beach.

Another Balinese artist to have become a t-shirt designer is Ketut Arsadana, renowned for his Bulldog Fish - a fish with the face of a bulldog. This design took off in Bali, especially in Kuta, several years ago. In fact it was so popular that it began to compete with even the international name brands and as a result was poached by other, small-time t-shirt producers. Consequently, to date, many of the Bulldog Fish designs now on sale are not original. Said Arsadana: "Actually, Balinese t-shirts have the capacity to compete with foreign name brands. But to do that they need to have big capital. If they only have small capital, they can only be sold from the art market." According to Arsadana, with enough capital backing, there is no reason why Balinese t-shirt designs couldn’t ‘go international’. This is an opinion which is reiteration by Boping Suryadi of the local company, Rock Art T-shirt. "A lot of tourists are interested in my designs. But I can only market them locally. It’s difficult to break through into the export market," said Suryadi, who is renowned for his ‘ethnic’ t-shirt designs.

There are a number of Balinese artists who have the capacity to produce good t-shirts with interesting designs, not only for foreign tourists, but also domestic tourists and even locals. T-shirts are a flexible medium, and can be used to accommodate a diversity of designs as well as to offer the artist room to experiment. According to Boping Suryadi, one of the ideas which is yet to be exploited is that of putting the works of local painters onto t-shirts. Painter Made Budhiana has attempted to produce hand-painted t-shirts, but the products "were not well marketed", according to Suryadi.

T-shirts are no longer just an item of clothing. They are a commodity which is at once artistic and commercial. Unfortunately, too few local artists are yet to take advantage of this lucrative business.