A self-taught artist who learned by watching the famous Ngendon, the first of the modern Batuan artists, at work. He was a member of the Pita Maha group and showed his work to the European artists Bonnet and Spies for criticism. There are twenty-seven paintings by him in the Bateson-Mead Commission (H. Geertz, 1994, p. 104). He developed his style of painting independent from the influential Batuan artists of Ngendon and Mura. He was also a renowned teacher of art in Batuan, and the Batuan style today still bears the influence of Jata's works and teachings. He continued to paint well after the war, however in May 1994, he expressed a wish to give up his art due to his age (Hohn, 1997, pp. 53-58).