Thursday
Drum roll, please ....... we did it!! The Sama-sama/Together catalogue has now been printed!! Arie and I were at the printers until late Tuesday night watching as the book ran through the press. Sama-sama!!!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Yogyakarta Indonesia Week Three Day 2
Yogyakart Indonesia
Thursday
Drum roll, please ....... we did it!! The Sama-sama/Together catalogue has now been printed!! Arie and I were at the printers until late Tuesday night watching as the book ran through the press. Sama-sama!!!
Thursday
Drum roll, please ....... we did it!! The Sama-sama/Together catalogue has now been printed!! Arie and I were at the printers until late Tuesday night watching as the book ran through the press. Sama-sama!!!
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Yogyakarta Indonesia Week 3
Yogyakarta Indonesia
Monday
Great last two days! We had our first two meetings for the wall project. We met at my hotel at 3:00 pm -- about 10 of us. The hotel I'm sure thinks I'm crazy -- last year the kittens, this year I'm bringing a bunch of artists in to have a meeting for which I cleared the furniture in the lobby so we could sit on the floor and plan our guerilla project.
The group of artists that I'm working with is awesome! I feel really honored to get to work with such a talented bunch. They solely work on the streets doing posters, stencils, and spraycan work. The group includes: Novi, Anton, Puji, Roly, Anto, Aries, Karyadi, Gedheg, and Nova; and Aries 2 (dua) is videotaping our project. Later, we met at 10:00 pm at Sam and Ade's to make more of a plan of action and the materials we'd need. One of the things I love the most about the art community here is that they're so organized in that if you decide to do a project it happens in a flash.
This morning Novi and Anton picked me up at 9:00 am and we headed over to Sam's to meet up with Roly, Anto, and Aries dua.
Then off to toko chat Spartan (the paint store). Several people there remembered me from years past.
We then headed over to the site to scrape the wall that was layered with posters, old and new. Puji, Karyadi, Gedheg, and several others joined us there later.
The highlight of the day was when I looked across the street and saw a familiar face -- Farhan!!!! I was so happy to see him. Farhan worked with me on the mural that I did here in 2003 -- Bungas, as part of the Sama-sama project. He's married now and has a 6 month-old baby!
I'd heard word that he'd done a new mural project in Jogja recently, but I hadn't seen it yet. So we headed via motorbike to see it and got caught in a downpour of rain. We had to stop twice to wait for the rain to let up. When we got there I couldn't believe my eyes -- or really, his. The mural is incredible!!!!!! Totally KARAN!
Meanwhile, Arie has been putting in many hours working on the catalogue -- Nadiah too (she did the copyedits on the Indonesian text). The film has now been printed and they're starting to print tonight! So Arie and I'll be heading over there later to check on the progress and colors.
Tomorrow, we start again at 9:00 am to paint the wall.
Until then, Salamat!
Monday
Great last two days! We had our first two meetings for the wall project. We met at my hotel at 3:00 pm -- about 10 of us. The hotel I'm sure thinks I'm crazy -- last year the kittens, this year I'm bringing a bunch of artists in to have a meeting for which I cleared the furniture in the lobby so we could sit on the floor and plan our guerilla project.
The group of artists that I'm working with is awesome! I feel really honored to get to work with such a talented bunch. They solely work on the streets doing posters, stencils, and spraycan work. The group includes: Novi, Anton, Puji, Roly, Anto, Aries, Karyadi, Gedheg, and Nova; and Aries 2 (dua) is videotaping our project. Later, we met at 10:00 pm at Sam and Ade's to make more of a plan of action and the materials we'd need. One of the things I love the most about the art community here is that they're so organized in that if you decide to do a project it happens in a flash.
This morning Novi and Anton picked me up at 9:00 am and we headed over to Sam's to meet up with Roly, Anto, and Aries dua.
Then off to toko chat Spartan (the paint store). Several people there remembered me from years past.
We then headed over to the site to scrape the wall that was layered with posters, old and new. Puji, Karyadi, Gedheg, and several others joined us there later.
The highlight of the day was when I looked across the street and saw a familiar face -- Farhan!!!! I was so happy to see him. Farhan worked with me on the mural that I did here in 2003 -- Bungas, as part of the Sama-sama project. He's married now and has a 6 month-old baby!
I'd heard word that he'd done a new mural project in Jogja recently, but I hadn't seen it yet. So we headed via motorbike to see it and got caught in a downpour of rain. We had to stop twice to wait for the rain to let up. When we got there I couldn't believe my eyes -- or really, his. The mural is incredible!!!!!! Totally KARAN!
Meanwhile, Arie has been putting in many hours working on the catalogue -- Nadiah too (she did the copyedits on the Indonesian text). The film has now been printed and they're starting to print tonight! So Arie and I'll be heading over there later to check on the progress and colors.
Tomorrow, we start again at 9:00 am to paint the wall.
Until then, Salamat!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Yogyakarta Indonesia Week 2 Day 6
Yogyakarta Indonesia
Saturday
Nano picked me up at noon. He'd called earlier to see if I wanted to come over to his place to visit and say hi to Minnie and Willie (the kittens that we'd given to him and Dani a year and a half earlier). On our way we turned into ISI (the art school) and as it turned out we were going to a talk in collaboration with the exhibition he curated, Enjoy: Sculpture #1.
The talk was being given by artists Samuel Indratma and Yuli Prayitno, moderated by Rain Rosidi. Even though I couldn't understand it, I really enjoyed the accompanying slide show. Nano also filled me in that one of the reasons he curated this show is because many of the professors at ISI are still teaching from a very traditional model and only consider sculpture to be made from carved or cast wood, stone, or metal. However, many of the students are interested in looking to new modes of creating sculptural work, not that they don't respect traditional work, but they feel stifled by the parameters that are being set.
Of course I could relate to this, having experienced similiar perspectives in both undergraduate and graduate school.
Following the talk, a group of us went to lunch at a nearby warung. It's really frustrating not being able to speak the language(s) here. However, we were able to communicate in English. Lots of political talk around the state of the world. And I'm still surprised when I realize that most people here are really surprised to here a dissenting voice from the Bush administration propaganda -- even in the artists' community. I'm always thrilled to inform them otherwise; however, it's depressing to know that their mainstream news/information is so skewed from the reality as well. At least the mainstream American press is currently forced to report that Bush's approval ratings are hovering around 25 - 30% (so we know it's actually lower).
Nano then took me to see Minnie and Willie. Aaron Noble and I found these two kittens on the railroad tracks a year and a half ago. There was no way I was going to leave them there so we took them back to our hotel room and raised them there for a month. The hotel was very accomodating, letting us store our susu (milk) in the hotel refrigerator, and the girls at the front desk would make fish rice for them. It was a very wonderful and challenging experience as we'd have to take turns getting up in the middle of the night to feed them, and I especially was bombarded with attempted suckling, since they'd figured out I was the female, mama figure. But we really loved them and took pains to find a veterinarian to check them and give them their needed shots. We also made sure that it would be arranged for them to be "fixed" when they were old enough (they were only about 3 weeks when we found them). We'd also found a home with Nano and Dani and we made sure to explain and give them the receipt for the neutering etc.
So I arrived at Nano and Dani's and saw Willie!!! So adorable. He was as sweet and loving as when he was a kitten -- though much bigger ..... and with ..... BALLS!
And then I saw Minnie!!!!
With her new kittens -- actually, only one is hers and the other two are adopted because their mother died. We had a naming ceremony for the new kitten -- Arlo. Minnie is also just as adorable and loving as when she was a kitten.
Arlo! so tiny! He's only 2 weeks old.
With Arlo and Willie.
Megan and Dani and the kitties
In the evening, I went to a performance at Kedai Kebun -- a mix of traditional and contemporary.
Saturday
Nano picked me up at noon. He'd called earlier to see if I wanted to come over to his place to visit and say hi to Minnie and Willie (the kittens that we'd given to him and Dani a year and a half earlier). On our way we turned into ISI (the art school) and as it turned out we were going to a talk in collaboration with the exhibition he curated, Enjoy: Sculpture #1.
The talk was being given by artists Samuel Indratma and Yuli Prayitno, moderated by Rain Rosidi. Even though I couldn't understand it, I really enjoyed the accompanying slide show. Nano also filled me in that one of the reasons he curated this show is because many of the professors at ISI are still teaching from a very traditional model and only consider sculpture to be made from carved or cast wood, stone, or metal. However, many of the students are interested in looking to new modes of creating sculptural work, not that they don't respect traditional work, but they feel stifled by the parameters that are being set.
Of course I could relate to this, having experienced similiar perspectives in both undergraduate and graduate school.
Following the talk, a group of us went to lunch at a nearby warung. It's really frustrating not being able to speak the language(s) here. However, we were able to communicate in English. Lots of political talk around the state of the world. And I'm still surprised when I realize that most people here are really surprised to here a dissenting voice from the Bush administration propaganda -- even in the artists' community. I'm always thrilled to inform them otherwise; however, it's depressing to know that their mainstream news/information is so skewed from the reality as well. At least the mainstream American press is currently forced to report that Bush's approval ratings are hovering around 25 - 30% (so we know it's actually lower).
Nano then took me to see Minnie and Willie. Aaron Noble and I found these two kittens on the railroad tracks a year and a half ago. There was no way I was going to leave them there so we took them back to our hotel room and raised them there for a month. The hotel was very accomodating, letting us store our susu (milk) in the hotel refrigerator, and the girls at the front desk would make fish rice for them. It was a very wonderful and challenging experience as we'd have to take turns getting up in the middle of the night to feed them, and I especially was bombarded with attempted suckling, since they'd figured out I was the female, mama figure. But we really loved them and took pains to find a veterinarian to check them and give them their needed shots. We also made sure that it would be arranged for them to be "fixed" when they were old enough (they were only about 3 weeks when we found them). We'd also found a home with Nano and Dani and we made sure to explain and give them the receipt for the neutering etc.
So I arrived at Nano and Dani's and saw Willie!!! So adorable. He was as sweet and loving as when he was a kitten -- though much bigger ..... and with ..... BALLS!
And then I saw Minnie!!!!
With her new kittens -- actually, only one is hers and the other two are adopted because their mother died. We had a naming ceremony for the new kitten -- Arlo. Minnie is also just as adorable and loving as when she was a kitten.
Arlo! so tiny! He's only 2 weeks old.
With Arlo and Willie.
Megan and Dani and the kitties
In the evening, I went to a performance at Kedai Kebun -- a mix of traditional and contemporary.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Yogyakarta Indonesia Week 2 Day 5
Yogyakarta Indonesia
Friday
It's dusk here.... lightening is flickering every 15 - 30 seconds, bats are flying around, and I'm looking out from my balcony at a dark skyline of roofs and trees against a fading blue. The air is warm, yet not heavy. The call to prayer on the loud speakers is drowning out all traffic and street chatter. It's really beautiful -- mosques throughout the city start their speakers at slightly different times so Jogja rings with a chorus of call to prayer rounds.
Talk here is about Merapi -- will it erupt or not. I met a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and New York Times, Peter Gelling, who is writing a piece about the mythology around volcano. The folklore is that everytime Merapi erupts it signals a political change in Indonesia. The last time this happened was right before the economic crisis in 1994. The eruption was predicted by an old man who is known as the gatekeeper of Merapi. He lives nearby it and in 1994 he foresaw the tragedy, which killed 60 people. The recent concerns have come from scientists and the government, and within the last several days, the Sultan, who handed down a decree to the residents living in the area that they must evacuate. However, the old man says it's not going to happen.
Friday
It's dusk here.... lightening is flickering every 15 - 30 seconds, bats are flying around, and I'm looking out from my balcony at a dark skyline of roofs and trees against a fading blue. The air is warm, yet not heavy. The call to prayer on the loud speakers is drowning out all traffic and street chatter. It's really beautiful -- mosques throughout the city start their speakers at slightly different times so Jogja rings with a chorus of call to prayer rounds.
Talk here is about Merapi -- will it erupt or not. I met a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and New York Times, Peter Gelling, who is writing a piece about the mythology around volcano. The folklore is that everytime Merapi erupts it signals a political change in Indonesia. The last time this happened was right before the economic crisis in 1994. The eruption was predicted by an old man who is known as the gatekeeper of Merapi. He lives nearby it and in 1994 he foresaw the tragedy, which killed 60 people. The recent concerns have come from scientists and the government, and within the last several days, the Sultan, who handed down a decree to the residents living in the area that they must evacuate. However, the old man says it's not going to happen.
My subconscious vision of Merapi in 2003.
The catalogue is in its final prep -- I spent 4 hours yesterday copy editing and Arie spent several hours today fixing something else. Sama-sama!
I finally met up with my friend Kuta, the becak driver whose becak was one of the ones I painted in 2004. He took me on a ride through Jogja and over to see Alicia's mural -- when Carolyn and I tried to find it we got lost.
It still looks great -- even better with time.
Alicia, Codit, and Farhan had painted this pole with white paint and it looks awesome now as its rusted.
This is one of my favorite graphics in Jogja and we passed after leaving Alicia's mural.
This is for the most special Indonesian cuisine.
As you can see from the clouds rain was on the way -- and rain it did in thick sheets with huge gusts of wind and loud thunder accompanying.
Salamat!
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