Thursday, December 29, 2011

social experiment


First of all, sorry for the non-stop art exhibitions posts lately and the lack of fashion-related discussions. So, I'll try to balance it out by talking about fashion in my next few posts. Therefore, here it is...

Ever since I stayed in the newly-stylish Singapore, I realized that I have an opportunity to make daring fashion choices. Although I still can't believe that I still get those undesirable looks from strangers as I walk with my creepers down the streets of such modern city. Well, I guess that means you can't assume everyone have an open mind and it is our own responsibility to develop a tough skin.

With that on my mind, I wonder about my own hometown. Has Jakarta matured enough to be ready to accept edgy fashion choices?

To find out, I conducted a bit of an experiment since I got here. I wore some of my crazy outfits that I usually only dare to wear in Singapore. I still can't believe that I wore my tartan kilt pants to plaza Indonesia, or my winged shoes to 3 art galleries. While on other occasions, I do kept it a bit simpler like the photo below. Although, I still kept my knuckles fully equipped with rings as always ;)





And I was beyond surprised with the people's reaction. The overall response was manageable. No uncomfortable stare whatsoever.

I firstly had doubts, but oh boy was I wrong or what. I'm so relieved that Jakarta had become more socially accepting towards new ideas. This is great news, because that means we as the younger generation have more opportunity to be more creative. So my advice, the next time you're going out, don't be afraid to wear your craziest outfit and have fun with it. There's no better feeling than to just let loose and feel free :)

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Taman Ismail Marzuki

The last stop was at Taman Ismail Marzuki. The exhibition still gravitates towards contemporary artworks just like the ones at Galeri Nasional. The artworks are great as always, but I wish they would have a bigger space thus more works could be shown.










Some are kind of spooky, while others are very satirical. I was very drawn to the scribbled money notes. They actually gather those with the most silliest drawings, and documented in a single giant-sized book. Its a kind of work that just make you laugh and said "why didn't I think of this?".

galeri nasional

Next stop was the galeri nasional. The exhibition takes about 4 gallery spaces + an outdoor area, showcasing from small sculptures to outdoor installations. Not just the amount of artwork that excites me, but the fact that the exhibition focused on contemporary artworks, made me feel ecstatic!

Now, I'll take you to each and every space of the entire gallery.

OUTDOOR SPACE

Note: visitors can actually walk along a path and go inside the red box on the left





 HALL C

deconstructed mp3 players

strong imagery that reminds us the scarcity of water as a resource



screening of a short film titled "bangkai"


Waafa Bilal's paint ball project titled "domestic violence"





AUDITORIUM

the sandals was actually moving,
creating an illusion that some people are walking on it



HALL B


return of the cassette man



possibly one of the scariest installation I've ever seen as the bubble inflate and deflate following the rhythm of a heartbeat

HALL A


yes, its a hologram
took me a minute to put my jaw back into place after seeing this

I still cant believe that they had an artwork by the famous Ai Weiwei



After walking around the gallery, I was smiling from ear to ear. Its nice to see fantastic ideas from local artists. Go Indonesia! :)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

bentara budaya

 
Following the official start date of Jakarta Biennale, all kinds of art exhibitions are opening up around town. And to create a kind of fun journey for myself, I allocate myself a whole day for some kind of an "art trip", a whole day spent looking at galleries.





For my first stop, I went to the Bentara Budaya gallery. Showcasing a wide collection of traditional Indonesian paintings and sculptures, from top notch maestro such as affandi. I'm not exactly a fan of the classics, but it was nice to familiarize myself with how the art was back then.





adu ayam - by affandi


amazing details on this litograph work




one of the best watercolor painting I've ever seen