Rahman Gendut

He is surely one unique artist. I came across this Indonesian painter on Artyii, an online community for painters, buyers and galleries. What is unique about him is that he paints a story. I know that a picture paints a thousand words and so on, but what he magically does is he, literally, paints a story (like a comic strip).

In his painting "Stop Procrastinating", in the first box you see a man who is casually doing a random activity and the sun is still bright outside. The next thing you know he was already shocked because darkness already fill the air. In the third box, he is sitting and soaking himself in regret. Finally, he turns on the light and moves on, maybe preparing his mind to actually carrying out the task.

I can't post the painting up here, let me just give you the hyperlink: Stop Procrastinating.

Looking at his artworks, it is apparent that his main theme is social work and issues. From painting what seems to be a mentally challenged child to depicting Lapindo Waste Mud Lake incident, Rahman Gendut does it carefully and excellently.

I manage to steal at least his profile picture from Artyii

What is most interesting to me is his style. The color that he chooses is child-like, very beautiful basic colors. He humanize this more with characters that are cartoon-like. Don't forget to add 5% insanity, though.

The Art of Conversing

This really intrigues me: how a person converse to another person, passing information about their thoughts and feelings. As a philosophy addict, I am always compelled to define things. What is conversation really? What do we pass on during conversing?

I notice that if a person is filled with only feelings, it would be really hard to converse, particularly to make a point. Take Steven Tyler, currently judging the American Idol show. When he makes a comment, he goes round and round and round, reiterating the same point with different sentences, one after another. I'm not saying that it's not convincing; it is less convincing, for sure, but he cancels it out by what I call "the impact of consistency". This impact results from a habit that is cultivated over a long period of time, long enough for the cultivator to unconsciously believe in it. Even if your habit is "being unsure when you're speaking", people will give way to you, because you are "convinced" enough when doing it.

 Has this ever happened to you?

Safe to say that great conversations happens when both parties are not thinking about what they are saying. The words just come out, and they make sense of course. This comes from the confidence that the words that you say will make sense and answer the other party's questions. Many experts rely on this subconscious process, acting with confidence not with thinking. Conscious thinking is indeed powerful, but up to a certain point because it's very slow. In contracts, subconscious thinking is the cumulative result of what we have learned and experience so far, ever since childhood. Therefore the result is fantastic, and also natural. I read in a book that conscious thinking should be reserved only for creative process (brainstorming etc). The expertise of a person is defined as how many important operations he can do without thinking.

Did he use his brain? Don't think so, do we? But everyone followed his words.

Think before you speak? Think again.

What is beauty?

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

We've heard this quote too often, but what is its implication on the meaning of beauty? What is considered beautiful by a person, might not be for some other people. Beauty is a matter of perception, subjective to each person; it is not decided by judging based on established norms. Or is it?

Symmetry is beautiful. Everyone agrees on this. The leaning tower of Pisa has attracted a lot of visitors not because it is beautiful, but rather because it is simply interesting. Not everything that is interesting is beautiful. Well proportioned body and regular features are considered beautiful. Therefore, symmetry is one norm.

The supermodel Claudia Schiffer is considered beautiful by many

More on the physical beauty, a person with "average" look in considered to be most attractive. Wait a minute, what do I mean by average? The average is analogous to the average of numbers: When two male faces are put on top each other and merged, they form some other face which is "the average" of these two faces. The most proper average would be to process all the male faces in planet earth. So this is apparently another norm.

Mona Lisa painting is also popularly beautiful

Does it mean that beauty is strictly subjectively perceivable? Apparently not. There are common unconscious agreed standard which actually defines what is beautiful. It's simply safe to be said that some objects are unanimously considered beautiful by everyone, while some is strictly subjective. How do we apply this to creating artwork then? Leave your view.

What is Music?

Some of you know that I am also a musician, guilty as charged. Don't you think I ever sit down and think what music is really to me? Never. Nadar. Ergo, now let's gather and discuss what music actually is to us.

Credits to The Committee for Musical Arts with the University of Oregon

It is a chain of beautiful melody and appropriate pauses, some people consider music exactly this way. They see it as plainly entertainment. I do too, but my devastating difference lies in the fact that I can't live without music. They can listen to music and now and then and tell us, "Music is my number N-th, so what if there's no music in life? Life goes on." Not mine. Music is my refuge. Music is a wave rambling and rioting through the sky and it creates an impact as massive as a tsunami. It binds me and it moves me but it is also a power for me: an energy that motivates me everyday and that gives me electricity in my both hands to move other people and mountains.

Credits to aggiemoms.org

It is emotions. It is how our feelings would sound like, someone says. It is an expression as well thought as a painting, not just a tune straight from your chest. I am sure you possess great feelings toward music as well and, as importantly, personal thoughts on it. What is music to you? Sing it here and share it with me and the rest of the world!

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst is an English multi millionaire artist best known for his controversial preserved dead animals works. He also produces paintings, is internationally renowned and dominated the art scene in Britain during the 90's. What I like to talk about Hirst is the fact that he doesn't actually make his artworks. I've recently read an article about him in CNN and wonder if we can really call Hirst an artist. What actually separates an artist from others?

Daniel Hirst and his  formaldehyde-preserved shark

Some fellow artist, like Lin Hsin Hsin from Singapore argues that if one does not actually creates their own work, hands on, then they can't be called artists. Lin Hsin Hsin founded the first virtual museum in 1994, is a doer and believes that art creation is a holistic process that must be done by the artist themselves from start to finish.

However, let's consider a composer. Is composer an artist? Definitely. What is the art creation process? The artist composes the song, creates the arrangement, and finally comes up with a playable music. This is the holistic art creation, the artwork is a song. However, does it stop here? Does the composer perform the music themselves? Sometimes no. So when the music is never played, is it art? I leave the answer to you. When it is being performed to an audience by a group of other artists, is it still art? Definitely. Is the original composer still an artist? That's the answer.

What is Words Art?

This is my favorite. Words can really be spectacular when combined, intertwined, and enhanced into a Words Art. What do I mean? What is words art? Take a look at the image below.

Credits to st3to on deviantart

The power of this art is in the words themselves, the meanings they carry, and sometimes how the meaning of each word in the art correlates. Of course, the design of the final presentation can separate which art is brilliant and which one is simply just great. Again I emphasize on the meaning, as this was what attracted Conceptual artists in the 1960s to start creating this kind of work. The popular one from 1985 was the neon word art by Bruce Nauman: White Anger/Red Danger/Yellow Peril/Black Death. Notice the words.

White Anger/Red Danger/Yellow Peril/Black Death by Bruce Nauman

Notice what shape does it look like? (Apart from children toy)

Nowadays words art already proliferates online with the even more convenient production process through computers with its dozen of image editing software. It has also gotten more popular to laymen through T-shirt designs, for example. What else could be achieved through words art, I am not sure, maybe you dear experts could leave some comment and enlighten us all?

Finally I would like to close this with paintings from Sean Landers, a New York artist born in 1962, who stands for the a particular group of 90's generation. Which group? It's the slacker one, the ones that's often associated with the circumstances where there's not much to fight for for this generation. But of course it's not entirely true. eh?

 

Happy Chinese New Year 2011!

Xin nian kuai le! Gong xi fa cai! Wan shi ru yi! These three phrases mean "Happy new year", "More prosperity to you", and "Ten thousand matters according to your way". I would like to congratulate all readers a happy year of the rabbit as 2nd/3rd of February marks the beginning of the Chinese rabbit year.

Why rabbit year? Rabbit is one of the twelve animal symbols in Chinese zodiac. Aeons ago legend has it that twelve animals race against each other to reach the gate of the Emperor God's palace. The order in which they arrived was finally used to determine the way the 12 years repeat. The first is rat, while the second is bull and so on. Bull was supposed to finish first, but how cunning and sleazy the rat was, he jumped out of nowhere in the bull's shoulder that it crossed the finish line first.

Credits to azureseilue of deviantart

Why I'm writing all this? Aside from sharing this culture with you, this is also a personal wish since yours truly actually do have some Chinese blood in him :) Happy Chinese new year again; Rabbit is often associated with peace in Chinese culture, so even though you're not celebrating it, enjoy this weekend in peace :) Wan shi ru yi!