What's New and Exciting...

Posing with two of Malaysia's Greats whose works and life had inspired me during my school years.
Datuk Lat of 'Kampung Boy' and Mr. Chew Teng Beng of the Chew Brothers from Kuala Terengganu.

A question I often use when writing someone or calling, what's new and exciting in your life and the answer for me personally right now is, well, not a whole lot. Reading and listening and watching of what is going on around the planet is like taking a depressant, there is very little to celebrate and much to moan and groan about, wars are still raging and future threats of even bigger wars are on the agenda. The rising cost of living a making people hungry and lean and mean towards eachother and the spread of deseases are becoming an everyday affair so much so that an epidemic is just another in convenience for globe trotters. Locally politics is taking center stage and politicians are still making debuts with new and better promisses branding slogans and disguising failures in the form of finger pointing. People are becoming more demanding with the media hype of everything and anything that can be called news and political evengelists are mushrooming all over the cyber space writing off their cuffs of things that everyone is aware of but has no means of expressing them.

So whats new and exciting with life these days? The Solo exhibition of Johari Said's "Samudra" was officiated by the Governor of Penang, Haji Abdul Rahman Bin Haji Abbas and was also attended by the famous Malaysian Artist Lat of "The Kampung Boy" series. I was asked to comment on the show by my friend and fellow artist from Iran and coulod not find the words to really express my thoughts and feelings. I only met Juhari recently and hardly knows him personally but from what the limited amount of contacts between us all I could say to my Iranian friend was, Juhari is one of those lucky artist, one who is at the right place and the right time having the right contacts, which is most relevant in the Malaysian Art scene. As for his works, well to claim to be the 'Master printmaker' is a tall order unless one can prove it in a real peintmaking exhibition where all the methods and techniques of printmaking such as Etching, Intaglio, Mezzotint, Aquatint, Lithography, Woodcut etc. are fully on display. Juhari Said is to me a great self promoter which takes talent no doubt and most artist dont have this, those that do are most often are not that genuine in their being a true believer as artist. I ask myself what message the works on display carred other than what it claims and that is 'carrying printmaking to a new height or dimension' by turning it into a sculpture cum installation. To me this kind of claims is what is making art a little more confusing than it has already become.

Personally I have great respect for Juhari and his accomplishments as an artist in the long run as displayed in the numerous News Paper cuttings on display and the awards and claims that were given and made in his name, this is Malaysian Art, and like Lat Juhari too will one day become a Datuk. So my advice to future artists in this country is collect all the proof of your talents esoecially the News Papers frame them just like the diplomas on the lawyer's walls. and make sure you have enough high profile awards under your belt, the phili Moritz show or the Salon de Sao Paolo, these are sure winners as to establish who is who in the art world and if you are among the lucky ones that have your works in the collection of Christy's than you have it made. If failing all these and you still maintain that you are an artist then a teaching job is a good option as it is both creative and somewhat lucrative at the same time. Whatever your goal as an artist never let yourself become a starving artist, like yours truly.
A starving artist is hungry in all manners humanly possible, he is always scratching his souls for what is 'New and Exciting', he is dancing with the Devil and God while neglecting his domestic and social responsibilities while in the persuit of his ultimate joy of becoming a creator only second to his Maker, screw what people say or think for him he has lost or given up this sense of shame or redicule in the eyes of others, his peers or his contemporaries, the datuks or the art dealers. He will beg, borrow or sometimes even steal if the situation demands that he does and look for understanding between himself and his Maker. A starving artist is no any different from a con-artist for he is his worse critic and his goal is often how to create an illusion that could even fool his-self, and not to mention the general public. A starving artist would pander his self esteem if it is waht it takes to fulfill his creative needs he is no different that a prostitute in selling his works for just a pittence.
So avoid becoming a starving-artist if your choice of vocation in life is to become an artist.