VOGUE & JENNIFER BIEL RISK

If you have a chance to see all international magazines plus some locals at newsstand, you will notice how VOGUE (US) magazine takes a risk by using denim as its model's outfit for the cover. Play with denim for high end market is not an easy task, it's kind of suicidal (for those who never see a risk as a success opportunity). Denim has all minor characters, lazy, dirty, messy, cheap (there's no magazine would love to have cheap impression), sexy boogie, and so on.

There's no one would try this kind of gut for their magazine's cover (yet), the risk is too big, the mag would fall from grace, the magazine position in the market would be violated, and all the competitors would laugh with very big smile like Willy Wonka. But for this, (cum'on, clap) VOGUE proofs that YES they can, gracefully. 

VOGUE challenges its reputation. I like its formula: Colliding Denim with Classic Natural Beauty. The result is excellent, Jennifer Biel is the right choice, her golden hair, classic face, and decent gesture, succeed lifting up all denim reputation onto VOGUE level. It won't work if they pick Anna Kendrick, Kardashian's sisters, Lady Gaga, Katherine MacPhee, Miley Cyrus, or even Beyonce for this situation. Denim will drag them down to its minor level, even though you ask a photographer as caliber as Mario Testino to snap it.

Brava, Brava, Brava.
Here Jennifer wears Ralph Lauren, photo: Mario Testino.

GIRAFFE KOONS

I spend my quality time with my son, one morning, in little garden in my neighborhood. My son, 15 months, celebrating his new skill, walking with no direction, I put my eye on him, I followed every step he took, then he leads me to this wooden creature. It looks like a struggle Giraffe that tried to stand up. In some point, well at least from my point, it also looks like a chronic version of Jeff Koons naughty dog.

THE ART OF SHOE

OMG. I really love this. I found this at GQ blog...

(clap, dammit!!!)

ORINOCO FLOW: KUPANG

From Savu to Kupang far beneath the coral sea, sail away sail away sail away...

Fresh from the sea.

When fish and man collide.

Sail away sail away sail away...

I went to Kupang last year, invited by local N.G.O. for its photo calendar project. The itinerary runs pretty tight, 11 days full of site inspections, meet the natives, and shooting. I barely had no spare time for my photographic ego. Except one early morning, I successfully escape from the itinerary, I set myself sitting with a Nikon in my hands at a traditional fish market, Pantai Kupang. Here what I saw. A lovely busy morning, ships just arrived after crossing Savu Sea from Sumba Island, Flores Island, and its vicinity. Sun kissed everything and me, slowly.

LOEWY & EMPTY COCA COLA

Again, I should wait for someone. At Loewy cafe, in southern Jakarta. For me this place is very friendly, warm, and nice, specially when it close to sunset time. So here I sit, order a cup of Earl Grey, watch two or three couples who is having conversation quietly (I still can listen, they sound Singaporean), and see an empty Coca Cola bottle. I am hopeless, my friend feels like never show up. I dig my bag, find a ballpoint pen and a little sketch book. I want to share how bored I was. 

2010 CELSIUS, THAT's HOT

It’s rather hard to impress people through ceramic art, especially young generation. Their brain seems blocked by super obvious visual art such as paintings, digital art, mural, and photography, or by strong material for art like wood or stone carving. Ceramics… rrr, better leave it for oldster.

For their information, ceramic art is not as simple as it seems. The artist’ must control the balance between their ‘sky is the limit’ fantasy and the material (clay) vulnerability. Ceramics work contain a hellish processing, every ceramics artist must throw their work into flame, burn it like almost thousand Celsius to reach the pre-final result. (Can you imagine if Vincent van Gogh or Irving Penn do that process to their work? Don’t smile!). Furthermore, if the result turns out different from the expectation, then everyone need to start all over again, and leave the failure as an alien in the garbage bin.

Not enough, when the work is successfully finished and ready to be exposed in an exhibition, then the big red warning word, DO NOT TOUCH, is standby with it 247. It makes the visitor’s nervous system will always on, signaling them with: if your elbow kiss the ceramic, it will jump and fall into thousands pieces, and you need to find fire exit to escape or the artist will glaze you alive.

Anyway…, on this 1^st Sunday of 2010, I go to northern Jakarta, at Ancol seashore, to see the Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Biennale #1 in North Art Space Pasar Seni Ancol. It is very interesting, ceramic artist form several countries display their latest work here, they are coming from Australia, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Netherland, Singapore and Thailand. (hmm… watch your elbow).

Noah Ark by Sri Hartono
Stoneware, Sukabumi Clay, glazed, 20 hours single firing-1240 Celsius.
This Noah Ark filled with cars and buildings, representing a modern greediness, when a huge tsunami hit you, the first thing you do is save your belongings, forget your soul, and other living creatures.


4 Bowls by Michela Foppiani & Marcelo Massoni
White naked Raku, dimension: 28x11cm
I like this works, beautiful, sensitive, naïve, its unpredictable pattern lock your eyes and emotion.


This is Superhero #2 by Taufiq Panji Wisesa
Casting stoneware – firing 1230 Celsius – with hand fabricated copper, dimension: 134x90x35 (6 pieces)
Taufiq’s work is comical, presenting today’s typical hero, fat body with a dog intuition.


Saint of The New Age by Hary Mahardika
Hand build earthenware
This jar looks fun, it has ancient aura blends with young and modern detail.


Sleepless Batara by FM Widayanto
Stoneware, dimension 45x52x60cm

Numbers by Nurdian Ichsan
Terracotta, diameter 300cm
This work is intersection between a site specific installation, interactive, and time based art. It consist’ approximately 2000 little bricks marked with number and date of the making. Bricks are stacked manually one by one into a circle shape. Visitors are invited to take freely one of the brick. The process of taking away the brick by visitor is such a reverse process of making and constructing.

WORLD PRESS DRAMA

Following eviction, Detective Robert Kole of Cuyahoga County Sheriff enters a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following mortgage foreclosure and eviction. Anthony Suau (USA), World Press Photo of the Year 2008.

A detective look very anxious, he enter a messy house at gunpoint as a precaution. The house’s owner is no longer capable pay the debt, they should leave, Bank would take over everything and let the owner pack their belonging and go to wherever destination they think they could live happily ever after, tragic. Since they left, many houses have been vandalized or occupied by squatters or drug addicts, and this detective needed to check the house.

Photographer Anthony Suau takes his camera, snaps Detective Robert Kole of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff, send it to TIME magazine, and win World Press Photo of the Year 2008. Suau picture and 63 other winner’s pictures (in category: Spot News, General News, People in the News, Stories, Sports Action, Sports Features) are exhibited in Pacific Place Jakarta from early December to first week of January 2010.

I don’t really agree why the committee chooses Suau’s work as the grand winner, for me Luiz Vasconcelos’ work looks more interesting and dramatic, Luiz shoot Manaus people (mother and daughter) in Brazil against a line of strong army. For this work World Press Photo only gives Luiz a 1st prize stories winner in category General News. Geee. I ask my friend: ‘Why do you think this guy, Suau, win?’, he answered me casually: ‘… dunno, maybe because he is American’.


Eviction notices had been served on families living on the land some days earlier. The squatters, who were protesting against lack of housing in Manaus (Brazil), were evicted after a clash that lasted two hours. Luiz Vasconcelos (Brazil), 1st Prize Stories for General News.


Diana Jaron is a single mother with seven children, four of whom live with her at home in Troy, New York. Diana supports her family by working in a convenience store at a nearby gas station. Diana’s children cherish the moments when they are together with their mother. Brenda Ann kenneally (USA),1st Prize Stories for Daily Life.


Dennis Hopper (72), actor, director, painter, and photographer, visited Paris during a retrospective of his work held at the Cinématheque francaise. Jérome Bonnet (France) , 2nd Prize Singles for Portraits.

OBAMA WAS HERE

I was free since the sun arose in the morning, I saw tv morning news with polemic that bugged me so much, people arguing a statue of Barack Obama that just erected a couple days ago. There were pro and contra whether this statue is appropriate or not stand still in the city (some said ‘we have many other important persons here for commemoration, Barry has nothing to do with our country’, and other said ‘Barry is a symbol of hope, he represents impossible is nothing and the most important thing is he was here’. So, for the sake of it, I dragged my ass to the park, visit a brand new statue somewhere in Menteng Park, Central Jakarta. And there I found a Lil’ Barry.

Barack Obama moved to Jakarta when he was 6 years old (1967), he lived in Menteng and attended school in SD Besuki, where classes were taught in the Indonesian language. Last week, to commemorate that “Barry was here”, people in the neighborhood, where he once lived, erected a Lil’ Barry statue, made with bronze, height circa 1 meter, the statue stand in the middle of Menteng Park.
Here is what written under the statue: A young boy named Barry played with his mother, Ann, in Menteng Area. He grew up to be the 44th President of the United States and nobel prize winner, Barack Obama.

I like the optimistic smile of this lil’ Barry despite the bronze material and its seizure could easily vanish amid its surrounding. The hands are rather awkward, for me they look too long for a toddler, it supposed to be 10 cm shorter. The statue dedicated to children in Indonesia.