Sari Chempaka

Went to visit Sari Chempaka with Hasnul.

Sari Chempaka - a beautiful constructivist HOME belongs to Najib Dawa who is my former Dean, teacher, mentor and usual collaborator -  who is responsible for bringing me into USM ( where i have my formal education in the visual arts - GOD Bless you my man!!!! ).


We been talking and examining few articles and artefact ( especially written by the late Ismail Zain in 1989!!! ) involving traditions - modernity and language of harmony, the sublime beauty of it and how it able to transcend into the cultural consciousness of southeast Asians - where architecture, language speaks in harmony with nature.

Najib is well known and walks the walk when it comes to this sort issues - what is awesome is, he is not a pretentious prick ( like those so called cultural expert ). His Batik works features his mastery of colors and composition.


All of his Batik works have subtle command of color yet commanding, striking yet it doesn't glare.  Here...take a look....cantik man...

A Dawa resting on a fairy land, 2008
So for years, he had been collecting, curating his own extensive collection, building and for the past 4 years - this is the result and what is awesome is he and his wife living in it.

Rather than viewing dead artefacts displayed in the hollow halls of any art gallery and museum, here - we have a chance to experience it, communicate with it, live and breathe it. 


pintu selak
Sari Chempaka - his personal house is a wonderful amalgam of  various Southeast Asian architectures, filled with bit and pieces that simply add characters - Sari Chempaka for me is a postmodernist structuralist work.  

he got this from China.
eat your hearts out, a single piece of Cengal baby!!!

photo by Kebun Jiwa Halus

photo by Kebun Jiwa Halus
The Serambi - photo by Kebun Jiwa Halus

Najib and his future project, he's building rumah bujang - man....photo by Kebun Jiwa Halus
We'll be launching a new project, a new narrative - will keep you guys posted.

For more articles involving culture and tradition, click the links below

Sembang Kedai Kopi

Tradition

Objects

The Immaterial Values

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Balai Seni Negara's Treasures

Image
after weeks of lecturing and exposing my students to various masterpieces of the Western paintings, sculptures and other notable artefacts, it's time for me to introduce them our nation's wealth and masterpieces which i deem noteworthy. Q : how i evaluate a work of art to be noteworthy? A : it must stand through the test of time, requires full attention and forget all the pretentious glorified curatorial writings. The image produced must show evidence of thoughts, thoughtful strokes and skills - in terms of composition, mastery of the colors and must be one that control the gallery space. ( to be honest, i cant appreciate digital paintings as it is missing the most vital elements - that is texture and the evident of the strokes. ) example - Michaelangelo's Pieta and Monet's Waterlilies. What is brilliant is, i brought them to National Visual Arts Gallery, where they got a chance to meet up my old dean/sifu/friend/mentor/adopted guardian angel/humanist - Naji
Read more

The Final Lesson by Syed Ahmad Jamal

Image
Intro This is will be a long note - edited again thoroughly. Before i begin, this writing will touch on an individual goes by the name of  Syed Ahmad Jamal ( our National Laureate ) who passed away on 2011 and DBKL - stands for Kuala Lumpur Municipal Council. My heart dropped when Syed Ahmad Jamal public sculpture entitled Puncak Purnama ( Lunar Peaks, 1986 ) was destroyed by the local KL municipal council DBKL few days back. DBKL stands for Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur - actually is quite notorious for a list of bad PR moves by cutting off trees, blocking the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen ( which been feeding the homeless ), their zealous traffic summons - but seriously they broke the camel's back by destroying the modernist, geometrical - clean cut sculpture. The Battle of Non Permission This sculpture was highlighted in  2010 as "someone" decided to pimp it up, changing it's appearance without Syed Ahmad Jamal's permission.This is how it looks like......
Read more

Woke Shit

Image
  Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a term, originating in the United States, that originally referred to awareness about racial prejudice and discrimination. It subsequently came to encompass an awareness of other issues of social inequality, for instance regarding gender and sexual orientation. honestly speaking - i dont give a crap if you are les or gay , an android or whatever you want to call yourself. unfortunately this woke culture literally stamped their ugly feet in everything - creeping unto the endless vault of pop cultures, rebooting it mindlessly just to milk more cash. Capitalism will hunt endless potential and proceeded at full speed and might in owning it. its interesting to observe that capitalism hide behind in every cultural movement. Just like ESG and Equality, it turned into a battle cry to every social activist reformer. Feminists forgot that we grew up with a steely determination of Sarah Connor and Ripley ( who happened to be written by a man ) - which carry heavier b
Read more