An art addict

Greenbottle3

I have a confession to make : I am an art addict.
Of course  - like most of you - I'm no Bill Gates and don't have the fund to buy any original paintings worth millions of dollars...

I do have some passable  paintings though...some original watercolors, some oils from the Philippines, Myanma and China by unknown artistes...and some copies of famous paintings, notable ones include copies of still life by Chardin, and 17th Century Dutch Still lifes (de Heem, Van Huysum, etc) , Cezanne, and one matisse  which I bought from those little galleries in Ho Chi Minh...where they have artists copying famous paintings full time....

May be my most valuable possession is probably a pen sketch of a naked man masturbating by Khalil Ibrahim...on a student drawing paper.
I got this for free too....the story is like this...Khalil has a good friend who is a self tought  artist in Kelantan... Khalil used to go to his home a lot when he comes to Kelantan but many times this guy is out. What Khalil normally do is to make a quick sketch of any thing that suits his fancy and pins it on the guy's door....but this guy is basically stupid and always throw these sketches away...except this one that I happened to come across before he threw it away...rumor has it that Khalil has a folio of erotic drawings hidden somewhere....I wish I can get hold of them!!  

And I have many art books.... ranging from Expressionists, impressionists to old masters...and I have tons of Christies and Sotheby auction catalogues...Some chinese auction catalogues too that I bought in Beijing (Panyiyuan weekend market) and Chengdu....

And whenever I go anywhere overseas  my first visit is almost always the art museums...hence I'm proud to say that I've visited The National Art Gallery in London many times. I've also been to the Tate, V&A (all in London), MOMA, The Guggenhiem, Frick's Collection, The MET (all in New York), Paul Getty Museum (LA), Guggenhiem in Venice, Rijkmuseum, Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam), The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay (Paris), Juresalem Museum (Israel),  and all the national museums in Asean countries (Jakarta, Manila, HCM, Yangon...but funnily not yet in Bangkok though I visit Bangkok for more than 10 times in the last 3 yrs!...too much distraction in Bangkok obviously), NSW museum in Sydney and many other smaller exhibitions and galleries....

You must have tought that I'm a millioniare gallivanting all over the globe visiting art museums.....but nothing is further from the truth...in fact right now I only have RM100 in my saving account to tide me over till the next pay check...I live by borrowing from the modern day along...credit card by other name.....the trick is I tailor my professional duty/visits overseas to my personal interests!!...my only remaining goal is  to go and see the collections in the Uffizi (Florence Italy), the Prado (Madrid) and the rest of the major musuems in Russia and  Europe....one day soon I hope...

Lastly, if there're any budding artists out there...if you care to show your stuff to me...well, I'm more than interested to see them and may be pay a small sum of money for 'em... and more importantly who knows... we can be friends ...

And SELAMAT HARI RAYA MAAF ZAHIR BATIN KEPADA SEMUA YANG BERUGAMA ISL

[ Last edited by  fleurzsa at 9-4-2006 10:58 PM ]

seribulan

You really love art ek....wish I could be 'all-out' in sumthin' I put so much interest on...just that I'm scared to be a 'fanatic'...I've witnessed what happened to a 'fanatic' (it's a long story..better for me not to indulge on the tale) n since then I vowed never to become one...better to be a bohemian or a free-spirit rather than keep my roots on the ground...

ps...hehehe...sorry for jabbering...I usually did this in the wee, early hour of the morning....nite nite...salute...keep on addicting...be positive though...

Originally posted by Greenbottle3 at 18-11-2004 01:15:
IThe Louvre, Musee D'Orsay (Paris),.

:tq::tq: the nice one.. did u c the MONALISA  pict.?

Greenbottle3

sure did MJE;

Went to Louvre a long way back...in 1987 , before I M Pei's glass pyramid was even built.

The thing with mona lisa is that everybody knows about it...everybody says it's the greatest art in the world...but to my untrained eyes I can't see what's so great about it...some people mentioned her enigmatic smile, some says the eyes follows you whatever direction you position yourself in front of the picture...some even says her eyes follow your ass...the funny thing is,she may not even be a woman, some says that Leonardo used a MAN for a model...one thing is clear...nobody knows for sure who is the model for mona lisa...

Anyway, if you go to the louvre you CAN'T miss seeing mona lisa... it's the only painting which has signpost/direction pasted all over the building directed to it...and it occupies a special room by itself and the actual picture is 'imprisoned' in a bullet proof glass partition....which makes it a lot less personal viewing it...the only other picture that I can remember (if I'm not mistaken) which is also enclosed in a buletproof glass ia another Leonardo painting...in National art gallery in London...the painting is bigger than mona lisa and I even like it better...it is not really a painting but a drawing...I don't know why but it's known as -if I'm not mistaken - Madonna & child cartoon..don't know why it's referred to as 'cartoon' as it surely isn't a cartoon as we normally understand the word to mean...

I saw this leonardo's drawing before it was enclosed in bulletproof prison...but not long after that some mad art fanatic came in and SHOT the picture with a pistol!!...hence the protection after the picture was restored....

I'm a fanatic about art but I will never ever think about shooting it! although I must confess I have a sneaking admiration to the guy who stole Eduord Munch's "the Scream" recently....he sure has good taste....

deaf4ever

Originally posted by Greenbottle3 at 18-11-2004 01:15 AM:
I have a confession to make : I am an art addict.
Of course  - like most of you - I'm no Bill Gates and don't have the fund to buy any original paintings worth millions of dollars...

I do have ...

hi botolhijau3,

Its a joy to read about your love for art and especially your travel adventures.
Going to museums and the flea markets everywhere...

keep it up with your contributions here...:pompom:

fleurzsa

Its nice to have you here.  I studied art by coincident, because the opportunity was there.  Some of my friends and lecturers are artists.  Of course they sell their artworks.    But I just give around my artworks for souvenir because they are not really good and I am not really an artist.  I’m more into education.  :nerd:

I just got a scholarship to further my study in art.  So I will be around among the artists again.   :bgrin:

Greenbottle3

Dear Fluerzsa;

Good luck in your studies! And I'm very interested to see some samples of your paintings/sketches/drawings...why don't you paste a picture or two here?

I never had the opportunity to study art and perhaps a good thing too...I don't think I am any good at it...though when I was young I used to like drawing elephants and there was this one girl who really liked my elephant sketches...and for a peck on her cheek I'd give her one of the sketches...The last time I remember I did any painting of any worth at all was when I was in form 2...we had this weekly art class and my watercolor was selected to enter a competition...I did not get any prize though...

The most recent paintings I bought was from Greenhill Shopping area in Manila in Sept this yr...it was from one of those little shops that sell worthless decorative pastoral scenes much like the ones we see in Central Market, KL .. but among these there were a few quite notable still life by this one artist..apprarently he had worked for Imelda Marcos ...to paint her potrait....(so must count for something??)....and I bought two of them...the still life I mean...

The last paintings that I bought that I consider a bit special for me were a pair of Tibetan village scenes from an art gallery around Bakhor Jie in Lhasa Tibet a few months back. For those who think that Lhasa is very strange and romantic... well nothing further from the truth now...The city is now very much like any other small provincial towns in China with boring  ugly cadbury chocolate squares buildings  for  architecture......Potala Gong/temple is still worth visiting though...though I feel rather sad as the dalai lama won't be coming back any time soon I think....one advise for those planning to go there...it's very high altitude --4000m ...can give you discomfort due to lack of oxygen and it may take a few days to acclamatise...I was quite unwell for the whole of my time there and even hospitalized at one time for a few hours to get oxygen supply back to normal...

As a muslim one of the surprises to me is that there is a vibrant muslim community in this city and one of my regret was that I missed  Friday prayer while I was there...may be not a real surprise as I've seen chinese muslims everywhere even in the remotest of villages in Gansu province  where people still live in caves like the hobbits with no electricity......I've been fortunate enough to have travelled to quite a lot of places in China ..Apart from the main cities like Beijing, Hong Kong I've taken a 48 hr train ride from Beijing to Urumuqi (Singkiang) , to Ninxia  Muslim autonomous region (near inner mongolia), Kunming, LiJiang Xian etc....and I don't mean by package tour where you hop from one place to another in express time...

I'll be in Pnom Penh (and of course will go to Seam Reap and visit Angkor Wat) next month and again revisit Davao in Mindanao also in December...I suppose I'm one of the lucky guys that can tailor my official business visits with my personal interests!!....what about next year?...well I'm hoping to go on a trans siberian train Journey ...it'll be 6 day journey  from Moscow across the bleak siberian nothingness transversing the whole length  of Russia  to mongolia and end in Beijing...and while in beijing I'll go and visit Panjiyuan weekend market again to look for cheap fake antiques and may buy a few cheap chinese paintings too...and yes...lido market to buy pirate DVDs which are a lot cheaper than Petaling street and a lot better quality too...life can be good sometime...syukur pada Allah...

seribulan

Originally posted by Greenbottle3 at 21/11/04 03:27 PM:
Dear Fluerzsa;

Good luck in your studies! And I'm very interested to see some samples of your paintings/sketches/drawings...why don't you paste a picture or two here?

I never had the opportun ...

:hmm:wow...what a colourful n psychedelic life u lead:ah:

anymore interesting sojourn??:bgrin:

Wow... Greenbottle3, only now I feel that my life would be totally different n much interesting if i can be somebody like u...:solute:

Tell us more about ur journey then... luv to hear from u soon n may Allah bless u while u'r away!:pray: Take care!

fleurzsa

Originally posted by Greenbottle3 at 21-11-2004 03:27 PM:
Dear Fluerzsa;
Good luck in your studies! And I'm very interested to see some samples of your paintings/sketches/drawings...why don't you paste a picture or two here?
I never had the opportun ...

I don’t think I have the nerve to show my artworks here.:kant: Maybe I can introduce you to some friends who really talented.  One of my professors is quite famous.  

Actually, my passion in life is to be a teacher.  I knew I would get it by hook or by crook. ;) Art is only the conductor to my ambition.  I only a simple girl with skills in a little bit of that n a little bit of this. So I grab any opportunity that exists.  Beggar can’t be a chooser.  Of course I work hard for it.  Have to work two times harder than students with good skill. :nerd:

I don’t keep any artworks that I had done.  When others asked n showed their interest, I just gave them, no big deal.  Now I have only one painting that I promised to OnEdge, a forumner here.

As a Muslim, there are many certain things that I don’t like about art especially in Western art concept.  You know what I mean.  But I never forget that I earn my living by art teaching.  I do not want to be a hypocrite.:gila:

You are lucky to be a man.  Some friends invited me to have holiday in Cyprus.  I have to consider in many things as a Muslim woman.  At last I invite them to come here.  :kant:

Greenbottle3

Dear Fluerzsa;

To be a teacher is a very admirable ambition..I always respect people who want to be teachers in this day and age where most only think of careers where they can get money money money!...

It's a pity you're too shy to show us your talent here  but how about a little sketch??..Well , I'm always open to meeting new people and your professor..whoever he/she is...if he's quite famous , most probably I can't afford to buy his paintings!!..but love to see his stuff...(paintings I mean)

The thing with art is that anything really worthy should be in the museums so that we can all go and share the experience... so I don't care too much what I collect... it may be just a few hundred ringgit worth but if I like them what the hell, it doesn't matter if it's from unknown people...
I'm currently taking digital pictures of my collection (very amateurishly I'm afraid) but one day I may share some samples with you all here...and you're welcome to make criticism and laugh at me...

I don't quite understand your comment about not liking western art ..just because you're a muslim?  I am a practicing muslim too and in fact in some aspects I may even be considered an extremist (for example, I admire and dearly love Osama ben Laden - for his idealism- since long before he became infamous)..but when it comes to art or any intellectiual pursuits (books, philosophy etc) I'm very liberal in outlook...(I'll jabber about books in a different thread in book section soon)...

I even have several art books on erotic art...you can't imagine some of these famous artists like Picasso, modigliani, Matisse, all those German artists, Emil Nolde, Chaim Soutine  etc also others  Lucien Freud etc etc all have erotic paintings and some even bordering on pornography (to some people)... I have a couple of books on beautiful erotic arts of Japan (yukio-e/shunga), India (rajput and mughal miniature paintings) chinese etc...

When I went to India last year ....there was this bazaar at the Red fort in Agra if I'm not mistaken where there are many small stalls selling all kind of miature paintings including erotic ones (the proprietor will show it to you only if you asked for them)..I bought 5 pieces of miniature mughal erotic paintings where turbaned king (looks like Shah Jahan) made love to a lady (look like mumtaz) in various positions...very erotic and nicely done...

And by the way...Taj Mahal...it is truly a magnificent work of art...you really have to see it with your own eyes to really appreciate it's absolutely maverlous architecture...it makes me feel sad that the mughal era is now long gone...and I took a 36 hr train journey from Delhi to Culcutta and another 36 hr train ride from Culcutta to Hyderabad..and my !  Culcutta is a really old and crumbling behemoth of a city....I was lucky because when I was there they had this annual book fair which was really huge...and I found an old/ used books booth  and  bought from there  a complete  5-volume  hard copy of "arabian night" (english translation from French which was translated from Arabic) which cost me almost nothing...and even better..they have these artists or student artists selling their drawings and paintings and I bought from this young Indian student 3 charcoal drawings of a bull in various charging positions (quite good to my untrained eyes) also almost for free....

And Dear Seribulan..

Yes I have many2 other  sojourns all over Aaean countries ...I've travelled all over Vietnam right from the southhernmost tip at An Giang province (where the muslims live) to Can Tho, to Saigon to Dalat to Nya Thrang to Danang by car... and from middle of Vietnam (the town's name slip my mind at the moment right up to Hanoi, and on to Ha Long Bay and right up to Sapa and the border town with China...And as I say I've bought some copies of famous paintings from Saigon on my many visits there..one day I should write a travel book may be!!...

I've been to Indonesia many2 times but mostly to Jakarta,  but only once travelled to Jogja and visited Borobodur on the way.And a couple of times to Bali...culturally Bali is of course very interesting and they have many good art galleries in Ubud and around Dempasar and Kuta. On the way to Sukawati , a small town frequented by people buying things  at a lot cheaper price..you'll pass a place with s direction sign  to Le Mayeur art Gallery (unfortunately I did not visit it)..as you may probably know he and Walter Spies were the two most famous foriegn artists  who once worked in Bali...I bought several very small typical Balinese art of unknown pedigree...(you know those intricate fine line drawings) ...

I can go on and on but may be next time...

The thing is these days with Air Asia giving flight fares almost for nothing you too can go anywhere... the main thing is to set your mind on what you want to do....and if you want to go for "free" like me, you should find work in a multinational company in a regional job role!...good luck !!

indica

Mmmm..Greenbottle..wish I could enjoy the life like you. Just cant wait to have a look at some of your masterpieces plus any pics during your journeys..Do share em with us..

fleurzsa

Yup, maybe one day I can show u around the studios at the university.  Hmmm.. a piece of my professor painting worth more than 10 thousands.  

About the Western Art…  as a Muslim in anything I do my brain will relate it to what is wrong and what is right in Islam way.  So as an art student I have to learn and understand all.  The more I study the more I understood.  

When I finished my study I gave all my art books which have erotic painting pictures to my lecturer… he he he he.  

U know what.  I love traveling so much and u love painting so much.  Do u think we are in the wrong step? He he he just kidding…

Actually I like to do research about art in Buddhism and Hinduism for my thesis.  As I said before there are many certain things that I don’t like about art but it never stop me to have good study.

Pardon my English.  In my life I always do things… hentam saje laa… ha ha ha ha..

mbhcsf

how about Monets's works? lurve those water lilies though..

Greenbottle3

Dear indica;

One day soon  I'll paste some of my cheap art collections here and  you all can have a good laugh at them... first I need to know how to paste the pictures here  though...I'm not too computer literate...

Ms Fluerzsa;

What a pity that you gave your art books to your professor! ...and the erotic ones too!! ...you should keep them! ..I love many things and books is another  one of them... I have two rooms specifically reserved for my library and at the moment I estimate I have around may be 2000 books... mostly on fiction (of the literary sort...Isaac Besheevis singer, Nabokov, Martin Amis, Allan Hollinghurst, Kurt Vonnegut, Mario Varghas Lhosa, Gunther Grass,  etc etc...You know the books I mean), art books, wildlife, biographies, literary magazines (Granta, Paris Review, Ploughshares, the new Yorker etc ), short story collections,  books on Islam, books on other religions (Bahai, Christainity, hindu, buddhism..I stole a couple of bibles and buddhism books from hotels ha ha..), travel books, old penguin classics, great books of the western world canon etc etc...and am still collecting...I think even if I have another life time I won't finish reading all of them...

And yes, I love to see your university studio...but the thing is...unfortunately I prefer to be anonymous...and prefer to be virtual friends with everone  only... unlike some people who love to meet their cyber friends...and who is your professor ? he must be quite wellknown if his paintings are worth 10,000 or more...

And mr /ms mbhcfs;

I'm not too big a fan of Monet...I must have seen many of his paintings especially in the Muse D'Orsay and the others but to tell the truth I can't recall that I was impressed with the water lilies...

Come to think of it, once you go to too many museums everything sort of merged and you have this soupy and vague kind of memory...you can't recall you see what and where...

There were some specific and clear memories though... I remember seeing Jackson Pollock's for the first time in the MET (New York ) I think  and I was afraid that I might hate it...but I actually liked it!...So was Franz Kline's crazy bold slashes ..I like them... but for some reason I like Cy Twombly in art books but I began to hate them when I see them for real...

As we all know seeing art for real and from books are totally different...I always admire Van Gogh and hate Gaugin - in books - but I once saw an exhibition in the Van Gogh museum amsterdam where they juxtaposed Gaugin and Van Gogh's paintings around the same period during their friendship...and to my surprise in actual situation I liked gauguin's paintings a lot better!! ...

May be because I have absolutely no art education...my art preference are very conservative... among the western paintings that I saw in the museum I absolutely love Chardin's and Fantin La Tour's still lifes...some cezannes...almost all 17th Century dutch and flemish still lifes/flower paintings...some impressionists, and some abstract expressionists... I like de kooning and pollock, some Miro, a few kandinski... but I absolutely hate and detest surrealism...although I must say Dali's paintings are very interesting as interesting as he would be in person I think..., and I detest even   even more so pop art of andy warhol, Rauchenberg and the like... these are the people that turn art to crap...I can't think of any post 1950 paintings that I like...I went to this show at MOMA where they have a big retospective on Gehard Richter's paintings...and I almost die out of boredom...

On Malaysian front... well lets talk about these some other time...

fleurzsa

Mr. Greenbottle3,

I thought my professor needed the books more than me.  He could use it in his lectures.  I still have much books and papers about art.  You can get some old art books in the secondhand bookstore at the Chowrasta markets in Penang.  

Woowww u have so many books.  I wish I am ur sister or daughter so I can share ur library.  I love reading any kind of books.  He he he.. just kidding…

Yup, in my opinion better be anonymous than meet any cyber friends.  Actually I want to separate my virtual life with real life.  But u know…if we meet some really good friends, it’s not really a big deal to meet them.  

Maybe I will PM u if my university have any art exhibition.  Then u still can go and be anonymous.  Better I don’t expose my professor name here, maybe he not comfortable with it.   

U know what…  sometimes ago..  a few months back..  I wish for some forumners who really like art to visit this board…  Now I write more about culture bcz art is an unfamiliar subject for most forumners here.  

There still some forumners whose visit here familiar with art like gravedigger, naniza, tangtut1 etc. Its nice to know them.

fleurzsa

How to paste picture here:

1.  U have to upload the picture in a hosting image like photobucket.. here the link..

http://www.photobucket.com/

2.  U have to register first.  Then get the url link for the picture.

eg. http://forum.cari.com.my/images/default/bb_image.gif

3.  Then find this icon (image tag) in post reply. Click it.

4.  Put the url (http://) in the box given. Post it.... Wallahhh!! u have ur pasted picture ..:nerd:

Goodluck..

[ Last edited by fleurzsa on 28-11-2004 at 11:29 AM ]

indica

Originally posted by Greenbottle3 at 27-11-2004 09:58 PM:
Dear indica;

One day soon  I'll paste some of my cheap art collections here and  you all can have a good laugh at them... first I need to know how to paste the pictures here  though...I'm not to ...

dear greenbottle3

I cant wait to see your precious art collections and I would surely enjoy em..
in my case if i can travel back to my schooldays, I would love to take art seriously. I didnt study art esp when in secondary. There's not much I can do now. I now realized that I love art a lot esp something to do with paintings.. eventhough I'm a color blind. When I started working I tried my hands on painting ie. water colour, pastels. It's not that bad..I even painted some potraits for friends..didnt charge em.
I think art teachers esp in primary should expose the kids to the works of famous artists so that they will appreciate art more. Like myself, I started to know about Van Gogh, Monet, rembrant, winslow homer etc after I finished school thru my own efforts. Same thing with what impressionist, surrealism, naive etc are all about. Never been exposed to all those things. Something I regret a lot. :cry:

seribulan

Originally posted by Greenbottle3 at 24/11/04 12:26 AM:
one day I should write a travel book may be!!...

:ah:yup, u should..u have such a flair with words when reciting ur experiences or sojourns...

:tq:tq 4 sharing them...pleez recount more of them...:ah:

naniza

i'm art addict too... (and i still remember my first date was in museum and all my fren laughing at me and they said me and my partner is soooo weird.. ..
  Art teach you to be honest to your self and ii dont really care what other ppl think about me.
  my art collection; most of them local artist... dan karya ciplak dari picasso... but hey, do you ppl notice zuraimi abdul rahim works ? fui... kelas la.