Aku Diponegoro, Galeri Nasional Indonesia

Sang Pangeran Dalam Ingatan Bangsa. Prince Diponegoro, Indonesia's national hero, who fought for the freedom of Indonesia, whose remaining owned artefacts and contributed artworks by various artist is currently on exhibit at the Galeri Nasional Indonesia. It's a quick walk to see the battle and arrest of Diponegoro during the 19th century with these contributed paintings by different local and foreign artist. Its a must visit for all Indonesians and others.

Exhibit Opening
6 February – 8 March 2015
10 am – 7 pm
(Open for public and entrance is free)

For more information:

Website: www.akudiponegoro.com
Facebook : Goethe-Institut Indonesien
Twitter : AkuDiponegoro

Instagram : akudiponegoro

Le Petit Prince: Illustrations by Philip Giordano

There have been many books published about the different languages and illustration for the Le Petit Prince. As a beginning collector and art enthusiast with about less than 50 books in my collection, I feel the sense of finding differently published books of Le Petit Prince especially those with great illustrations. I definitely like the first illustration did by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, no doubt about that but there are recent works like the Korean Edition and Bilingual Comics (Bahasa Indonesia) where they gave a different touch on the original work of Exupery. (See link to access the other books) I have also tried some sketches myself although not as a complete version of the entire book.

But just recently, I found out about this Italian Illustrator Philip Giordano who created a different yet great artworks of the book. I have not found the actual book and only found the pictures so I am uploading it here. I'm going to have to make an online-wide research to be able to get my hands on this amazing illustrations.

These are some of the original artwork of Philip Giordano for Le Petit Prince:

Makassar, South Sulawesi

I arrived in Makassar on a gloomy day after a flight from Jakarta which took 2 hours. It was a smooth flight considering that it was days after that devastating disappearance of an Airasia flight in Java sea due to bad weather condition. The whole country was mourning as the whole world watches. But despite of the scary thing that happened, everything still goes on so I continued to my destination even with a little apprehension. After arriving, I was greeted by non-stop drizzling on my way to my first destination. I stopped by at Taman Nasional Bantimurung just at the same time when the drizzling stopped. I had sometime to walk around the park and look at the stream that leads to a sort of rapids down to were the part of the stream were people could swim. There was a small museum about butterflies and two other butterfly sanctuaries where you can walk in to see caterpillars and butterflies.

Hello from 38,000 feet aboard Garuda Indonesia

The Little Prince Movie Trailer

Here is the much awaited trailer for The Little Prince movie. It's in French but will be waiting for the English trailer soon.

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Hin Bus Depot, Penang, Malaysia

There are certain places that I have been before which makes me always say that I will have to come back. Usually when I say that, it's either an expression of your love for the place or I would possibly come back maybe in 3 or 5 years time as there are many other wonderful places to visit in the world. I don't call myself a "serial traveler" but if I have the chance, I would always try to visit a new place.

In October of 2013, I had the chance to visit Penang (see previous posts here) and I was mesmerized with the history, culture and its sumptuous food. I was really surprised about the place and I enjoyed it because there were not many tourists and you get to meet fellow travelers and talk to them, give each other some tips and a place to find good food.

One year later, I decided to come back to this place and this time not as a solo traveler but with two other friends. I showed them the place, the street arts, the food and the simplicity of the town despite its recent accolade of becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But comparing it one year later gave me a bit of disappointment and these are:

1. The clan jetty area, which was a peaceful, less crowded and "walkable" area to hang out is now filled with souvenir shops and wandering Chinese tourists. It was not the same as last year. I think the government's campaign of promoting the town itself after being hailed as a UNESCO site made the place a terrible tourist-infested area. It does not have that feeling of solitary anymore when you go there. I would say I was a tourist there last year but this year the place has changed. Blame it on UNESCO for ruining the place.

2. Many shop houses, which were one of the core area of why UNESCO granted them the heritage list, were turning out to be a commercial area for selling souvenirs. There are few which are still worth-visiting especially if it is about the arts and culture but there are just some that is becoming an eye-sore. Personally, I think the whole town will suffer due to the emerging commercialization of the place.

3. This one is another personal note. Last year, I stayed at Ryokan Chic Hostel, which is located at Jalan Muntri. I liked it so much as the place was well-maintained, clean and quiet. But when I came back this year, it's like exactly how it looked when I left it last year. And now the toilets are broken, the "other" receptionist is not as nice as the other one and the hallway carpets have turned smelly (I think they never cleaned it since last year). Only the rooms have stayed the same and their free breakfast. I guess when I return there I would have to stay in another place.

But the highlight of my return to Penang is Hin Bus Depot. It's a new gallery dedicated to foreign and local artists who capitalize on the use of mixed media to show their crafts. I have been following them and I was so glad that they open the newest gallery featuring Urban Exchange on the day we arrived. I brought the girls there and they were in awe just as I am. Thanks to Ernest Zacharevic and RONE, my newly found favorite artist, and the other artists who helped put up this truly extraordinary works of art.

Hin Bus Depot

Urban Exchange, Hin Bus Depot

Rone, Hin Bus Depot

Jakarta Transportation Sketches

Here are the different transportation you will see in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. These are just some of the vehicles which causes traffic gridlock especially during rush hours.

City Sketches - Jakarta

Here is another set of sketches I did for the past month. I have been quite busy and I only have the chance now to upload these photos.

For your viewing pleasure.

Artworks were done on 8.5 x 11.5 inches sketch pad, water color and ink.

Museum Sejerah Jakarta, Kota Tua