blank metaphors

artfriend @ 2008-12-17T03:44:00

2008-12-16T20:18:46Z

rain. it comes and goes, and there are nights where the rain falls so heavy, you are unable to escape from the sound of the raindrops pounding on your rooftop. imagine if every drop represents a memory - someone's biggest regret, the passing of a loved one, the feeling of helplessness, the unfulfiled wish. we are only human, put together by skin and bone. and the day we cease to exist, we end up as nothing more but a passing memory. though our bodies have left the world, the rain will still fall, every single memory and cherished moments in our lives have dissipated into the clouds. so everytime it rains, our existence will be embraced and remembered by someone, and it is in these moments, we are immortalized.. if only for a passing second.

artfriend @ 2008-12-15T04:33:00

2008-12-14T21:04:56Z

hello~ finally i've decided to blog. been pretty apprehensive about everything lately, even bashing myself to make a decision if i want to blog or not. and so after reading theresia's blog, and knowing she has so many new updates, i feel ashamed that my last update was in JULY. and so, i have came to the decision to do so (blog, that is).

of late, my mind has been running around in circles, thinking, pondering, anticipating, questioning and waiting. i want to GO and DO so many places/things, but the thing is, i am rooted to the grounds of singapore. and it sucks so much to know i'm being caged up. i feel like i have a mountain of repression pressed against my chest and i can't do anything about it, why? because i have to abide by a law created by my country, to protect the nation from some war that is never going to materialize. but what does it matter? there are billions of people in the world, wanting and wishing so many things as well, but wanting something you know you can never get sucks, i know the feeling, the other billions of people know the feeling. i hate it. they hate it. EVERYONE hates it. but what can we do? laws huh, they are created by people who are just like us, who believe that what they are creating is the best choice, and knowing what they say is absolute, these common-folk-given-power-to-control-and-ABUSE-their-authority, start creating strange strange rules, us, POOR-POWERLESS-common-folk-who-have-no-say-in-anything, have to abide by. democracy is just a smokescreen to make us feel less powerless. fellow common folks, please realise that! but if i rebel against these powerFUL people (yay, let's grab our torches!), i would either find myself behind bars, or six feet under... probably the latter.

but at the end of the day, on a certain breezy moonlit night, i sit by my bed, look out of the window and stare lovingly at the moon who stares lovingly back with her warm glowing yellow face, and realise that i make up a tiny insignificant space in a tiny little country (the world's SMALLEST country) which is actually just a minute detail (in fact, a DOT!) in the entire earth that is nothing but a tiny piece of rock that is floating in the greatness of outer space which is only a fragment in the eyes of GOD who lives in the great and almighty heaven that is probably so huge, we have to use the infinity symbol to represent how large it truly is. and that my friend, is how lousy i feel. can you believe it... i am nothing!! WE ARE NOTHING!!!

artfriend @ 2008-07-29T02:08:00

2008-07-28T18:15:30Z

i want you,
or no one,
no one else will do.
you,
or no one,
for no one is the only one,
to fill the empty space i hold for you...

artfriend @ 2008-07-22T05:29:00

2008-07-21T21:51:10Z

life's been pretty smooth sailing of late. i've been busy filling up my sketchbook and experiemnting stuff on canvas, working, running errands, writing music and of course chilling with my homies. tomorrow, motay's family are heading back to nepal, i'm gonna miss them for another two years. i actually pulled out from an exhibition i was suppose to have on the 26th due to some breakdown in communication. it's pretty sad actually, but i sure hope i would get a slot in the final series of this exhibition, because i've been working on the wrong theme for the upcoming one, once again, communication breakdown... but still, do check out the show on the 26th at haji lane. my friends will be taking part in it. ok it's like 6am, i've gotta hit the sack, tata.

artfriend @ 2008-06-30T03:19:00

2008-06-29T19:35:37Z

i had a dream i was standing in the sky, my mind is void of any emotions,
before me were a sea of clouds that float aimlessly amidst a veil of blue,
above me were an endless field of multi-coloured stars against a purple velvet sky,
below me were an array of mountain peaks that stretched infinitely across a green plain,
and i just kept crying like i've never cried before.

i wish my world was this ideal.

artfriend @ 2008-06-28T03:11:00

2008-06-27T19:31:03Z

at swayambhu while we were doing our rounds.

what i'm working on now.
i think my camera is too tired to focus, haha pun!
i'm afraid it's really hard to see the texture.. oh well.
will pose a clearer one next time, when the camera and i are less exhausted.

artfriend @ 2008-06-22T02:15:00

2008-06-21T18:17:25Z

yo. i'm having a bad block now. i don't know what to write about, my sketchbook has not been touched since nepal. how?

artfriend @ 2008-06-15T02:16:00

2008-06-14T18:31:49Z

i'm blogging here in the hotel in KL, i just came back from meeting a couple of strangers. my dad is wasted and i can hear him snoring in the next room. i returned from nepal last week and i'm already planning my next trip up to conquer the annapurna circuit and everest base camp. and to visit manang again! i miss that country, jai nepal!

apparently, with the words of stephanie, i've been nepalized. haha, and i'm proud of it. i also realise all i ever talk about is nepal this and nepal that, heh. i miss motay who is still in nepal. i miss kunga and everyone else i met there, especially ahem ahem ;). i wanna go back NOW, but alas, the army beckons me and i cannot visit my lovely nepal for another 2 years. i will wait and dream of nepal every night till the day i am back in the kathmandu airport.

anyway, i've decided to start painting again after looking at a shitload of paintings, and i realise i've kinda forgotten that lovely feeling of paint on canvas. and i'm really bummed i couldn't be there to watch the degree show. i heard it was pretty awesome, lots of those phantom works (works that were done at home and never seen before) were surprisingly impressive.

i'll be back on monday, and i lost my numbers, so message me if you want me to have your number in my phone, it's the same number. goodnight.

artfriend @ 2008-05-07T05:15:00

2008-05-06T21:32:19Z

back to my old obssession, used to listen to this everyday. like how i would listen to chasing cars, AME or jupiter... i'm sure people will know how i go crazy over a song and put it on repeat mode everyday, poor studiomates (i miss school). hi stely~

anyway we went to changi a last night, with the '2andahalfgirlsand1andahalfguys' gang. heres a pic, the video soon, me and my signature newsreader voice, conducting a documentary on asians. i need to clear my hard disk. mp3s are eating up my memory! everything else is in my facebook, my facebook contains more pics of myself than my pictures folder.

anyway, i have to get my ass off back to lalaland. i just had this sudden urge to blog and drink water. i'm a very bad sleeper, totally justifies my eyebags. laterz readerkidz!

artfriend @ 2008-05-06T05:55:00

2008-05-05T22:06:51Z

15 september, i get to wear green for 2 years and i get free muscles and a tan at an all inclusive stay at a private island off the coast of singapore! i'm so excited, can't wait... bye bye 21st birthday, hello resort tekong.

artfriend @ 2008-04-29T02:08:00

2008-04-28T18:09:38Z

don't be such a busybody, just shut up and everything will be fine, DUMBASS.

artfriend @ 2008-04-26T06:06:00

2008-04-25T22:40:46Z

someone once told me... installation art is ephemeral, and overrated. i think it is this ephemerality that makes installation all the more successful. such a romantic notion it is, to have seen something beautiful that doesn't last forever and knowing that you've managed to see it before it gets taken down. and the image gets stuck in your mind, but you never get to see it again, unless the artist decides to exhibit it.

i think it really reflects the fragility of life right, at the beginning everything seems so fine and dandy, and you have the whole world in your hands. you're alive and well and the next moment you're gone, and you wished you could have gone back to live your life all over again. maybe this is why so many people do installations, and somehow it becomes inevitably overrated. in the words of bill viola 'with a flick of the switch, they die'.

if only people knew how much thought is placed into an installation, one of the most toughest forms of art, always gets dismissed so easily without a second thought, i should be sleeping instead of lamenting here. ha, bye.

artfriend @ 2008-04-24T02:21:00

2008-04-25T21:55:22Z

“I want to display a person dying naturally in the piece or somebody who has just died,” he told The Art Newspaper. “My aim is to show the beauty of death.”

The artist says that Dr Roswitha Franziska Vandieken, who runs her own private clinic in Düsseldorf, has agreed to help find volunteers who are willing to die in public in the name of art. Dr Vandieken was unavailable for comment. “I am confident that we’ll find people to take part,” says Schneider.

He says he would like to stage the performance at the Haus Lange museum in Krefeld, Germany. The museum declined to comment.

Schneider says that if the museum will not agree to take part, he will stage the piece in a studio space in his hometown of Rheydt, western Germany.

Schneider has long been fascinated with the idea of showing death in a museum setting: in 2000 he himself feigned death as part of an exhibition at the Haus Esters museum in Krefeld (left).

The artist, who is known for his unsettling installations, currently has an exhibition at La Maison Rouge in Paris (until 18 May) which consists of a series of rooms of decreasing size. Visitors enter alone and, after progressing through a series of spaces, end up in a completely dark room. They must find their own way out and are filmed throughout.

an artist who wants to show the beauty of death, or an artist who wants to be in the spotlight? it is quite reminiscent of abramovic's performances, the usage of the shock factor. i really hope he really wants to prove something other than himself, or he would have just let someone pass away under scrutiny of the public's eye, die in vain. i personally feel he should let people die with dignity, i think it's really about morals more than anything else. but who am i to say anything, he is after all looking for someone who is willing to volunteer.
what do you think?

artfriend @ 2008-04-11T04:27:00

2008-04-10T20:37:09Z

the last essay of my stay in lasalle is finally completed. i'm pretty sad in a happy nostalgic way. and i keep thinking and deriving silly conclusions as to where i'll be in 10 years time. recently i've really been thinking a lot about my future. heh.. life is so exciting and the anticipation is killing me.

laurie simmons is my new love. it never ever occured to me that theatre and art could go so well together. it's so freaky to see puppets being used as a tool to symbolize our consumerist-driven lifestyle, the imagery is so powerful right? we're freaking puppets man! and it's even freakier to see meryl streep singing a love song with a puppet, look at her! she's staring so lovingly at an inanimate object. goosebumps...

artfriend @ 2008-03-25T01:24:00

2008-03-24T17:37:23Z

that is why i at times try my very hardest, although it is this very hard work that turns out to be the least understood, and though for me it is the only link between the past and the present.
-vincent van gogh

artfriend @ 2008-03-10T03:15:00

2008-03-09T19:18:20Z

hello my love
it's getting cold on this island
i'm sad alone
i'm so sad on my own
the truth is
we were much too young
now i'm looking for you
or anyone like you...

artfriend @ 2008-03-06T01:59:00

2008-03-05T18:18:09Z

we're bringing sexyback

my first ever TO-DO list

collab with dance + music - show sketches next week
willie's stupid presentation (HAHA) - finish by tomorrow
video mockup - complete one by friday, don't forget to bring your camera out, idiot.
fashion props design - start sketching tomorrow please

nights.

artfriend @ 2008-03-02T22:38:00

2008-03-02T14:42:03Z

back from melacca. pretty decent trip. enjoyable no less, especially with the added bonus of having my own room. well, come tommorrow, it's back to my usual school routine. god bless my soul, its gonna be 2 rigorous months of intense work...

i've decided to post some vertical images. there's like a few hundred more, i'm too tired to post them all, too tired to edit too, so don't mind the rawness... you can just check out the photobucket if you're interested, or just visit my facebook, everyone's uploading their pics up anyway.

artfriend @ 2008-02-22T02:40:00

2008-02-21T18:52:14Z

i can't believe what i'm seeing. hoho!

artfriend @ 2008-02-12T23:28:00

2008-02-12T15:36:42Z

again, another opportunity slips by. what's new...

artfriend @ 2008-02-01T23:25:00

2008-02-01T15:31:37Z

sometimes i wonder why people are the way they are and why they say the things they do.

artfriend @ 2008-01-29T04:09:00

2008-01-28T20:20:12Z

bill viola is magnificent. i am so awestrucked and amazed by his brilliant mind, time and time again he never fails to captivate and move me with his excellent execution. i love how he manages to tug the strings of our mind and engage his audience with his hauntingly beautiful imagery, what a poet. this is what i'm talking about, video art at its best. you betcha, i'm swooning now!

artfriend @ 2008-01-26T00:33:00

2008-01-25T16:33:50Z

video art makes me happy, can't wait to start shooting. =)

artfriend @ 2008-01-23T23:51:00

2008-01-23T16:03:01Z

a few days ago i went up with the gang to tang dynasty city for our usual photo outing. and we thought what the heck, it's only a run down building. when we arrived, we saw the old washed out grey walls and the run down headless statues in their ghastly suits greeting us with their silent despondence, creepy.. i felt like we were entering some haunted place, wtf! and we started to creep ourselves out. but the main reason why we didn't finish exploring the place, was the crazy amount of fucking mosquitoes. i swear, that place is like the ideal breeding ground for aedes, so we left cos we started itching like crazy. enjoy~

welcome to china!

what you see when you walk in

the bridge

fucking scary shit place.

eerie trees

my favourite pic. love this one...

artfriend @ 2008-01-20T23:05:00

2008-01-20T15:18:15Z

spent today staring into the sky, reflecting on my life, when i should be doing work.