MADE in Melbourne

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I’ve never been a major music concert in my life and I was already thinking I’d probably never go to one ever, unless I was a crazy fan willing to dish out several hundreds for a band that I truly admired and cared about. Seeing Big Bang live last Wednesday was an experience never  to forget. Those 2 and a half hours should’ve extended to at least 8 hours, it flew like crazy. Listening to them made  me realize how amazing live performances can be  –  they did that to the point of perfection. I don’t like every single Big Bang song and even when they performed them, turns out I liked the songs so much. 5 years of waiting for this moment, and I’m willing to wait again for their next concert.

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When Big Bang announced their  MADE album tour for the first time in  Australia this October, it was like…What. The. Heck…I didn’t think there would be enough Big Bang fans in Australia, ever. At the time of the announcement (around July I think) they only mentioned Sydney in the tour schedule. I was devastated they weren’t coming to Melbourne but at the same time, it was expected that of all the cities in Australia Big Bang would visit, it would be Sydney. Sydney gets everything! I was still at work when the  news got  released, I found out when my friends texted me immediately. We were already in talks of doing  a trip to Sydney. Checking airfares, hotel rates, bus trips and all. Perhaps a one night’s stay in Sydney for  the concert would be enough. Or two nights? All I recall was sending many texts back and forth, carefully planning this Sydney trip.

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A week later I get two text messages  from the  same friends. I checked my phone after work and the first message said: “GSIDWGWSDHKJWHDKJHASKSH BIG BANG ARE GONNA COME TO MELB JSBDKJBDKJNSADLKSNCLKSNFCKNDS”. Then I check my other friend’s message and it was almost the exact same thing but with more uppercase letters and excessive use of exclamation marks. Well, there goes our Sydney plans hah! Where do I begin? There was a group on facebook I supported  called “Bring Big Bang to Melbourne” and it had about a thousand people who joined. Mind you this is after they announced Sydney and before they announced Melbourne. I was thinking there’s no way they’d come to Melbourne, impossible, but I’ll support this group anyway because who knows what could happen. Am I crazy to think that joining this group may have been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made? Obviously there’s lesser fans in Melbourne and Rod Laver Arena has a seating capacity of 15,000 in comparison to Sydney’s 30,000 plus seating in the Allphone’s Arena. All I can say is that I’m super impressed by the online support shown within the Melbourne BB community.

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A month later pre-sale tickets were on and I tried going for  VIP tickets but no luck. I tried again for the next round of tickets, again no luck. And the third time, no luck. My friend was very lucky enough to get VIP in the third round so I was happy for her knowing  that one of us could at least experience the thrill of VIP treatment. I swear those tickets are based on pure luck. I had 3 different devices on as soon as it was on sale, refreshed all browsers and still couldn’t get my hands on one ticket. Unfortunately there are horrible people out there who buy VIP tickets and sell it for double the price to desperate fans straight away. I went for two   Platinum tickets which were the second best (my mom wanted to come along as well). In the end I didn’t care too much about VIP anymore, if I could bring anyone to experience this concert with, it would be my mom.

 

 

Platinum tickets had seating but the only time we sat down was in between songs and during  intermissions. The Melbourne crowd didn’t bother sitting down, life is too short so we should dance more. Even my mom danced more than I did. One of the band members, Seungri, told us he did some research on Melbourne and from what he found on google, he said “Melbourne people party hard”. Yup, that’s exactly what we proved to him and the gang on Wednesday. It was a full house, not one person sat down, it was literally an ocean of yellow crown sticks and hands moving in the air. Rod Laver Arena is very cosy and no matter where you sit you’re bound to get a great view of the main stage. The best thing about a cosy arena is that you can feel the energy of the crowd.

I’m having major withdrawals as I type this post, ever since the  concert I’ve listened to “If You” on repeat, put  my crown stick back into its original packaging (the box is well designed I must say) and left it on a prominent site of my desk so every morning when I wake up it’s the first thing I see, rewatched my vids and continuously reminisce with friends via text  and social media. After the reception Big Bang  got from the Melbourne crowd, I’m sure they’re keen to come back and explore more of what this  great city has to offer in the future.

Outstanding Artists in Asia publication

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I’m super pleased to announce that I’ve been invited to represent Australia as  one of the many featured Asia Pacific artists in AAD’s new publication called ‘AAD Outstanding Illustration Artists in Asia’. It is expected to be released sometime in 2016 as a lead up to a possible thematic exhibition and an exchange seminar in 2016/2017.

AAD (The Asia Art Design Platform) aims to promote illustrators and their remarkable works with a heavy focus  on highlighting the style, techniques and visual expression of the artist.

AAD is a non-profit organization devoted to art exchange and design in Taiwan. Since its birth in 2013,  they’ve held a series of international design exhibitions and more than 30 international design forums across the globe. They’ve also published several books, with their new one about to be released in 2016 as mentioned above. Here are some of my favorite featured artists already on that list:

Chen Hsing Chung

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Miss Cyndi

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Miloza Ma miloza-maCroter Hungcroter-hung

Garnet Chu

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So much amazing talent, I’m proud to share the spotlight with these guys! On a side note, I’m particularly loving the comments I’m getting, especially from fellow Indonesian artists: “your surname’s Indonesian but you’re representing Australia?” Hahaha well I have been living in Aus  since 1999 after all. Stay tuned for more updates on Asia Art Design’s Facebook page!

International Design Forum 2015

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Every year designers from all over the world anticipate  this event, it’s  almost  like a one-day  TED talk version for designers.  I must say Melburnians are pretty fortunate  to be hosts of the event every year! The 25th agideas took place last month at the Exhibition Center…yes it’s a bit of a delay posting this  but I was waiting for decent photos to accompany this post and I finally have some to share! It’s my very first time going to agideas and even luckier for me I was granted the business pass thanks to IdN magazine. I had an opportunity to talk with IdN’s lead guy Chris about my feature in their magazine and it lead to this unexpected invitation to rep the idN booth at agideas. It’s 8am that same morning Chris and his dad came from Sydney  and straight to the booth to help me and some of my uni friends to make sales throughout the day.

 

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Photo credits: Emily Leung Design

 

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Neil Huxley – Mothership 

 

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Masashi Kawamura – Party Lab. Photo credits: Emily Leung Design

 

We did get a chance to listen to some of the speakers when it wasn’t busy.  One of them was Neil who’s the art director for Avatar and Watchmen and he came down to visit us at the booth to take some photos (we got swarmed with paparazzi haha!). Aside from talking to him, listening to his speech  was  hilarious and then it came to Masashi Kawamura. I’ve heard a lot about Masashi  but didn’t catch his speech since it was busy at the booth. I love the photo my friend Emily took of this Masashi quote, he’s done major work  for  UNIQLO, Sony and even  made  Snoop Dogg’s ‘Gangsta Luv’ music video. No way.

Design had evolved naturally, as a passion and a lifestyle beginning at an early age when I made trips back to the motherland, Indonesia, I experienced the surroundings and the lifestyle that was vastly different from what I was used to. I found myself passing by villages where children made their own toys with whatever was left around them; scrap metal, bits of cloth, banana leaves, and even cigarette butts. Despite this, the children were happy and proud with anything they created.

This image struck me and forever inspires me to contribute my skills to places that need it the most. Design helps me make decisions, while art helps me take risks. Both areas reward me with opportunities to create something impactful and everlasting!