Agents, Actions & Consequences

Time flies. I felt it was only yesterday that Patrick and myself have attended his cousin, Justin Lim's solo arts exhibition titled MOMENTUM last September, and there we were, last Thursday, at TAKSU yet again, for his latest exhibition, AGENTS, ACTIONS & CONSEQUENCES (I love the title already). That night, we had two extra young arts "enthusiasts" tagging along - Ryan and Aidan. They seemed to be very intrigued by the paintings. Ryan loved the finger food while Aidan loved having me taking pictures of him by the paintings. Aidan even went to the extend of taking the booklet and went around the gallery to find and identify which painting is featured from the booklet! I could hardly concentrate on the series this time around, due to the distractions of them going in and out of toilet for whatever businesses that they were busy doing! Nonetheless, I managed to catch up with Justin himself, very briefly and also with a dear old friend, Sidney, who is also an artist himself. The most rewarding experience for the boys, I guess would be having Justin personally signed their booklets. My most favourite piece is Marathon. The Parachutes theme really hits me for they seem to draw me in completely with those floating parachutes in the air, as well as the very obvious naked butts staring right back at me, as an observer - pretty cool, I must admit. As we were leaving, the rain started to kick in (I faintly remembered it rained the last time as well) and it seems to secretly tell me that next year's rain will bring me back to his exhibition once again...

Change Me/ Wang Leehom

A change is an evolution of the new self, a new approach, a new sound, a new kind of soulful voice, a fresh perspective into things. Change is always something interesting. I once heard of the saying, the very truth of nature is the law of impermanence. Change is inevitable, it pushes one out of its comfort zone. The one thing that is unchanged is change itself, in life. Two of my favourite songs from this new Leehom album are Saturday Midnight and Fallen Leave (Luo Ye Gui Gen). Saturday midnight delivers a sense of nostalgia, one single midnight where you are bored to your wits, a sleepless night when your mind is suddenly flooded with old memories, ancient pain that gradually seeps into the night and straight into your heart. It echoes a certain sense of sadness that is hard to utter with simple words. It has to be felt. It is those moments when you would probably recall a lost love, you shed a few tears for your young and naive foolishness, no one could replace such a space of solitude, at that point in time. The song speaks just that. Fallen Leave on the other hand overflows with the abundance of the influence of old Chinese - very cultural, very rooted in the love for a family member. It brings back the feeling of the very first time you leave HOME, taking on a long and lonely journey for the very first time in your entire growing up life. The violin undertone is very hypnotic, filled with the intensity of a very different kind of love, a very universal love. While listening to this song, I closed my eyes and all I could see are the images of myself taking those long night buses journey back home, from Penang to Kelantan, sitting alone by the window, starring out into the night. The moon, almost always overhanging above a vast land of padi fields...all those images just flashed me by, very swiftly but surely. Those were the good old memories. Am I home already, I wonder? Definitely an album worth spending time listening to!