He is a fabulous artist. I'll try to get some more pictures of the stuff I liked the most in a little while.
He is now working on the absolutely wildest thing... and it is not public. Figuring that none of the dozen or so people who visit me are actually connected to the press in Indonesia, I'll tell you about it.
He's constructing a statue of Noah (the Biblical one) that is about twice at tall as the Statue of Liberty (foot to crown, not torch), to be installed on the seaward side of an Indonesia port. Then, into the hill next to the figure (if one can call it that), he will be building a luxury hotel in the shape of... wait for it...
wait for it...
a grounded ark.
His workers were working on Noah's head while I was there, and it was, frankly, incredible to see what art looks like on this tremendous scale. I spent about 30 minutes talking with him. The plan is to install the head and shoulders sometime later this year, along with the public announcement about the overall plan for this monolith and its accompanying hotel.
He's still wotking through the details of this deal, actually. The hotel is just a proposal at the moment, but apparently the statue is a go. When I asked him how much a double-Liberty sized project costs to commission, which led to the discussion of the fact that it was Noah (I saw the plaster models) and that a ship-shaped hotel was involved, I found out that he was personally underwriting the sculpture.
Of course... he plans to get a destination-driven hotel out of the deal. Smart.
Did you notice the clever use of "ship-shaped" in that sentence?
3 comments:
I read that this is causing a religous controversy similar to the one that erupted over the Danish cartoons. The fact that the statue may also act as a lift is also being cautioned against. The leader of the United Development Party (a moderate Muslim party) demanded the project cancelled or actioned would be taken by the Muslim Extremists.
Although I do not know any Indonesian Muslims, I am fairly certain that the majority of them, if left to their own devices, would find a way to live with the blasphemy and denounce it in their prayers. Any controversy over displaying the prophets is most certainly fabricated by extremist leaders to stir up some street fighting. This sort of meaningless violence makes me think if all Christians, Jews, and Muslims started worshipping solitarily through prayer and scripture like Dave, the world would be a more peaceful place. (Of course me and the other atheists would be in for it...)
I imagine the artist as being outside of the controversy and pursuing this wildly ambitious project with passion. Amazing that you saw it in the early stages. Could be history in the making.
Here's the article I read: http://www.indonesiamatters.com/1227/worlds-tallest-statue/
Hm. Well, sounds...big. I’ve seen on CNN (I don’t watch the horrid thing but can’t help staring at the monitor at the fitness centre) that Indonesia’s tourist campaign slogan, run at damn near propaganda level intervals, is “Noah’s Route”. And some other place has “god’s Country”.
Personally find it a nauseating , not too mention sad that such desperate measures have to be taken for people to experience other cultures.
Now if I could just find out where Bugs Bunny’s home was...
LJG: Thanks for that pointer. Somehow, the implications from building a statue of Noah in the middle of Indonesia escaped me (which pretty much reveals my take on the (lower case) god question (or, "hunh? I don't get your question...").
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