The Journey

First of all, aku nak mohon maaf banyak-banyak sebab mood aku untuk mengupdate blog nie agak kureng sikit... Rasanya, since busy dengan adaJALAN hari tu, mood mmg bermanja-manja dengan blog nie mmg low sikit. Then, terus masuk bulan puasa, lagi la kan... (tapi tang update kat FB & Twitter tu laju jer...)

adaJALAN really make me proud. Lama jugak rasanya aku tak warming-up my engine buat event management nie. Lama sungguh!!! I mean a real event la kan. Bukan setakan event ad-hoc & event yang credibiliti aku tak teruji. Kalau nama event besar pun, tapi aku punya kerja setakat nak make sure meja tu susun ikut line ke tak, tu tak payah cerita la kan...

adaJALAN started bila Azimin tiba-tiba voiced out yang dia nak buat solo exhibition for his painting before puasa. Dia dah cakap pasal nie lama la jugak, dalam bulan March tak silap aku. Tapi, sebab masing2 tengok dia lepak jer, so, yang lain-lain pun lepak jer la kan... Budget2 sendiri dalam kepala otak, mesti lepas raya la tu, tak sempat nya sebelum puasa.. painting pun belum ada lagi, even adaJALAN punya theme tu pun belum terfikir lagi..

tup tup tup, masa early May, Azimin kata dia nak pergi booked gallery, which dia memang dah survey & dah jadi member dengan staff Annexe Gallery kat CM tu. What??? Dia booked date 18th July!!! Macam nak terkeluar anak tekak aku, anak mata tu rasa macam nak tercabut dah... Ye la, mahu aku tak rasa macam nak lari bawak diri pergi London, Curator pun tak carik lagi.

This is a solo art exhibition, which A to Z buat sendiri, which we were not attached with any gallery pun. Dulu yang sebelum2 nie, aku punya kerja just contact art gallery, PR sikit2, deal harga & comission, then hantar art work. Tu jer... Now, printing invitation card, announcement card, catalouge, hantar invitation, reservation, media, logistic, food, launching, etc... semua nak kena fikir.

Nak cari Curator bukan sennag, lagi2 short notice. Orang plan art exhibition nie, paling koman pun 6 bulan, nie, tinggal tak sampai 2 bulan pun...

Curator:

Mula2 nama yang aku ingat is Khairina, her full name is Khairina Khairuddin, our friend masa kat Limkokwing dulu. Now dia full time artist. But, nasib tak baik sangat, she is in the early pregnancy, tengah morning sickness, mabuk2.. Dia kata, bukan setakat morning sickness jer, afternoon, evening sampai night pun sickness tak selesai2.. She promised to lend her hand in any matter yang dia boleh tolong, esp supplier and art material. Ok, kena start carik lagi...

Then, we met Ernesto, our old friend back in Limkokwing as well. Actually, Azimin met him masa jadi external examiner kat Taylors. He himself yang mengofferkan diri. Banyak advice yang dia bagi, banyak benda yang dia tolong. Dia siap datang our studio to view Azimin’s artwork. But nasib tak berapa baik, Ernesto has his own solo art exhibition which sponsored by his embassy a week before adaJALAN. But a good things about him, dia still invite, dia still support and dia still tolong mana yang boleh.

Aku ingat lagi masa time Ernesto datang studio hari tu.. Masa aku cakap kat dia “Thanks a lot man..” and he replied with, “hey, dont mention dear. I do owed you a lot you know..” Aku masa tu agak terpinga-pinga la memikirkan apa yang dia owe aku.. Then dia ingatkan aku...

“Remember the time when I just joined Limkokwing? My faculty was out of scape and you allowed me to sit in your office? Then, the time-table arrangement things... You asked them to arrange no class for me on Monday?”

Haha.. he still remember that!!! Padahal aku memang dah out of memory dah pasal tu. Actually, Ernesto masa tu baru masuk Limkokwing, and faculty dia mmg dah tak de space dah untuk letak staff baru. So, memandangkan masa tu department aku department baru yang baru dapat space sebesar alam, yang ada banyak meja (light table), so we all tak kisah untuk menumpangkan orang.. And in the same time, Ernesto’s wife still in Penang. Every weekend, Ernesto will take a bus or flight to Penang, sometimes Monday morning baru sampai KL balik. So, aku just hint to dia punya faculty people, “kau jangan la letak dia punya kelas hari Isnin. Kesian dia beb, baru sampai pagi tu, terkejar-kejar.. Silap2 kepala otak dia still kat Penang lagi..”

Ya, aku cakap denagn 100% Bahasa Melayu dengan harapan si Mat Salleh nie tak faham la apa yang aku cakapkan... masa tu kat office aku, member aku nie datang melepak-lepak sambil buat ketupat... Rupanya, si Ernesto nie dah lama duduk Malaysia, kahwin pun dengan orang Malaysia, orang Penang (wife dia Chinese).. Jangankan cakap Melayu, cakap Penang pun dia boleh cakap.. Ambik kau!!! Nasib baik kitaorang tak buat ketupat Ernesto..

Finally, Azimin beranikan diri to approach Salmah. He was Azimin’s lecturer back in ITM time. Amat berzaman sekali. I knew her only by name, aku tahu yang banyak artist tersohor yang glamour2 tu ambik dia jadi Curator or manage their artwork. Tapi dia punya fees AMAT MAHAL!!! Tak termampu den nak bayar!!! Tapi mungkin rezeki Azimin, she willing to help. Fees dia??? Inilah benda yang paling aku scary sangat nie.. But, Ernesto has given us some tips, which kalau Ernesto yang jadi Curator, we’re going to pay him with an ARTWORK... So, Sal also asked the same thing from us... Thank God!!!

Sepanjang preparation adaJALAN, aku tido pukul 2 pagi, then pukul 3 pagi, lepas tu melarat sampai 4 pagi... Sakit kepala tol but what to do!!! Bukan senang nak arrange event kan? Azimin suddenly boeh siapkan artworks dia dalam 2 weeks before the adaJALAN. Dan hari-hari selepas tu, dia boleh bantai tido awal dan membiarkan aku keseorangan buat kerja!!! Sabar Eleen...

Herewith, aku attachedkan gambar2 yang diambil masa adaJALAN; masa artworks in progress, before launching, during launching, and after the launching day... By the way, adaJALAN was launched by Dato Ken Yeang, from TR Hamzah & Yeang. He called Azimin; Malaysian Picasso..

adaJALAN is a journey of Azimin’s research; Microarchitecture. So, its not just an art exhibition, its an art exhibition based on research. And to be frank, it was a serious exhibition, raising lots of serious issues which need attention from the nation and the committee.

My personal thanks, from my deep heart to adaJALAN team for the time, hardwork, ideas, willingness, sacrifaction and everything!!! Wady, Sharul, Onn Yee, Salleh, TQVM... Izuan (my brother), Sal, Ernesto, Annexe Gallery Team (Lee & Phang), TQ guys.. To all friends, TQ for your support and Insyaallah, Azimin Tazilan artwork now are proudly exhibit @ ............ , and Azimin will be the first artist there for their official launching, the date will be announced later...