BUANASENI

Title: Buana VIII
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 19 December 1994
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

HIS is the last of the BUANA series. I think the subject matter of BUANA VIII, "Passion & Love", is present in all of the BUANA presented earlier. It serves as the common platform to which the various aspects of live can be associated with as demonstrated below:

BUANA I: The physical - What more can I say other than "Lust", a sensual enlightenment for one's appreciation of the physical beauty, be it sexually, warmth of a parental hug or even love for art (sculptures, paintings, music, literature, etc).

BUANA II: The spiritual - An innner feeling of desire, the very essence on which "Love" exists for whatever targets, be it companionship, knowledge or God. The drive for many leading icons such as Muhammad p.b.u.h for Allah and his Ummah, Gautama Buddha for Nirvana and abolishment of sufferings, Jesus Christ (Isa) p.b.u.h for his followers and God, Moses (Musa) p.b.u.h for Yahweh and freedom of the Hebrew and Abraham (Ibrahim) p.b.u.h for his quest for the True One God.

BUANA III: The creation - This would probably be the consequence of BUANA I & II which manifests itself in various context such as reproduction or the intention of Creator Himself for embarking on the act of creation (eg. The Holy text that translates into "God wouldn't have created man and genies if not for them to worship Him, ie. To Love Him!). God even created Eve (Hawa) for his love to Adam p.b.u.h.

BUANA IV: The environment - The appreciation of Mother Earth is an aspect of love, nature's lover, such as the Green Peace, the fight against global warming, Kyoto Convention and the like.

BUANA V: The destruction - Often the result of love as well. Many wars were caused by "Love" such as Helen of Troy, or was it Helen of Sparta? that had the big wooden horse at work. King Henry's love for his wives practically destructed the relevance of Roman Catholic in England with the rise of Anglican Church. Love of God in the numerous Holy Wars between the Crusaders and the Islamic Warriors went on for ages. Love of the supreme race, Aryan, by Bismark and Hitler caused the 2 huge World Wars. Love for the Queen by 007 just enhances James' charismatic charm. The clash between the house of Capulet and Montague for the forbidden love between Romeo and Juliet is also a good example. And who would have thought that the love for the land of the rising sun and its emperor by the pilots of the Kamikaze fighter jets resulted in the bombing of Pearl Harbour, or worse, the atomic response against Hiroshima.

BUANA VI: The after-Death - The degree of love by the Creator to Its creations. Well, if you go to hell, its "negative love" I suppose. Wherever you end up in, the fact is, most religion preaches God's merciful attribute by promising the gardens of heaven to those who loves Him.

BUANA VII: The civilisation/technology - Born out of "Philosophy" which is literally a combination of "Philo", Greek for "Love"; and "Sophy", Arabic for knowledge; ie Love for Knowledge - A jump start to many scientific discoveries that led humanity to its magnificent civilisation/technology from the ancient Eastern Chinese Empire to the Western Industrial Revolution.

Of course, what is apparent in my blogs, is the reflection of my love for art, in whatever form.

The links to all the BUANA series are as follows:

BUANA I: The physical
BUANA II: The spiritual
BUANA III: The creation
BUANA IV: The environment
BUANA V: The destruction
BUANA VI: The after-Death
BUANA VII: The civilisation
BUANA VIII: The passion and love

Title: Buana VII
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: 2:32am, 19 December 1994
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

UANA VII is the 2nd last of the BUANA series. After having expressed different aspects of life in my previous sections of the BUANA series, I think "Technology" deserves the right to be expressed, hence BUANA VII. After all, "Technology" has been mankind's single most significant contribution to civilisation.

Technology has led to numerous goodness in our lives but it has its fair chance in destroying the world as well. The following are the Top 10 technological discoveries (in my mind that is) which never failed to amaze me - starting from 10 to 1:

10. Building Structures: No doubt, human beings displayed the best of civil engineering in the fine works of Pyramids, Hanging Garden of Babylon, Great Wall of China, Petra, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Moai Statues, Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, Cristo Redentor, Acropolis, Borobudur, St. Paul's Cathedral, Notra Damme, La Sagrada Familia, Petronas Twin Towers, Golden Gate of San Francisco, Statue of Liberty, and a whole lot more.....

9. Navigational Vehicles: You name it, from Noah's Ark, the wooden ship of the Vikings, the Wright Brothers' first airplane, Daimler's first Internal Combustion Engine, the Titanic to the Boeing 747's - magnificent improvement to the traditional caravan of camels or the migration of orientals from China to the North Pole (later known as the Eskimos).

8. Genetic Engineering: Talking about playing God. Items 1 to 7 below involves equipment, chemicals and natural resources. However, Genetic Engineering is a direct human interference into the Creator's realm - the manipulation of the devine building blocks of life itself!

7. Atomic and Nuclear Powers: Well, what more can I say,.. Isn't this the most dangerous discovery ever that made it possible for Armageddon to be caused by humans themselves?

6. Medical Discoveries: Whilst this has its roots thousands of years ago via the early civilisations of China, Egypt and the like, recent discoveries from the age of the Muslim Scientific Era in Baghdad in the 600's a.d. right to the present day has been quite an exponential achievement.

5. Telecommunication: Be it telephone, facsimile or satellite; every aspect of telecommunication would have been regarded as Black Magic just 200 years ago!

4. Electricity: Well, I am sure anyone can live without Oil, Computers or walking on the Moon; but, electricity! It is almost impossible for the modern urbanites to live without electricity. This extends to the related applications such as Television, Hot Water System, Lighting, Microwave Ovens, Igniting Automobile Engine, Electric Guitar, etc.

3. Walking on the Moon: Hail Armstrong and his crew. What a quantum leap - one day we will be living in Space - Branson's Virgin Galactic is already launching its first spaceship soon.

2. Computers: The closest ever in man's attemp to imitate the biological brain - my favourite being Excel Spreadsheets.

1. Discovery of Oil: Who on Mother Earth had the idea of drilling into the ground to extract ugly looking black liquid with the confidence that it will bring very high Return on Investment? I just cannot comprehend how someone would have that investment instinct. It's not like walking in the woods to discover nice looking berries and had a go at it just to find out whether it is edible or not. This is drilling into the ground! Amazing. I'd rank this as No.1 most significant technological discovery given that its value, in utility as well as monetary terms, is far more than Gold, if not equal. People go to war for this. (Therefore worthy of being the image of BUANA VII)

The links to all the BUANA series are as follows:

BUANA I: The physical
BUANA II: The spiritual
BUANA III: The creation
BUANA IV: The environment
BUANA V: The destruction
BUANA VI: The after-Death
BUANA VII: The civilisation
BUANA VIII: The passion and love

Title: Buana VI
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 18 December 1994
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

UANA VI is my expression of "after-Death" - silhouette of man in uncertainty whether he has done enough to follow the bright light ascending to the heavens or being sucked down below in the inferno of hell.

Almost all religion that I can think of has somewhat mentioned the concept of "after-Death" in their scriptures. The monotheist religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) clearly state that "after-Death" can only mean eternal sufferings in hell or goodness in heaven (though some believe that one will be transfered from hell to heaven once the sufferings compensate the sins).

The Hindus and Buddhists believe an ultimate state of enlightenment called Nirvana at which, Beings cease to reincarnate over and over again into this world. Whilst that concept does not really fit in nicely into the black and white of hell and heaven, it does in some ways potray that until you redeem yourself thoroughly, you will continue to suffer living your life (over and over again) and experience the so called "heavenly status" once you meet profound redemption, ie Nirvana. This is, in my mind, and in essence, similar to the concept of hell and heaven.

The Pharoahs of Egypt seems to think that "after-Death" requires effort in the current life. Hence dragging their entire family and wealth into the Pyramids. Again, there is a connection between what you do in the current life to what you will end up in "after-Death".

You should by now noticed that my preferred term is "after-Death" rather than "after-Life". Well, To use "after-Life" would simply mean that you'll enter into the realm of Death after being Alive and that's it. This is, in my mind, an imperfect hypothesis of what the major religions are preaching. I'd rather use "after-Death" - conveying the message that the splitting point between the current life and the next life is "Death" - hence the next life cannot be Death. So, in the case of Hinduism and Buddhism, there are multiple Deaths before you reach heavenly state of Nirvana? Whatever the answer is, at the end of the day, it's all the same concept.

In chronological sense, perhaps, death is best defined as the period between your last heart beat and the point when the gatekeepers decide your path, ie. either up or down (Note: Islamic gatekeepers refer to Angels Malik for Hell, Ridzuan for Heaven, Munkar and Nangkir for the judgement of sins vs good deeds).

What does "after-Death" really means to us? Well, "Death" gives us the sense of sadness for leaving behind our loved ones, our wealth and the good things in life. If the life we live is pathetic, you would probably feel the opposite, ie. too happy to go!. However, "after-Death" has got a totally different impact. It urges man to act and make a difference to this world (eg. laws, regulations, education, wars, humanitarian, politics, etc) - a totally acceptable human behaviour of "effort and reward" vs "crime and punishment".

Finally, I would like to highlight a few art work which are based on the concept of "after-Death": Drag to Hell (Movie), Ghost (Movie), Raphael's hand of God touching Man's in the Sistine Chapel of Vatican (Painting); and my old time favourite from Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven (Song).

The links to all the BUANA series are as follows:

BUANA I: The physical
BUANA II: The spiritual
BUANA III: The creation
BUANA IV: The environment
BUANA V: The destruction
BUANA VI: The after-Death
BUANA VII: The civilisation
BUANA VIII: The passion and love

Title: Buana V
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 15 December 1994
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

UANA V potrays "Destruction", an act of anti-creation, a chaotic manifestation of hatred, rebellion, nationalism, crusade and psycho mad-insanity. The right to destroy ought to be the priviledge of the Creator and not of man, except, when defending against others who ill-assumed that priviledge with self-declared authority.

Al Gore, in his quest to spread the love for Mother Earth, presented statistics on environemnt which included the graph for the world's population count. Interestingly, the graph showed a steady increase in the world's population since the early B.C all the way to 1945. From there on, the population grew exponentially to the 6.5 billion that we know today. The 2 main causes are medical advancement and the extinction of mega wars. Whilst we still do have sporadic wars such as Iraqi War, Afghan War, etc, mega wars that involve the entire world population cease to happen when Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and the Kamikaze soldiers lost the 2nd World War in 1945.

Since the beginning of time, man has been at war for various reasons, some are justified but most are not. These wars, whilst functioning as population control, were based on quests for supremacy, wealth, dignity, power, truth as well as revenge. The following are a few famous destructive movements by human beings (not in any particular order):

1. World War I
2. World War II
3. The American Civil War
4. The Greek/Macedonian wars under Alexander the Great
5. The Roman/Byzantine wars under Julius Caesar and Constantine
6. The expansion of Islamic Muawiyah, Abassyd and Ottoman
7. The rise of Qin Dynasty under Lord Shang Yang
7. The Holy Wars of Crusaders vs Islamic Caliphates
8. The world conquest by Kublai Khan and Genghis Khan
9. The exploration of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French and English

An interesting fact worth sharing with others is that: the first murder ever convicted by humans was because of jealousy - Adam and Eve (Adam and Hawa) had two sons, Cain and Abel (Qabil and Habil). Each made sacrifices to God and God accepted the sacrifice of one and not the other. The scriptures do not specify why God accepts only one (Al-Ma'ida 5:30–32; Gen. 4:1-7). The assumption perceived is that God had given them instructions for the sacrifice and Cain had chosen not to follow them. Because of the rejection of his sacrifices, Cain murdered Abel (Al-Ma'ida 5:30; Gen. 4:8). God condemns Cain to suffer whilst Abel is regarded as righteous.

There is another version to the story: Adam and Eve also had two daughters whom they arranged to be the wives of Cain and Abel respectively. Cain must not have got the woman he preferred and so,.......

The links to all the BUANA series are as follows:

BUANA I: The physical
BUANA II: The spiritual
BUANA III: The creation
BUANA IV: The environment
BUANA V: The destruction
BUANA VI: The after-Death
BUANA VII: The civilisation
BUANA VIII: The passion and love

Title: Buana IV
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 14 December 1994
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

UANA series continue with BUANA IV, an expression of the "Environment" in which our world exists. The Environment is instrumental in the development of mankind from both physical and mental perspectives. It manifests external force gigantic in its presence - only a being as supreme as God Himself is worthy of being the creator. Its magnitude varies and can have both blessed or catastrophic results. For example, drops of rain bring with it the power of creation in the fields of agriculture but yet an amplified and prolonged shower floods humanity to death. The Environment presents itself almost in all form of elements (Earth, Wind, Water & Fire) and earned the headlines to the daily newspapers via various names: Cyclone, Typhoon, Tornado, Eartquake, Storm, Volcano Eruption, Flood, Tsunami, Avalanche, Global Warming, etc.

Environment has also been one of the key areas of knowledge for which man has learnt to appreciate over the past thousands of years and will continue to do so until the end of the world. Such gift to mankind made it possible for us to understand the world we live in from many aspects such as Geography, Astronomy, Agriculture, Meteorology, Geology, Aviation, Maritime, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Quantum Physics, Art, Literature, Mining & Exploration, Industrialisation, Warfare and even Religion.

Man has also left behind their legacy from the application and/or the discovery of such knowledge. To name a few: Avicenna (Ibn Sinar), Algorizm (al-Khwarizmi), Neil Armstrong, Uri Gagarin, Marco Polo, Ptolemy, Admiral Cheng Ho, Eric the Viking, Christopher Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci, Stephen Hawkings, Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great (Iskandar Dzulkarnain), Genghis Khan, Saladin (Salah Al-Din), Al Gore, Ramses, Moses (Musa p.b.u.h) and the infamous Noah (Nuh p.b.u.h) with the biggest flood of all time.

The links to all the BUANA series are as follows:

BUANA I: The physical
BUANA II: The spiritual
BUANA III: The creation
BUANA IV: The environment
BUANA V: The destruction
BUANA VI: The after-Death
BUANA VII: The civilisation
BUANA VIII: The passion and love

Title: Buana III
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 14 December 1994
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

S a continuation from my earlier blog, I present you BUANA III, my computer graphics expression of the world from "Creation" perspective. Unlike BUANA I & II where the subject matter was a wholesome view of the world, this one focuses only on the topic "Creation" - whilst myopic in its scope, it's a powerful subject for digestion and reflection.

I believe the word "Nature" is quite deceiving when some groups of scientists tried to imagine the existence of the world visible to us today as an unexpected event that happened for no particular reasons and simply by accident - hence labelling it as "Nature". For that reason alone, I refuse to use that particular word to describe all the things I can see in this world. For lack of better word, and my religious conscience, "Creation" would suffice - implying that there ought to be a creator, a concept even the Atheists agree deep down inside.

BUANA III in particular shows the "Creation" of human beings, a magical phenomenon of "Creation" by its mere simplicity of liquid biochemicals evolving into complex structure forming Homo Sapiens. I could have chosen other visual such as the Big Bang or a bean sprout shooting off the ground but human beings are interesting. Why? well, despite their weaknesses, they appear to be the supreme controlling creature or "Creation" on Planet Earth, a God-given-trust which is not necessarily carried out appropriately. You will find that most of the remaining expressions for the BUANA series revolve around human beings, that "trust" and their development. So, watch out for BUANA IV onwards......

The links to all the BUANA series are as follows:

BUANA I: The physical
BUANA II: The spiritual
BUANA III: The creation
BUANA IV: The environment
BUANA V: The destruction
BUANA VI: The after-Death
BUANA VII: The civilisation
BUANA VIII: The passion and love

Title: Buana I & II (... a start to a series of expression)
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 14 December 1994
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

S mentioned in my earlier blog, in 1993/1994, I got hooked with computer graphics for a while. Instead of plagarising some rock album cover, I decided to express what I feel and what was lingering in my grey matter between the two ears. So I came out with the Buana series. Yup, the name "Buana" was actually already in my vocabulary those days, even back in 1990 when I was in secondary school. It simply means world/dimension.

So the Buana series had begun. What do I express when I am referring to world/dimension? Well, you will find the below series of computer graphics depicting the various dimensions as described below. Buana I & II are images potrayed above and the rest are in separate blogs subsequent to this.

The links to all the BUANA series are as follows:

BUANA I: The physical
BUANA II: The spiritual
BUANA III: The creation
BUANA IV: The environment
BUANA V: The destruction
BUANA VI: The after-Death
BUANA VII: The civilisation
BUANA VIII: The passion and love

Well you'll have to wait for the subsequent blogs for Buana III to Buana VIII. For now, Buana I & Buana II are presented for your own interpretation. The graphics are somewhat distorted because I had to extract from an obsolete 3 1/4 inch diskette, but still able to demonstrate the artistic form of these pieces.

Buana I & Buana II representing "Physical" and "Spiritual" dimensions of life are actually the building blocks of life from two forces like ying and yang, a balanced existence, a symetrical creation by God Almighty, a dual partnership of sensibility necessary for existence itself, the very life we are living. Imagine a body without a soul, a song without melody, Male without Female! and the all divinity hypothesis of humanity without God. These are truly armageddon, an apocalypse to biblical proportion (... exaggeration after watching the movie 2012). I leave it to you to interpret and value life..... embrace the vibes of the Buana.

Title: Metallica Craze (A series of 4 potraits and 6 album covers)
Medium: Computer Graphics (Microsoft Paintbrush)
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Date and time not recorded}, 1993
Place of creation: South Yarra, Australia
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com


URING the summer of 1993, between the end of the First Year 2nd Semester and the flight back to Malaysia, I was a young punk working late nights at a Pizza Parlour in Prahran trying to save enough money to pay for the air ticket as well as for my very first electric guitar (Daion). There wasn't much to do when I'd completed my daily routine of work other than sleeping or watching cricket test matches between the West Indies and the Aussies. So, I explored computer graphics - None of those complicated Auto CADs or Corel Draw - It was simply Microsoft Paintbrush!

What do I draw? well, I was wearing a Metallica T-Shirt with the images of the band members James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Jason Newstead,.... and was listening to Metallica CDs. Naturally, that became my first experimental material. So, I did it, bitmap by bitmap for each of these images appearing on this blog - each took around 8 hours or so. That sort of occupied my summer, in between working hours and cricket test matches. So I discovered my ability in Computer Graphics - well its not that hard really, just zoom in and work on it like a graph net with X and Y axis - you just need patience. (Note: ....by the way, please give me my due recognition! I can already hear people saying "this must have been done via scanners". I kid you not, I actually plagarised every bitmap. It took me approximately 8 hours for each piece ok!)


Just to give a bit of a background on these images; this one right here is the album cover for Metallica's first album "Kill 'Em All", a debut which was quite controversial because they kicked out their guitarist, Dave Mustaine, and replaced him with Kirk Hammett, a padawan to a guitar legend, Joe Satriani. Dave subsequently found Megadeth.


The next image above is their 2nd album "Ride the Lightning". Now this put Metallica way at the top of Heavy Metal list with its dramatic and magnificent "Fade to Black". The entire transformation from the speed metal type Kill 'Em All album to a more melodramatic heavy metal that emphasises Metal not in speed form was apparent in Ride the Lightning but perfected in the 3rd album "Master of Puppets".

I actually started my graphics attempt with the cover for Master of Puppets, which is my favourite heavy metal album of all time and of course, my favourite song is and will always be Master of Puppets. I think this album is the legacy of Cliff Burton before he departed to hell - a truly influential dude on Metallica's music landscape. Not to mention, the album cover is superb - image right at the top - have chosen this image to lead the saga in this particular blog as it was my first computer graphics attemp and I must say, one of the most difficult one!


The last album which really continued the Metallica traits is the above "...and Justice for All". But this one made it possible for the band members to be regarded as the most respectable and skillful heavy metalists around with Lars kicking double paddles like the speed of tongue vibrating and Hetfield's crunchy single repeated strokes of rhythms complemented by Hammett's mature solo and blending of bass by Newstead linking the beat, rhythm and melody.


In my opinion, the Black Album (above) and whatever subsequent to that are totally off tangent (referring to the Black Album, Load, Reload & St. Anger) from the mainstream Metallica traditional traits; except for, the latest "Death Magnetic" which sort of resurrected the old Metallica spirit with its new basist re-living the Cliff Burton era.

I didn't really got the time to continue the graphics for the rest of the album subsequent to the Black Album - as you can see, my attempt on the cover for Load is far from complete - I stopped there as it was time for me to leave university and I had no access to computers for a very long time......

Title: Ikan
Medium: Photography
Photographer: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Date and time not recorded}, 1999
Place of creation: Pasar Seksyen 6, Shah Alam
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

KAN Keli, Ikan Tilapia, Ikan Haruan, Ikan Semilang, Ikan Kerisi, Ikan Belut, Ikan Sepat, Ikan Pelaga Siam, Ikan Puyu, Ikan Jenahak, Ikan Senohong, Ikan Gelama, Ikan Senangin, Ikan Merah, Ikan Kakap, Ikan Kurau, Ikan Tamban, Ikan Mackerel, Ikan Tongkol, Ikan Sardin, Ikan Bawal Putih, Ikan Bawal Merah, Ikan Bawal Hitam, Ikan Bawal Tambak, Ikan Terubuk, Ikan Parang, Ikan Barrymundi, Ikan Kerapu, Ikan Emas, Ikan Koi, Ikan Carp, Ikan Tenggiri, Ikan Jerung, Ikan Paus, Ikan Lumba-Lumba, Ikan Salmon, Ikan Dory, Ikan Whitting, Ikan Duyung, Ikan Yu, Ikan Barakuda, Ikan Cencaru, Ikan Kembong, Ikan Temenung, Ikan Bilis, Ikan Guppy, Ikan Patin, Ikan Arwana, Ikan Golden Dragon, Ikan Kelisa, Ikan Jelawat, Ikan Lampam Jawa, Ikan Tapah, Ikan Oscar, Ikan Kaloi, Ikan Sebelah, Ikan Pari, Ikan Raja, Ikan Selar Kuning, Ikan Marlin Biru, Ikan Marlin Hitam, Ikan Marlin Putih, Ikan Marlin Silver, Ikan Marlin Loreng, Ikan Marlin Kapak, Ikan Rainbow Trout, Ikan Yellow Fin Tuna, Ikan Blue Fin Tuna, Ikan Wahoo, Ikan Mahi Mahi, Ikan Pedang, Ikan Terbang, Ikan Buntal, Ikan Todak, Ikan Taylor, Ikan Silver Bream, Ikan Trevalis, Ikan Siakap, Ikan Duri, Ikan Toman, Ikan Toman Bunga, Ikan DBKL, Ikan Ubi, Ikan Piranha, Ikan Belida, Ikan Barb, Ikan Belachak, Minyak Ikan, Kari Ikan, Ikan Masak Asam Pedas, Ikan Pindang, Ikan Goreng, Ikan Salai, Ikan Kering, Telur Ikan, Sup Ikan, Sambal Tumis Ikan, Ikan Bakar, Ikan Tiga Rasa, Ikan Kicap, Satay Ikan, Jabatan Perikanan, Clown Fish, Angel Fish, Star Fish, Tiger Fish, Cat Fish, Cuttlefish, Sword Fish, Sail Fish, Fish and Chips, Fish Fingers, Fish Balls, Fish Cake, Filet O' Fish, Ocean Catch, Grilled Fish, Sushi, Sashimi, Laurence Fishburne, Shell Fish, Selfish, Ikang, Ikano ......

Title: Pisang
Medium: Photography
Photographer: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Date and time not recorded}, 1999
Place of creation: {Place not recorded}
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

ISANG Mas, Pisang Mas Besar, Pisang Mas Kampong, Pisang Mas Air, Pisang Mas Sagura, Pisang Rastali, Pisang Raja Udang, Pisang Raja, Pisang Tanduk, Pisang Tanduk Raja, Pisang Embun, Pisang Abu, Pisang Abu Keling, Pisang Abu Baru, Pisang Montel, Pisang Berangan, Pisang Nipah, Pisang Awak, Pisang Nangka, Pisang Lang, Pisang Relong, Pisang Lemak Manis, Pisang Masak Hijau, Pisang Cavendish, Pisang Bulin, Pisang Minyak, Pisang Minyak Laut, Pisang Serendah, Pisang Buai, Pisang Mundam, Pisang Bunga, Pisang Jelai Bunga, Pisang Perak, Pisang Cina, Pisang Amping, Pisang Kapal, Pisang Keling, Pisang Seribu, Pisang Kapas, Pisang Kari, Pisang Kelat Jambi, Pisang Kelat Keling, Pisang Lidi, Pisang Khaki, Pisang Merah, Pisang Teratai, Pisang Putar, Pisang Susu, Pisang Talang, Pisang Siam, Roti Pisang, Kek Pisang, Pengat Pisang, Pisang Goreng, Pisang Salai, Pisang Rebus, Kari Pisang, Jantung Pisang, Daun Pisang, Pokok Pisang, Banana Split, Banana Republic, Bananas in Pyjamas, Persatuan Pisang Antarabangsa .......

Title: The Trio
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimension: Each panel at 50cm X 20cm
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 12 Feb 2006
Place of Creation: Chiswick, London
Current Location: This work is no longer in existence as it has been transformed into Asma'ul Husna
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

HIS is my 3rd attempt of oil on canvas. Many painters explored the idea of multiple pieces to a story when painting. Well, this is my exploration. Three pieces rectangular canvases with the same motives, each complement each other for a complete appreciation - thus requiring all three to be hung together side by side on the wall. Unlike my other oil on canvas work, this one has no colour mixing nor blending tones. This is simply a two-flat-colour painting, beige for the background and dark brown for the plant shoots.

There is no story to this piece. It has no meaning to be interpreted. It is simply my attempt to plagarise a painting displayed in a Home Decor magazine for which my wife fell in love with. We decided to have the painting hung on the wall at home to match the colour scheme of our lounge, i.e. beige-white neo-classical look. I haven't really given a name to this work but for this blog, I think, it is most appropriate to call it "THE TRIO"

Title: Nasi Kandar Kampung Melayu
Medium: Photography
Photographer: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Date and time not recorded}, 1999
Place of creation: Penang
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

ASI literally means rice, a staple food of the Far-East-Oriental and Kandar is the act of carrying goods on the shoulders - a short description of food sold by traders carrying buckets of rice and curries on their shoulders, though you don't get to see this anymore (hence the photograph being a premised establishment of Nasi Kandar hawker).

Nasi Kandar has been a phenomenal attraction to Penang for many years. This is a perfect example of culture assimilation as a result of immigration policies introduced by the colonial masters (Portugese, Dutch & British) of the Malay Peninsula. This is typical of the development in the straits settlement such as Malacca and Temasek (Singapore) since the trading days of the Malacca Entreport Empire in the 1500's where Indians, Chinese, Arabs and the Malay-Indo travellers travelled via sea to meet and trade.

This combination of steamed white rice and various curry dishes took its origin from the Indian taste evolusionised into the Malay environment. A legacy of the Jawi Peranakan or "Mamak" (Malay-Indian descendants predominantly Muslims). Unlike its counterpart, the Malay-Chinese "Baba Nyonya" sweet sour hot chilli dishes, Nasi Kandar offers a unique explosion of spices on the taste butts - a blended sensation of cloves, anise stars, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods (together referred to as "Empat Sekawan" or the Friendship of Four); as well as fennel, cumin, mustard seeds, onions, garlics, chillies, tamarind and a whole lot of other spices cooked with veggies, fish, meat or poultry.

These spices seemed to have been the Gold commodities for the Europeans as food preservatives. In the absence of a refrigerator 500 years ago, spices were regarded as the new age technology equal to that of the mummification preservatives of the Eqyptians - a technology sufficiently advanced to have pursuaded the Europeans to invade the East, inclusive of India, the Malay Peninsula, surrounding Islands of Indonesia-Philippines and Indo-China.

Referring back to the culture assimilation, Nasi Kandar is accepted by a whole wide range of ethnic group in the Malay Peninsula namely Malay, Indian and Chinese. So you do get these various ethnic groups to venture into food business that involves Nasi Kandar - hence the existence of Nasi Kandar Kampung Melayu, Malay for "Malay Villagers' Nasi Kandar".

Title: Pantai Asmara Penang
Medium: Water Colour
Dimension: 27.3cm X 37.5cm
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 1 Dec 1992
Place of Creation: Shah Alam
Given as a gift to Dato' (Dr) Mohamed Ishak Ariff
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

HE ending months of 1992 was a leisure period after having gone through the exams (SPM) for high school. Knowing my interest in art, my father had given me a photo he shot up north in the Island of Penang for me to paint. Not having any experience in oil, water colour was the best choice at that time.

This panorama is meant to highlight the soothing feeling of passion and love which is appropriately displayed by a backdrop of sunset and overlooking a row of Casuarina by the beach side. What gave the name for this area is the rock island on the far left inwards the bay. This rock island is called "Lovers' Isle", an Isle for which lovers spend their time watching the sunset and carving their love declaration on the rock. The beach was therefore named "Pantai Asmara", Malay for "Lovers' Beach".

Title: Solitary II
Medium: Multimedium (Pencils and Water Colour)
Dimension: 37.5cm X 27.3cm
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time and date not recorded}, 2000
Place of Creation: Shah Alam
Given as a gift to Dato' (Dr) Mohamed Ishak Ariff
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

HIS piece was done in the year 2000, 5 years from the first attempt of a multimedium piece, Solitary, as published in another blogspot earlier. Again, it's a pencil work for the main object, a Sun Bear by a cracked vertical metamorphic rock wall; complemented by water coloured yellow sun and yellow flowers of a Bonzai-like plant supporting a bee hive.

Similar to the earlier piece Solitary, this one tells a story of a lonely Sun Bear living in the wild feasting on honey from bees... except that, this poor creature has not quite reached his meal. With its front left leg sticking out, the creature is expressing its frustration, desire and a subliminal message of a lonely creature helpless without any companion to share his agony.

So far I have only done 2 pieces of the "Solitary" series in Oil Painting, this one being "Solitary II". A Photography version was also done is Solitary III.

Title: Solitary
Medium: Multimedium (Pencils and Water Colour)
Dimension: 27.3cm X 37.5cm
Artist: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time not recorded}, 25 Feb 1995
Place of Creation: Shah Alam
Given as a gift to Dato' (Dr) Mohamed Ishak Ariff
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

HIS piece was done in 1995, couple of hours before my flight back to Melbourne to resume my studies in the Australian Autumn. It's a pencil work for the main object, i.e. the Moose on the side of a hill; and water coloured red sun to complement the "Solitary" mood set by the Moose. There is no history behind this work other than an attempt to do a multimedium piece of art. The original backdrop is actually white but photography without flash lights (to avoid reflection on the glass cover framing the piece) had somewhat given an antique and seasoned effects like that of an Egyptian papyrus - reinforced by the tiny vertical and horizontal pencil lines at the fringe of the hill side sketch.

The mood set in this piece is "Solitary": A lonely hoofed mammal of the forests of northern North America seeking for enlightenment from the glowing red hot sun above. The sketch-like hill side was an idea plagarised from Japanese drawings often found in Asian hotels' lobbies. The red sun is meant to be a red-wax stamp but in the absence of such waxing material, thick water colour was sufficient to allow the word "Solitary" to be carved on the red-filled circle.

5 years after this piece was done, another same concept piece was done in 2000 called Solitary II. A photography version was also expressed in Solitary III.

Title: Mikraj
Medium: Photography
Photographer: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: 6:00 pm, {Date not recorded}, 1999
Place of creation: Marangaroo, Perth
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

USTRALIA offers you the luxury of space. With its dessert like continent, the sky seems like a huge screen and the land sprawl with little highland to obstruct the magnificent work of nature when the sun completes its semi-circle journey. The best of "Sky" I've ever seen was in Australia, be it plain blue, the marching of clouds or sunset. It was reported in various journals that Australia has an extraordinary clear sky predominantly due to the huge hole in the ozone layer above it - possibly caused by thousands of years of natural forest fires.

I must also share with you a spectacular sighting of mine in the desert of Perth, Australia. Lying on the Earth looking into the sky at night, I once saw a faint stripe of tiny stars across the sky revealing an arm of the Milkyway visible from a planet (Earth) that is within another arm of the galaxy. How cool is that? This has to beat the sighting of Halley's Comet (which I witnessed sometime back in the early 80's).

So I decided to take photos of the Australian Sky - as attached. These 2 images were taken from the open land of Marangaroo, Perth.

The first image simply shows multiple layers of colours merely produced by nature's very own dusk. I have also used this photo in my blogspot for the poem "PETALA MASA", which simply means "Multilayers of Time" in Malay: Mutilayers of colours as a result of time (i.e. Dusk). This snapshot reveals:

1. BLACK (trees blocking the sunlight)
2. YELLOW (evening sun dispersing light at the eve of setting),
3. ORANGE (reflection of sunlight on the clouds)
4. BROWN/REDDISH (upper side of clouds absorbing dusk-light)
5. BLUE (day light not willing to surrender to dusk)
6. WHITE (spotted clouds shielded from the sunset)
7. INDIGO (arrival of darkness as light disappears)

The second image reminds me of a burning Phoenix spreading its wings across the sky with the effects of the sunset giving a fire-like texture on the group of clouds that spread like the wings of an eagle.

The multiple layers of colours are symbolic of a journey required to reach the heavens and the "Phoenix" simply represents magical touch to such a journey; both divine in its own way. This is consistent with at least 1 biblical text on the subject "ascending to the heavens": In the Quran, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), once travelled from Jerusalem (Al-Aqsa) to the heavens to meet God Almighty. In his odyssey, he went through multiple layers of sky (If I am not mistaken, 7 layers) with the aid of a glowing creature with wings (like a Phoenix perhaps?). This journey is called "Mikraj" (Arabic for Ascending).

Title: The Black Swan
Medium: Photography
Photographer: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: 8:00 pm, {Date not recorded}, 1998
Place of creation: Lake off Moondine Drive, Wembley, Perth
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

years of living in Perth introduced to me a special species of swan, the Black Swan. As I know it, I don't think you can get Black Swans anywhere else in the world. Even if you can, they'd probably imported them from Australia. This magnificent creature is majestic. Pure black feathers, black peak (sometimes red) and can stretch their wings to a length of 2 to 3 metres or so (combined both sides).

So I decided to snap a photo of these swans at a lake nearby my apartment in Wembley, Perth. I cannot remember the name of the lake but it was certainly by the road leading to my apartment, the Moondine Drive. I couldn't get near them fearing being attacked by them. What was more worrying were not those swans. I was more worried about the tiger snakes that lived in the same habitat. A wet swampy lake with plenty of frogs as their dinner with the December summer sunlight attracting these snakes to sun bath on the greens. They are, after all, listed in the top-5 most poisonous land snakes in the world. Naturally, I snapped from far.

It was already 8:00 pm at that time and the sun was disappearing replacing the sky with a blanket of orange-red inferno like clouds stretching from the space above me all the way to the horizon in front. It was difficult to get a good shot. By the time I got a steady shot of a hen-swan with its baby swimming (or floating rather), it was already dark enough not to reveal the details of the swans. Since the swan is black anyway, I figured, what the hell, a silhouette would do. Hence this shot, "The Black Swan",... from far.

Dedicated to my frineds of the good ole Perth days: Din, Fos, Amil, Zam, Lili, Pi'e, Shuk, Shidi, Nan, Hatta as well as my Aussie friends Will, Nick, Webbers, Christine, Stephanie, Georgina and others from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Title: Loneliness
Medium: Photography
Photographer: Johan Ishak
Time/Date: {Time and date not recorded}, 2000
Place of creation: Shah Alam
www.buanaseni.blogspot.com

HOTOGRAPHY is a form of art which I admire. The attached photo is my first attachment on the blog for photography. The photograph was taken using a simple automatic Olympus camera. Nothing expensive. Whilst a higher resolution camera has the ability to focus with clarity and impose fantastic effects, a simple photography can produce the intended metaphoric feel by having the right combination of background, colour scheme, choice of object(s), positioning of silhoette or light source; and most importantly, timing, to capture the moments (hence the phrase "the Kodak Moments").

This piece had no title since the day it was photographed. I have decided to call it "Loneliness" as it is attached to my blog spot for my poem "Kesunyian" (Malay for "Loneliness"). Of course this one was chosen to partner that particular piece of poem because it does, somehow, potray that dark feeling of melancholy, despite having a very bright background with the presence of ample light.

A plain white wall and concrete floor: a simplicity depicting an absence of joy. A shadow of an awning potraying insecurity whereby there is a need to shelter under another's care. A leafless plant and an empty shell: a desastrous existence without life. Whilst the plant has the companion of the shell, it is no more than a physical proximity that means nothing (just like an out-of-job musician with his broken guitar).

This whole combination is intended to create the feeling of "Loneliness", a state of emotion that no one deserves to suffer. Yet we humans, still face it occasionally, if not continuously (like some miserable souls we may encounter in our lives), as how God intended it to be. Death, wars, divorces, separations, quarantines, punishments or even lost of faith. All these impose "Loneliness" onto us. Who are we to challenge God's preordained plan destined to be the saga of our lives?