the ‘winds of penang’

most people in penang must have heard of the japanese sculptor, katsumi mukai, who was working on a huge tree at the pedestrian mall of prangin mall. cmos, the blur sotong had blog on it once, where he managed to take a photo with the man himself. there was also a report about katsumi mukai’s work in yesterday’s star paper, of which it was mentioned, he turned the sculptor into a playground! katsumi had named the sculpture ‘winds of penang’ because he said he like the breeze in penang.

well, yesterday morning at around 10.45am, while i was passing komtar at the giant tv area, i happened to caught this piece of art on a lorry, ready to be taken down and displayed. a number of people stood by to watch. as i was going for an appointment in prangin mall, i did not stop to watch. at 2.00pm, when i was returning back this same way, i saw it being displayed and quickly snap some pictures.

the first picture here was taken standing in komtar area, facing magazine road. second picture was taken at another angle, facing penang road, standing between komtar and magazine road. it looks kind of er… awful eh… at that angle. actually the whole thing itself doesn’t look pretty to me but then that could be me who doesn’t know how to appreciate art! i am amazed though at katsumi’s skill in creating this piece (though i may not like it). actually it doesn’t look nice in pictures but when you see it for real, it does look nice. cmos had said that katsumi was doing this for the love of art – he doesn’t get any payment. that’s nice of him. well, he was a friendly man anyway, as many people claimed. he allowed people to do some chiselling here and there, and allowed children to play on his ‘art’ (as reported in the star paper). though he doesn’t want anything, methink the govt. should give him some token of appreciation.
UPDATED: found out this news was in the star paper this morning at work. it seems my news come in first! (1.15am). read: gaint wood scupture moves into new home.