'Oh you look much better in real life' Chu Yuan (a fellow artist who divides her time between KL, Singapore and Myanmar) has written a review of my show Fourth World for kakiseni.com. http://www.kakiseni.com/articles/reviews/MDg2Nw.html will get ya there.

It is damn well written, if I do say so myself. She refers to my work as 'weak' in several places - mostly to do with aspects of decorativeness, so do not for a moment think that it is a fawning piece of flattery. The fragile artist ego flinches instinctively, of course, but deep down it too appreciates writing which is thoughtful and critical.

In a related aside, please remind me in the future to disallow any publication of photos of my person that are not taken by ME. I know this is a very prima donna thing to do, but really, when you are as pathetically unphotogenic as I am, you would do the same. For proof, please turn to StarMag section of today's Sunday Star. It is coverage of Fourth World with a huge picture of my person squatting down, looking constipated and fondling my own installation. Warning : very unattractive.

I know for a fact that Christo (he of the wrapping buildings, and most recently, The Gates in New York's Central Park) only ever allows one photographer to take his picture. This slightly OCD thing is as a result of a bungled publicity shot in which Annie Leibowitz photographed him cocooned in plastic like a caterpillar. According to his wife and collaborator, Jeanne-Claude, they almost divorced over the affair.

Then again he is Christo and I am Betta. Oh how many years of looking stupid must I endure until I my eccentricities can likewise come to be tolerated as the vagaries of a genius? 10? 20? NEVER?  ¶ 1:59 PM