Ole Cafe: The Project Upstairs

How does this guy do it?

2006-11-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some more of Fathul's work that was churned out the past couple of days. The poor guy has been so inspired, he's ran out of canvass to paint on. Can you imagine?

Raya Art

2006-11-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

Now that the festivities are behind us, we are ready to charge ahead. Last week Fathul had his Hari Raya open house at Ole Café. The crowd turn out was phenomenal. Thanks guys for all the support shown to him and also to the project we are embarking on.
The food was great, hats off to Fathul’s mom for the wonderful rendang, lemang, mee siam and all the other goodies. And Farah’s Bandung Soda was extremely good. Probably another inspired item to be included in Ole Café’s menu.

The atmosphere was ecstatic. Friends, families and also a good number of walk ins to Ole made the night a very memorable one. We had singers strumming their guitars and mesmerizing the audience with their enchanting voices. One of the Innuendo guys was also there! Cool aye. We had the movie buffs watching the screenings on the open air area outside. The Wayang 8 Kupang kick started with a big bang with 3 shows screened:

Strings (Anders Rønnow Klarlund/ Animation/ 91 mins/ 2004)- Strings is a mythological story about the son of a king, Hal Tara, who sets out on a journey to revenge the death of his father. To his surprise he discovers the truth of his own people - and where he least expects it.

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (Brothers Quay/ Drama/ 99 mins/ 2005)- Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.

Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam/ Fantasy/ 116 mins/ 1981)- A young boy accidently joins a band of dwarves as they jump from time-period to time-period looking for treasure to steal.

Feedback was good and more great movies will be coming your way. For additional details, log into http://acuppaart.blogspot.com/ for the up and coming screenings.

The art pieces are continuously churned out everyday by the very inspired Fathul and they are all looking brilliant. New styles are being explored and the visually ecstatic art pieces are testimony that the resident artist is really grooving upstairs at Ole. Last Saturday, many pieces were sold and many more booked, and I’ve already placed my order for my favourite piece, ain’t tell you which one yet….so you’d better hurry & pop by to have a view. Who knows? One or a few of those beautiful paintings might be calling out to you…and be rest assured, these art pieces bought will certainly be good investment pieces. Fathul is already promising to buy them back at a much higher price in the very near future.

So come support a good cause and join in the fun at:
Venue : Ole Cafe, 48, Jalan Changkat Bukit Bintang (opposite Radius International Hotel)
Date : Every Saturday
Time : 8pm till late (15 mins intermission in between films)
Admission : 80 cents (donation) for the movie screening

For map and more info on A Cuppa Art Project click here: http://acuppaart.blogspot.com/

See ya there!
P.S.A special thanks to David for his kind help in putting together a PR plan for the project. We will launch the program in a bigger way once we get the nitty-gritties ironed out.

Must admit that the project is kicking off slower than anticipated, partly due to the festivities and also the many things that’s happening around work. Anyway I am sure we will put our hearts together and build the momentum… and we are very sure it will be a success with your help, participation and support.

Spreading the Passion

2006-10-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Just some of the interesting people who have visted us! Including, one Pierre who is a prominent French artist. Not forgetting David and this two lovely kids and Rachel too. So it's kinda cool, what we are doing over here, slowly but surely we're building a place where a community of passionate people can gather...

Ole Cuppa Art

2006-10-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

Thought it would have been easier if I just wrote in this blog, the actual intent of Ole Cuppa Art aka The Project Upstairs.

The Objective is to simply create a space for the appreciation of art. Sparked by the idea that art is for everyone, Ole Cafe is providing a place for the artistic community to express themselves and a place for the public to learn and appreciate art a little more.

This project gathers a group of artists (visual, performing, music and writing) where each individual will be sharing their talents guiding youths or interested parties in creating/developing their own interpretation of art. This open art studio is for the artistic community to interact & exchange ideas and for the general public to join in the fun of creating art. It's an open interactive studio for anyone and everyone to enjoy.

The target audience:
- Talented budding artist, who are looking for opportunities to further their passion. Preferably aged between 18 - 30 years of age. They must be able to commit their time and talent wholeheartedly to the program if they are selected
- All artistic beings, (professional and non professional) who are looking for a venue to meet other people with similar passion to talk, interact and share their talents and experience for the betterment of arts
- The general public, basically anyone and everyone who is keen to appreciate and know more about arts. Observers or people who are eager to participate in the activities are most welcome. They are also encouraged to paint along with the resident artist if they wish so.
- Members of the press, to help publicize this event
- Not forgetting any potential sponsors who will be willing to lend a helping hand in running this program to promote and support this passion.

Timing and duration: Nov 2006 to mid Jan 2007

The Program: As part of Ole Cuppa Art, we will be looking for at least 3 talented budding artists who are interested in pursuing a career in visual arts & keen to showcase their raw passion and talents. It will be an eye opening journey for them to learn from an established artist like Fathul. The journey will last for at least 2 months, with Fathul imparting on them the ropes of surviving as an artist. Right from the kind of art materials to purchase, to dealing with issues such as how to keep their artistic passion alive especially in this harsh environment, to staging a show for their art pieces, etc. During this period, they are required to spend at least twice a week collaborating with Fathul and to produce paintings of their own. The end output of their effort will be showcased in a proper art display at Galleriiizu early next year. Ole Cuppa Art is also a venue to help promote the work of the participating professional artists.

Other areas of arts will also be included in this program. In addition to the paintings that will be produced, the multi talented Fatul who is also a singer/songwriter, will collaborate with other very talented friends of his to produce original music scores of the Cuppa Art journey, a dance performance and a few short stories capturing the experience of this journey.

Confirmed participating talents are as follows:
Fathullah Luqman Yusoff (Visual artist)
Faisal T (Photographer)
Jerome Kugan (Singer Songwriter)
Fong (Dancer)
Hariati Azizan (Writer)

The output of this program :
- At least 40 pieces of original paintings from Fathul and his proteges will be displayed at Galleriiizu.
- A CD with tracks written & inspired by this artistic journey will be produced. Included in the CD will be a short video of the most memorable and exciting moments of this program.
- A photography exhibition (photoblogs of people who have passionately laboured for the project's success) will be held in conjunction with the art show.
- Sketches and scribbles of interesting short stories will be compiled and turned into a mini coffee table book
- And a performance will take place during the art show to bring to live the essence of the Cuppa Art project through the art of Dance.

At the end of show, selected art pieces will be put up for auction to the public. Proceeds from the sale of the art pieces & CDs and other items will be used to support a good cause with a percentage of it retained to sponsor next year's Cuppa Art project. We hope to turn this into an annual event.

Other initiative: Charity Drive
While the Open Studio is being used to facilitate the passion for arts, Ole Cafe will also use this opportunity to bring joys to orphans while raising some funds for their homes. Selected orphanages will be identified, and Ole will host these kids for an afternoon and the public can come & lend their support for a good cause, enjoy a great cup of coffee while appreciating art. The kids together with Fathul will also be painting on a huge canvass, which will later be cut into smaller pieces, framed and offered for sale to the public. All proceeds from the sale of drinks that day and subsequently the sales of the kids' paintings will go to the orphanages.

2 to 3 deserving orphanages, especially the under supported ones will be identified in the coming weeks. Any enquiries and application are welcome.

Weekly forums and activities: Watch this space

From November, there will be weekly activities and forums organized every Saturday evening from 7pm to 9pm. The list of activities will be published once the group moderators have confirmed their participation. It will cover discussions on visual art, dance, short films (shows will be organized weekly), poetry reading, music (a jamming session or two is definitely happening!), etc... There will be art jamming sessions too! It's guaranteed to be fun, artistic and therapeutic! During these sessions, you will be guided to express yourself on a blank canvass to come up with your own masterpiece! So it's definitely very exciting!

After the Raya break, a CD with 5 original tracks especially composed for Ole Cuppa Art project together with 2 Ole Coffee vouchers worth RM 50 will be distributed around. Any contribution is welcomed to help support this very passionate cause. We hope to raise some funds to help kick start the program by appealling to the public's generousity. A media night is also planned in November to officially launch the program. Here's to brewing the passion for arts! Ole Cuppa Art.

Art So Hot!

2006-10-23T04:27:00.000-07:00

The Project Upstairs has begun and things are underway. Momentum is sure building and Fathul is producing art so hot, the fire department had to just come see what we are up to. Once in the afternoon, and a second time at night! So it must be fiery hot! So you ought to, too!

The Project Upstairs

2006-10-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

We are starting a project! It’s gonna be called “Ole Cuppa Art” aka THE PROJECT UPSTAIRS. A joint effort between Fathul and Ole Café. Apt project name coz it’s held in Ole Café, upstairs, and it’s about enjoying your coffee while appreciating art. And every cup of coffee sold, a ringgit goes to supporting this community project. So ya all… we sure do hope you come to lend your support. We are hoping to turn this into an annual thingy. The open art studio is already up and running, so feel free to pop by to see Fathul at work, painting some of his master pieces.

What we’ll be doing?
We are currently scouting for 3 to 5 talented and artistic people. Age below 25. Those keen, please apply within. (Contact details as below). The program will start in Nov, once we have found our protégés. So this few weeks we will be looking high and low for you, yes YOU, if you’re the chosen one!

These protégés will work closely with Fathul and his bunch of artist friends to come up with a series of paintings, music compositions, writing, photography and even a dance. At the end of this 2 months long program it will culminate in a grand show on the 31st Dec. (What better timing, that a fantastic New Year’s Eve celebration, ushering in the new year with art and passion)! The art pieces then will be exhibited at Galeriiizu for a period before they are auctioned off for a good cause! There you go! You can participate and have your own showing and at the same time, do your bit for charity!

Posters plus more details will be up soon. So please watch this space!

For those who are interested to participate, or just to simply be attending our numerous continuous fun art-farty activities , do pop by Ole Cafe at 48 Changkat Bukit Bintang (same street as Frangipani). Or contact:

Fathul - Resident Artist extraordinaire : +016 620 1167
Michael - ‘Artist I wish to be’ : +019 272 9727