|
|
|
|
A Visit to Wood Carving and Oil Painting Artist in Manokwari Papua
Mr. Asaribab is a wood carving and an oil painting artist in Manokwari. Last January I and Paul Warere accompanied three Russian tourists visiting him. It was 10.30 p.m when we knocked at his door. The artist opened the door by himself. I introduced myself and said that there were three foreigners behind me who were interested in buying his artworks. He was painting an underwater coral scene when I knocked at the door. He looked happy when he received the three Russians. I introduced them one by one. They were Mikhail, Inga and Dima. They were from Moscow, the capital city of Russia - a great country in Eastern Europe. The day before, I had brought them to meet Mr. Awom, also a wood carving artist who lives on Merdeka street next to Suri bakery shop. A shop whose main business is not selling bread but photocopy service. It is weird, isn't it? There is a nice food court next to the shop. Their favorite menus are sate and soto, two Javanese foods that are becoming the fast food of Indonesian people.
Personally, I was happy to accompany them as my guests because while I was studying Naval Architecture in Pattimura University, I read many engineering books that had been written by Russian scientists.
Back to the story of wood carving artist, Mr. Asaribab, well, he had just returned from participating in an Art Exhibition in Jakarta. Mr. Asaribab said that most of his carvings were still on the way to Manokwari in a container ship. He returned to this town by an airplane. But he was able to show us some of his handicrafts. There were wooden statues and plates.
Mike, Dima and Inga took and examined them one by one. Inga showed her interest in small sized man-liked statues. She bought two wooden plates that could be hanged on the walls and one statue. These Russians paid around 520,000 rupiahs (around 52 US dollars) to Mr. Asaribab for the souvenirs that they bought. When we left his home, it was 11.00 p.m. The Anggrem area which had been crowded during the day, was now quite. Some Papuan women that we passed by greeted us, "Selamat Malam." Near the office of red cross, some Papuan youth who sat on the road side by the fence of the Indonesian Red Cross office were drinking alcohol. They also greeted us "Selamat Malam." When we were walking up passing by the Military Police office, I showed them an opening at a small steep slope under the Jl. Brawijaya. It was a man made tunnel built by the Japanese forces during the World War II. They used it as Bomb Shelter. There are many bomb shelters built by the Japanese Imperial Army during their war against the Allied Forces in this town.
Although the walk to Mr. Asaribab's house is quite far and tiring I saw that these Russian tourists were satisfied with what they had bought. They might give the souvenirs away to their relatives and friends in Moscow.
Indonesian language version: Kunjungan ke Seniman Ukir Kayu dan Lukis Cat Minyak Tuan Asaribab
|
|
