Sometimes we just forget to look around us to see that the world ís beautiful. Let’s keep it that way.
First we want to thank you all for your birthday wishes yesterday on Facebook, Twitter and by email! And we want to thank all of you for your support over the last 4 years! You guys are great. Man, time flies by…4 years. We started this blog and the concept of 369 four years ago, not knowing yet how this would develop. We wanted to create a name, a project and a platform for both of our expressions of art, tattooing and photography. Something that would represent a collaboration between two people, with both a passion to express them selves. One creating permanent designs, inspired by ancient ornaments and symbols with a modern touch and one in the world of still images telling hidden stories. We started this blog as our way to tell others about our art and interests. We started small but are now happy to welcome hundreds of new visitors each day, we feel blessed. In this year Ade travelled around, did some tattoo conventions and recently started a new adventure. Together with her colleague Joel (2XWORKS), Lielo (HOLY BIRD) decided to take a break for now from doing photo-shoots. She is still making photo’s on a daily basis but is now mainly focussing on the management part of 369 and Ade Itameda. And also in this new year we will keep uploading more of Ade’s tattoo work with background information and more travel-logs and photo’s of our trips! And there are some super exciting things in the pipeline, we can’t tell you more at this moment but more details will be posted soon! So keep an eye on the blog!
For now: Salam Budaya!
Last week Ade continued to work on this sleeve, this time he added the Goddess on the lower arm called Guan Yin.
Guan Yin means “Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the (human) World”. In Chinese Buddhism, Guan Yin is the same as the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (enlightenment being), the highest form of mercy, compassion, kindness & love. Along with Buddhism, Guan Yin was introduced into China as early as the 1st century AD, and slowly reached Japan on the way from Korea and to the other areas of Southeast Asia. Soon after Buddhism was introduced into the country for the first time around the mid-7th century.
Guan Yin is very often portrayed as a beautiful woman in long, flowing white robes. In her right hand, she holds a jar containing pure, clear water, while her left hand bears the branch of a willow tree. Sometimes, she is accompanied by either two children or two warriors, while other images show her with a bird or astride a dragon. Some ancient depictions of Guan Yin show her dressed as a young girl holding a fish basket, which has probably contributed to her association with fishermen and the sea in certain coastal areas of China. She protects the distressed and hungry, rescues the unfortunate from danger, and gives comfort and aid wherever it is needed. And different then many other, she puts charity to shame, because she will never ask for donations. She had finally attained enlightenment after struggling with non-things. She was just about to enter heaven to join the other buddha’s when she heard the cries of the poor unsaved souls back on Earth. She felt touched and wanted to help and said that she will never rest until every single soul was brought to the world of Buddha’s. As a ‘holy being’ often called to appear in the most unusual and strange situations, she has the ability to transform into any living thing. In fact she’s better known in India as a male. But she often appears in female form to stay incognito. Guan Yin is without a doubt one of the most beloved deities in both religious and folk beliefs in China. Many believe that Guan Yin is the mother of all mankind, an idea that reminds us of the Virgin Mary.
2013.
We’re slowly heading towards the end of the year. We look back at a great, busy year full of awesome unexpected trips and meeting a lot of new, inspiring people along the way. It was also a year of big changes and new beginnings. Thank you all again for your support this year, you’re awesome! In the new year it’s time to take a step to another level, we will be making more trips (Ade is currently planning an Europe trip) and we finally want to present to you our exposition we’ve been working on for a long time. We hope for a year full of new idea’s, nice projects and more adventures!
And hereby we want to wish you all a beautiful Christmas and a happy, healthy and creative 2014!
Sampai jumpa,
Thisis369.
After year full of ups and downs we’re almost at the end of 2012. I can say, it was quite a hectic but mostly really fun year! In the beginning of this year, Ade got a request to design a pair of shoes for one of our favorite shoe/clothing brands, called Vans. It was a really nice project to work on. The fun thing about this project was that the client gave the total freedom to create a design which was a combination between something modern like a sneaker with a design based on an ancient ornament found in traditional Batik fabrics. The shoes turned out great and we got allot of good responses. Thank you for that!
Besides the project for Vans, Ade also got a request from one of the oldest Indonesian restaurants in Paris, France. They saw his work on the blog and asked him to design a working outfit for their co-workers in the restaurant. A totally new experience! In August we actually had the opportunity to visit the restaurant to see his printed design in real life. One of the other things we did was joining a couple of tattoo conventions in The Netherlands just like last year. But this year we choose to join, Breda, Alkmaar, Rotterdam and Eindhoven. Great to see so many familiar faces as well meeting new people. I must say that tattoo conventions are always a great opportunity to show your work to people and explain them a little bit more about the meanings behind the designs.
2012 was also the year that Lielo decided to start a collaboration with her friend and fellow photographer, Joel. After doing a couple of photo-shoots together they decided to finally make it official and named their project ‘2XWORKS‘. You will definitely see more work of them being posted on the blog in the new year!
2012 was our first year fulltime in The Netherlands, which means that’s it’s almost time to visit Indonesia again! But first we will take a small break from work from Sunday 23 December until Thursday 3 January. You can still send us an email on thisis369@gmail.com to make an appointment with Ade Itameda to get tattooed, to discuss a design or with any other questions. We will respond to all your emails when we return.
Overal 2012 was great. So let’s go to the new year! We wish you all a creative 2013!
Sampai jumpa,
Thisis369
It’s been a little bit quiet from our side. But we promise will make it up to you!
Holy Bird recently had a photoshoot with one of her models Leonie, and another photoshoot with the Dutch hiphop artist Cyclone. Both of these photoshoots will be uploaded to the blog soon.
Ade Itameda will be joining the Needle Art Tattoo Convention Breda this year! This Tattoo Convention will take place on saturday 19th and sunday 20th May this year. So come and check out our booth!
Further Ade Itameda is currently designing a working uniform for the Indonesian restaurant in Paris. For more information about this restaurant, take a look on: http://www.restaurant-indonesia.com/ Preview will be uploaded soon.
So keep an eye on the blog! Moreeeee updates following soon!
Ernst Benjamin made an awesome song, inspired by one of my photo’s and a text I wrote.
It turned out so good and I feel so honoured!
If you want to know more about Ernst Benjamin, please check: http://soundcloud.com/doc_ernst
Celebrate. Let’s fucking celebrate this life.
Celebrate your friends. Celebrate your family. Celebrate your job. Celebrate your dreams. Celebrate your hopes. Celebrate your fears. Celebrate all your insecurities. Celebrate your fails. Celebrate your talents. Celebrate the fact that you are living, and celebrate that you are going to die. Celebrate all the things that are coming, and all that you lost.
I run inside of circle of people, and I see everyone I love. I walk around the line of people. I see different memories, different situations, different emotions. I see happiness, sadness, fears, grieves, joy, hopes, dreams, talents, fails, in all those faces. I keep walking in circles, and letting all these things pass by. I see a circle of people that I love. That will stay, or maybe go. I keep running, in circles, over and over again. The circle of people starts to blend into one. Faces flashing by. I keep running. All those feelings, faces, starting to emerge. Faster, faster. I begin to smile. My smile gets bigger, and bigger. I start the laugh out loud. Louder, and louder. I start to scream. I’m starting to fly, higher and higher. I scream, that I want to celebrate this beautiful life.
Ernst Benjamin – Celebrate 369 by Doc_Ernst
Written by : Lielo
Composed and arranged by : Ernst Benjamin
Re-written by : Ernst Benjamin
Vocals by : Ernst Benjamin
We decided to go on a mini-vacation to escape from the chaotic Jakarta. We drove 10 hours in the car to Batu Karas, Panangdaran, West Java. It’s an absolutely beautiful place, not yet discovered by allot of tourists. We stayed in a nice, amazing hotel and we drove with a small motorboat through the jungle. Just what we needed.
But back to work! The t-shirts and new stickers are getting printed now and believe me they’re awesome! Soon we will upload the photo’s!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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