Asean in Love

"What a tight space for a sculptor-artist", she noticed from the photos."How many rooms do you have Mario?""Just one and it's all my clothes, bed, work supplies, books all in one room.""Why didn't you tell me earlier? We have space here for artists, also cultural centers and many opportunities for artists to present their work.""Art galleries exist in Italy, but participation is high, and the prices of art materials are also high. Even membership fees in artists' associations are paid, and associations have better access to exhibition spaces and galleries. That's why I work slowly with my modest investments", Mario answered question.."To be honest, I am also an artist, when I was a little girl, I painted batik fabrics and sarong skirts with my mother, it is a process that takes a long time and requires patience, concentration and dedicated work. Of course, we had a lot of space, and when the weather was nice, we dried the batik outside. That's how it is in the rural environment. Here in urban centers, artists struggle in cramped spaces and that worries me, I need to give those people a chance to show their creativity and artwork to the public."Don't worry, you are not alone here, I want this land to be an oasis of art and tolerance among peoples, we in Bali accept people of all faiths and traditions, but if you hide your talent from your colleagues like me, your talent is invisible and instead of sculpting and you just carve stone figures, you are in water all day which will also destroy your lungs sooner than to others, because we are ordinary human beings, not mermaids from fantastic stories."Mario laughed:"As far as I know here in Bali there are real mermaids in the water.""Only those mermaids can't make sculptures in stone", Lintang replied.Let's make art our common focus, it's an area where we can both contribute and connect with other artists, also I am planning to open an art gallery in the new capital city of Indonesia where we will sell art from Bali Island."Why didn't you tell me earlier, we have space here for artists, also cultural centers and many opportunities for artists to present their work.""It's true that Bali is much more open to artists than other islands in the world, that's why I moved here, and the cost of living is much lower than in Trieste.""Yes, but it's not good to live in such a small, cramped space because you can't even devote enough time to artistic work when you don't have free space.I have a big apartment, but instead of that apartment, I want to move a little closer to the new golf center, if you want you can move into my apartment, or how about we build a tall building near the golf center so that it will be a space for employees in center and we can make a cultural center for artists, I think it's a better idea than buying an existing building, but until then move to my apartment, don't worry i will be away all day during the construction of the center.""No, that's too much for me, I would still stay in the old apartment until the company builds a new building.""In that case, ask in your building if there is a free apartment to rent another one on the ground floor with a garden, besides, your girlfriend is coming, and you definitely need a bigger apartment."Then she took out a check and wrote a million sum which she gave to Mario. "This is your salary for making the statue, I want you to work relaxed in your studio.""Oh, I really don't understand why you help me so much.""Karma is to help those who don't have today, maybe tomorrow I'll be in trouble too, you never know what kind of tomorrow awaits me. But it's not a gift, you know that works of art have a high price, buy the best material for your work.To be honest, the company I own now I inherited from my roommate with whom I lived for a short time, I also have a good income in the film industry.Look at Bali is developing more and more, and even in the era when there was overseas trade with Venice, the Bali kingdom was rich, until it was conquered by the colonizers and took away the mineral wealth, the standard of living fell and many families lived in primitive conditions, that's why I want rebuild Bali and make it like the golden age of the Bali kingdom again this is the real island of the gods where the birds of paradise live in freedom."Lintang continued to the golf course alone as Mario had to return to work on the diving team.She turned once again to the anchored yacht that Rinota often set off on adventures with, everyone often saw him on the famous pink beach on his days off, cameras were present wherever he went and his photos in the media and front pages, she secretly shopped and put them in her bookshelf no reading the content, but saving them for a few days off when she is less busy with work duties.People called her a workaholic, but that was her way of keeping her mind off the elusive Rinota napping on the anchored yacht all day.While some envied him at Rinota's fame and success at his fingertips, no one would have thought that behind the shell of arrogance was hidden for him an insoluble matter, which neither money nor fame could easily solve.A Gordian knot of prejudice is like a Pandora's box that when you open it creates even bigger tangles, that's why he avoided personal choice for fear of hurting those he cares about.