Backyard of the Universe

Being an avid fan of Valerie Chua, I’ve been dying  to attend her first exhibit called Backyard of the Universe since its opening. Sadly, I can’t seem to do it. So when I found out that she was giving a talk together with other artists last week, I knew my chance finally came. 

The day came and I finally met Valerie in person and asked her if I could take a photo of her and she agreed. I really want to have a picture with her. But at the time, there was no one around and I don’t want to risk taking our photo the selca way because I’m not good with it. Anyway, she is really nice and approachable. I even asked her where the exact location of her exhibit (it was inside Heima) but she wasn’t sure if it was open. 

I finally reached Heima but I got disappointed because it was closed. Well, not entirely closed. When I got there, there was a close sign on the door but there were two ladies inside: a customer and a cashier. I tried to get their attention but I didn’t think they saw or hear me. After several seconds another lady went inside (apparently, I didn’t check if the door was really locked, that’s stupid of me I know) and asked her if I could enter, she nodded. Whew! That’s a relief. So, I started taking photos. The paintings are really wonderful in real life rather than seeing them online. If I only had the money, I would really buy one. There were fourteen paintings in total. The one I super like is the piece called The Fall is Short on Higher Ground. I hate the fact that my photos didn’t give justice at all. Oh, if you want to see her other paintings in larger view, kindly go to her blog. 

After some time, the two ladies went outside and when I turned around the cashier was waiting for me outside because she would lock the door. So I hurried taking photos, it would be embarrassing on my part if I kept her waiting. Besides, Valerie’s talk was about to start and I didn’t want to miss that. Thus, that explains why I only got few photos (yet this entry is quite long, haha). But that’s okay. I still got what I want even though I saw the exhibit very briefly. 

Apparently, it was a roller coaster ride for me that day. But it was all worth it. I’ve learned from the talk, saw Valerie in person and saw her lovely works. What would you say? Hitting three birds with one stone eh. Having said that, I'm ending this post with my favorite piece from the exhibit. 

P.S. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Heima. I often see features about them on magazines, blogs and television and I really like their furniture, analog and paper stuff. It’s my first time being there and I discovered that they offer a lot of products ranging from stationeries, cute lampshades, some artworks, even vinyl records and a lot of awesome stuff. Btw, Heima’s scent was so refreshing. It smelled like fresh-cut wood in Spring. And lastly, Happy Holidays! ♥♥♥