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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Greetings. This is my first
time listing with NEOhioPal. Below is a translation of an article that I believe will be of interest to the people of Cleveland.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cleveland Artist Returns home from Asian Journey</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The often quote scriptural verse
that says: "no one is a prophet in its own land," can best describe the career of
American master-muralist John Rivera-Resto.<span style="">
</span>The Cleveland native, hardly known outside the city's artistic circles,
is a minor celebrity in several cities around the world in part due to the
popularity of his award-winning educational website, <i style="">'muralmaster'</i> (<a href="http://www.muralmaster.org">www.muralmaster.org</a>), but mostly because of his own
artistic genius.<span style=""> </span>Not only is he
considered one of the top-ten muralists in the United States, but is also hailed
as a gifted writer and a brilliant lecturer.<span style="">
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Through<i style=""> muralmaster</i> John receives letters from students, professionals,
and art lovers from over thirty countries as well as commissions and requests
for speaking and workshop engagements.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>A graduate of Cleveland State University, The
Vermont College of Norwish University, and alumnae of the prestigious
Washington Internship Center, John is an artist, scholar, and performer.<span style=""> </span>In a career that span over three decades in
the visual arts, he has travelled through Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean,
and next year will be visiting the city of Dubai for a commission in the United
Arab Emirates.<span style=""> </span>But the one place John
had never visited was Asia, until now.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In early spring he simultaneously
received two invitations.<span style=""> </span>The first one
was to revisit France, one of his favourite travel destinations, but it was the
second letter that caught his attention.<span style="">
</span>Miss Jane Chen, founding director of OnStage, an Indonesian arts
organization, invited him to visit her in Bali to do conceptual designs for one
her projects.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Unable to resist the lure of the exotic Orient
–and his own adventurist streak, John readily accepted the offer. <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Armed with a laptop and an
Indonesian Cultural Visa, John took off in the middle of May.<span style=""> </span>However, <span style=""> </span>what was supposed to be a three-week trip to
Bali turned into a three-month journey through several Asian destinations in
Japan, Thailand and Indonesia, visiting towns and cities such as Tokyo, Denpasar,
Jakarta, Batam, and Bangkok, several speaking engagements, a very popular lecture
series, and a week-long workshop on mural painting. <span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">John is an individual ideally
suited for the fast pace of international ventures.<span style=""> </span>He is outgoing, inquisitive, independent, a
people-person; a trained actor, street-smart, resourceful, well educated, and a
good conversationalist with an ear for languages.<span style=""> </span>His confident demeanor, sharp wit and
rock-star looks make him a welcome addition at many social gatherings. <span style=""> </span>No sooner word got around that "the
muralmaster" was visiting Indonesia invitations started coming in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">One of these invitations became
several consultation meetings with Indonesia's powerful Taipan, Mr. Ir Ciputra.<span style=""> </span>Mr. Ciputra, also known as "<i style="">Indonesia's Donald Trump</i>", is currently
building his second city in Indonesia, another one in Viet-Nam (the first
international deal of its kind), and has other projects in development in
China, the United Arab Emirates and Libya.<span style="">
</span>Currently the Ciputra Group had completed the design stage for an
International Art Museum to be constructed in Jakarta, the Indonesia capital
located in the island of Java, and was glad to have John go over their plans
and hear his suggestions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Taking advantage of his visit, John
was sponsored by OnStage for a lecture series at the National Art Gallery in
Jakarta.<span style=""> </span>But the event was soon changed
to the modern nearby facilities of BINUS International University, also
co-sponsors of the event.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>At BINUS a delighted audience made up of
professionals, journalists, educators, artists, designers, students and several
prominent Indonesians figures were treated to a progression of very insightful
but highly entertaining presentations by a master lecturer.<span style=""> </span>The lecture series, titled: 'The Power of Art
as an Instrument of Change', was a visual cocktail that dealt with the significant
relationship between the arts with business, politics, and the economy. <span style=""> </span>Special focus was given to the historical use
of propaganda art as an effective psychological tool to influence public
opinion. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As a special treat, John also
presented, for the first time since its creation in 2001, his own acknowledge
masterpiece: <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The Writing On The Wall: A Memorial and a
Warning.<span style=""> </span></span></em><span style=""> </span>This magnificent and awe-inspiring design of
public art is a memorial dealing with the subject of genocide in the 20th
century and beyond.<span style=""> </span>This was a brave and
timely move by John that left a few audience members holding back tears
considering Indonesia's own history and its part in genocide during the late
1960's, a period recreated in the Mel Gibson- Sigourney Weaver movie <i style="">The Year of Living Dangerously</i>, directed
by Australian filmmaker Peter Weir.<span style=""> </span><i style="">The Writing on the Wall</i> is indeed a
provocative and inspiring work that deserves a worldwide audience.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Following the lecture series, John
conducted a mural painting workshop to introduce Indonesian painters to his own
techniques and business methodology as a muralist.<span style=""> </span>The result was the creation of a major
painting, 'the Anguish of Rama', John's retelling of the love story from the
epic poem <i style="">The Ramayama</i>.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Working
with a selected team of college students and two of Jakarta's most gifted
artists, Aditya Tobing and Guntur Wibowo, they were able to complete the work
in six days to the enjoyment of local onlookers.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Hosting an artistic event of this high caliber
and its subsequent workshop was a proud first for BINUS University –and another
peacock feather added to OnStage's hat, and also for Indonesia, where the art
of organized traditional mural painting is in its infancy.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">John Rivera-Resto's brilliance as a
presenter and his remarkable ability as a visual artist are in no small measure
a result of his multicultural background and upbringing.<span style=""> </span>He grew up in the Island of Puerto Rico, an
American colonial territory; immerse in a Spanish-Caribbean culture until the
age of twenty, before migrating to Cleveland, his birth town in the United
States.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Years of study and <i style="">"going native" </i>during his travels gave him a worldly perspective
that can only be obtained through contact experience.<span style=""> </span>This infused in him visual language and appealing
qualities that the people of Indonesia, a nation made up of hundreds of
cultures and former European colonies, welcomed and found refreshing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Returning to his hometown of
Cleveland, in the United States, after his extended and busy stay in Asia, John
expresses mixed feelings during several interviews with the Jakarta Post,
Visual Arts Magazine, and Laras Magazine.<span style="">
</span>He clearly enjoys life in Cleveland (Paris and Old San Juan are his
other favourites cities), but laments returning to the city's creative lethargy
and current public apathy for traditional arts which he sees as a direct result
of its decades-long economic and social ills.<span style="">
</span>These ills he characterized as lack of strong and creative leadership,
the lack of "<i style="">new-money</i>" that invests
in fresh ideas, a State tax that keeps industries away (-"<i style="">and should be abolished</i>"), and the "<i style="">departure</i>" of the entrepreneurial spirit in both business and
government levels that he experienced in several rapidly evolving cities during
his Asian journey. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">John also confided that, as he gets
older he paints less while slowly moving his career into filmmaking, but that he
greatly enjoys teaching and lecturing (and it shows).<span style=""> </span>After all, John is not only a top
professional in his field, but has to be one of the few professors that have
actually experienced the places, the people, and the situations he talks about.<span style=""> </span>In fact, one of his goals has always been to join
the art faculty of an area college.<span style="">
</span>However, while he has demonstrated an extraordinary gift for filling
auditoriums in many international venues, there seems to be no interest in what
he has to offer in his own back yard.<span style="">
</span>For this reason he is considering a few offers from other American
cities and abroad though he feels reluctant to make the move due to personal
reasons.<span style=""> </span>But in the meantime, this will
not deter him from accepting invitations from around the world from admirers
who would be more than happy to have him.<span style="">
</span>As for Asia one thing is certain, he will return.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">--------</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">BINUS University </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">JL. K.H. Syahdan No. 9, Palmerah, Jakarta 11480,
Indonesia</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Handy Koesnadie, Collaboration Center Staff</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Telp: (62-21) 534-5830 ext 2171 (Fax: (62-21) 530-0244</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Website" <a href="http://www.binus.edu">www.binus.edu</a> E-mail: <a href="mailto:hkoesnadie@binus.edu">hkoesnadie@binus.edu</a><span style=""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">OnStage Performing Arts, Cultural & Spiritual
Perspective</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">JL. Danuau Batur Gg. Mangga II No. 8</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Br. Kulibul Kawan, Tibubenaeng Kuta Utura – Bali</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Jane Chen</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Tel. 0361-437067, HP. 0811387989</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">E-mail: janechen@dps.centrin .<a href="http://net.id">net.id</a></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">John Rivera-Resto</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">3772 West 39<sup>th</sup> Street, Cleveland, OH 44109</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Tel. 216-749-1257</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="http://www.muralmaster.org">www.muralmaster.org</a></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="mailto:john-rr@muralmaster.org">john-rr@muralmaster.org</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></p>
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