As part of its ongoing commitment to corporate social responsibility, InterContinental Bali Resort is proud to support the charitable foundation ‘Chairity’ – Arts and Design Against Cancer. Chairity is a wonderfully beautiful fundraising idea; a collaborative platform for artists and designers to express their thought-provoking artwork on classical, European-styled, wooden armchairs.
The reason why chairs have been chosen as the medium for this project is because a chair is probably the most essential piece of furniture used by everyone, regardless of wealth, origin or status. It is also an infrastructure used in almost every setting from work to dining to relaxation. More often than not, a chair is taken for granted and left unnoticed, unless it has very distinguishing characteristics such as visual or tactile appeal and comfort. Similar to a chair, we all know of the existence of cancer but we don’t give very much thought to it, apart from hoping that we or the people close to us will not become a victim of it.
For this initiative, two chairs from InterContinental Bali Resort’s Club Lounge were given to Balinese artist, Ida Bagus Indra, and Hong Kong Chinese artist, Ms Chai Bu Kuk ‘Kuku’.
With no formal training, Balinese artist Ida Bagus Indra is recognised as one of Indonesia’s leading artists. He held his first exhibition in 1996, and shot to fame for his ability to create important contemporary paintings that maintain a deeply rooted connection to Balinese culture and religious beliefs. He has exhibited his work all over the world and is already being hailed as a significant and classic Balinese artist of the 21st century.
Hong Kong-based Nanjing artist Kuku Chai Bu-kuk is a celebrated artist who aims to preserve the flavour of traditional Chinese painting in an increasingly diversified modern Chinese art scene. She tirelessly refines the endless possibilities in expressions, forms, colours and painting techniques to create her own Hong Kong Chinese painting style. Her work has been exhibited in many major art exhibitions and has won numerous awards.
Through their inspiring artwork expressed on these armchairs as canvasses, these two famous and very talented artists have each taken time out of their busy creative schedules to contribute their own unique perspective of cancer, expressing their feelings about cancer and the way in which it has touched their lives. Each chair tells a different personal story proving once again that there is not a single person who does not have a cancer story to share.
InterContinental Bali Resort donated these one-of-a-kind chairs to the Chairity Arts and Design Against Cancer foundation. Those chairs was auctioned in Jakarta on 27 April 2016 and it is hoped that they will find homes with benefactors who not only appreciate their beauty as functional works of art but also what they stand for – the relentless fight against cancer.
