Ever since Sakmongkol AK47 in his blog on 30 November 2008 mentioned Salleh Ben Joned, I had been wondering when I would have the chance to meet Salleh again. I had this thought in my mind yesterday afternoon when he materialised right in front of my eyes in the shop where we usually met.
He asked me the reason for having him in mind, and I mentioned briefly that it was in relation to one incident when he pissed in somebody's art exhibition. He clarified.
The artist was going to put on an exhibition which to Salleh was a "load of rubbish" being just bits and pieces of things dumped together. But the artist defended it by saying that it was "zen inspired," which was something close to Salleh's heart and it inflamed him. Salleh said he warned the artist that if he were to proceed with the exhibition, he would "shit on it." Salleh's point was that he could not shit that day, so he pissed on it instead.
This is contained in his compilation "As I Please" and promises to mail a copy to me. I certainly am looking forward to it. That costs me a mug though but with pleasure!
4 comments:
That is a hilarious anecdote. I wasn't even aware about that "historic" episode. Maybe it's because I haven't finished reading "As I Please" ... although I'm tempted tongue-in-cheek to re-title it as "As I Piss" in light of the anecdote!
e theorist,
coincidentally i am now reading AIP. i am at the chapter- kiss my arse- in the name of common humanity.
glad to know that SBJ is alive and kicking. haha.
he is a character- should be interesting if he's into politics- that would be a riot.
de minimis, we are always thankful for little pleasures.
sak, I must thank you for bringing up the subject in the first place and for me to fancy meeting him again.
The way things are going in politics at home, we badly need Salleh to kick up some dust.
He was surprised himself that he survived that long in the papers. He credited it to an enlightened editor. I suppose such creatures are hard to find nowadays.
Thank you both for sharing the moment.
Stranger than fiction, the truth is: I first met Salleh Ben Joned the day after he had taken the infamous piss on Piyadasa's pissant exhibition (pompously called Towards A Mystical Reality). Salleh was dating an Austrian amazon named Brigitte who insisted he meet me. So they both showed up and invited me to lunch. Apart from being totally impressed by Salleh's urinatory review of the exhibition (which I had visited, but unfortunately not while Salleh was around), I was absolutely bowled over when Salleh took us to some obscure coffeeshop in Jalan Sultan where I was introduced to the best charsiew in KL. This was in the halcyon 1970s when characters like Salleh & Lat were regular visitors at "The Rt Hon Armpit" (which is what my cozy residence on Pesiaran Ampang Hilir was affectionately called). Your post triggered a veritable FLOOD of jolly memories, etheorist. Thanks! :-)
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