Tone Tiger Fink

Nicole and I have to say this --- we have seen quite enough weirdos, but we have never met anyone as crazy as Tone Fink.

Tone is Austria's famous paper artist...go google, but his site first.

Nic got us the gig (thanks Pat) four days before the event, it was for EUphoriA, An Austrian Evening of Imagination, Movement, Rhythm, Flame & Creation. The Austrian Embassy (in light of the European Presidency) put together that evening of performing arts, with a difference...

How different? Well, the items lined up for the evening? I quote its invite...

IMAGINE the dimensions of a celebrated paper artist
MOVE to the flow of the famous Viennese State Ballet dancers
experience the RHYTHM of an exceptional string orchestra
unleash the FLAME of astonishing fire sculptures
CREATE the sounds of overwhelming choral music

Back to the man, he is 63 with the energy of a 20-year-old man, the hyper-ness of a 5-year-old and he flirts like a 30-year-old. He is to me, no where near his age. We `rehearsed' (most of the movements and sounds made on stage that night were improvised on the spot) for one evening and got together for two days before the performance on May 26, a very wet Friday.


Tone doesn't walk, he skips.
He doesn't talk, he meows (yes, true).
He doesn't say goodbye, he only says Good Morning!

Instead of taking his bow during the finale, he took out his camera from his semi formal jacket and started taking snaps at the applauding audience.

Alvin, Nicole and I, the three `assistants' to the paper artist -- each got very special gifts from him, his art books and his textile, a silk scarf for each of us...ok, I got a hanky, with TONE FINK written all over in a maze!

Plus an experience to remember for a long time until we see him again!

Cheeky Fink with his gregarious curator, Ewald















This is contemporary art!






























































Clowning around in dressing room




















more clowning in KLPAC's green room

































After show drink with part of Tone's exhibition

















Packing his art before taking him to the mamak again!




















Other memories...

We shared dressing room with the fire artists, Ursula and Gab who fed us buns (for beer and wine, they said) from Austria, forgot the name but they were a think layer of dark brown on the outside, and white on the inside and it was YUMMMMMM!

Ursula sang us a song she wrote for one of her sculptures, a goddess in a bell shape dress....now I think all fire artists are great singers.

Ursula and Nicole playing with Tone's wooden whistlers (with Gerhard in the background, Counsellor & Deputy Head of Mission from the Austrian Embassy), each whistle mimics a different bird sound