The Hotel Phoenicia is keeping up with its tradition of being a base for personalities in arts – this time for the world-wide esteemed Asian artist Sarkasi Said who this year is celebrating his 50th anniversary as a professional artist. Sarkasi Said is synonymous with Batik art.

Sarkasi is in Malta to hold an exhibition of some of his works at the Contemporary Hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts, South Street, Valletta until Sunday. This is his first visit to Malta and his exhibition is described as “the only one in the Mediterranean, yet”.

Batik is both an art and a craft, which is becoming more popular and well known in the west as a wonderfully creative medium. The art of decorating cloth in this way, using wax and dye, has been practised for centuries. In Java, Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition, and some of the finest batik cloth in the world is still made there. The word “batik” originates from the Javanese tik and means to dot.

Sarkasi signs his works ‘Tzee’ and has exhibited, lectured and held workshops worldwide, earning him the sobriquet ‘The Baron of Batik’. His works of art are found in countless museums, expos, banks, airports and other public spaces, as well as in numerous residences of royalty, heads-of-state, diplomats and in trendy private collections.

In his birth-city of Singapore, Sarkasi’s Taman Gallery is a focal point of the Malay Heritage Centre and community. Sarkasi also allocates considerable time to tutoring and nurturing young artists at his batik studio in Java, Indonesia. He has received many awards and he currently holds the Guinness world record for the Longest Batik Painting, 100-metre by 0.7 metre Indonesian-style painting of orchids, which he completed on 20 May 2003. He had only slept for two hours for five consecutive days to complete the painting.