Configuration @ G13

G13's annual showcase features a variety of artists exhibiting under the umbrella theme of figurative representations. Touted as a "curated project", three heroic poses on pedestals stand among the wall hangings, yet Mat Ali Mat Som's metal forms on canvas is the most visually interesting sculpture. Melancholic scenes by ethnic Chinese artists bore, although the uneven price tags make for interesting observation. One exception is Cheong Tuck Wai's depiction of children on a rocking horse, its peeling glue surface masking colourful impressionist strokes within its bleak background. Detached limbs by Liew Kwai Fei amuse, but more beguiling is his self-indulgent photobook about motion and time. Set to the artist's biographical experience, cut-out horses from a Malaysian race calendar make reference to the unsparing passing of the seasons, notwithstanding voyeuristic photographs of a foot in cast.

Yeoh Choo Kuan - Brute Romance II (2014) 

Aptly hung across opposite ends of the gallery, fetal developments drawn with soot by Mohd Bakir Baharom, contrast with Yeoh Choo Kuan's white oil painting of bounded breasts, both artists' works invoking strong emotions about life's uncertainties. Thrust into the spotlight by the Malaysian Eye, Khairudin Zainudin outlines movement to freeze gesticulating figures. Sketchy drawings are the flavour of the month, but the young artist displays a welcome development to his representational approach. Not part of the main exhibition, 'Membilang Pelanggan' features a printed plastic chair and table, the static objects thereby imbuing a stronger contrast to the subject's dawdling gesture. My leisurely stroll is cut short abruptly, when an enthusiastic patron leads the gallerist around to provide her interpretations, where knowing exclamations of "real yet not real" and "the title should be walking person, not walking man!" had me scrambling for the exit.

Khairudin Zainudin - Membilang Pelanggan (2014)