Alter Ego @ Galeri Chandan

With the noble ambition of encouraging "...artists to produce works outside of their ‘comfort zones’...", only Awang Damit plays to the theme with a couple of small but interesting brick installations, complete with the "...formal elements in his two-dimensional pieces..." Haffendi Anuar elucidates an abridged analysis of each artist's contribution, including this description for Gan Chin Lee's large painting teeming with sexual tension - "'Ellie Thinks About Art Through Me', a portrait devoid of a social framework and concentrates instead on the single subject matter (the classical reclining female figure), the picture’s formal qualities and the reward from pure visual experience." Doubling poses compromise the realistic rendering of a female body, but Chin Lee's fantastic blend of colours project passionate warmth, which makes up for the drawing deficiency.

Gan Chin Lee - Ellie Thinks About Art Through Me (2014)

Haslin Ismail and Khairul Azmir Shoib put up decent attempts at differentiation, although their output is still easily recognisable. Haslin revisits an old work by attaching cloth onto a naked muscular figure, the sinuous and bloody layer underneath occasionally visible when wind blows. Encasing his signature illustrated figures and dried plants in plastic boxes, Meme presents a fairytale narrative in a refreshing and cheeky manner. Artist partners Marvin Chan and Izan Tahir both employ resin, whereby Marvin's work proves more attractive due to the traditional myths referenced. Walking past Chong Siew Ying’s inconsequential photographs, one notices that Chandan's prices have gone up, likely due to the gallery's reaction after winning the Most Promising Asian Gallery Award in Singapore last month.

Close-up of Khairul Azmir Shoib - Trap in a Form of Blue Rabbit (2014)