Art KL-itique

56 practicing Malaysian artists contribute works of a certain size, to support fundraising for the Malaysian Art Archive & Research Support (MARS). This exhibition offers too an opportunity to survey the subject matter, and approach of local artists, at this current moment in Malaysia: Azam Aris - Eyesore (2016) 71% of contributed works are paintings (i.e. paint on canvas with frame) 41% of contributed works have a figurative element which is intentionally blurred or distorted 39% of contributed works are portraits of a head (some include shoulders and/ or face) 23% of contributed works depict at least one animal 4% of contributed works depict at least one politician 46% of contributed works contain a significant red element Averaging the prices of contributed works, an “A2-sized artwork” is priced between RM 3,800 to RM 4,000. However, the top ten highest-priced works make up ~49% of the price total of all 56 contributed works. Ilham Fadhli Shaimy - Untitled ...

“Ordinary mortals are inadvertently caught in the maya of owning and disowning that momentary glory. However, each evening when a performer climbs the stage and subsumes himself in that sacred aura to assume the power of a fleeting glory, he is in fact living in a world of make-belief with two selves – the normal and the elevated. On stage he has to perform and lapse from the mundane to the elevated. A similar situation happens with the painter when he is ‘possessed’ by the act of creation. However, the painter is able to transform an absence into a tangible presence. This is precisely what Sivarajah Natarajan knows; and he knows it too well. His virtual absence on the stage as lighting designer of Sutra fills an egoistic obsession which he announces in clear terms as his ‘presence’ in his painting and sculptures.” - Crowning Moments , Dr Dinanath Pathy, exhibition catalogue for “The Crowning Glory”, 2016 Yudhisthira - Refuses to enter Heaven without his steadfast companion - T...

Gowri Balasegaran’s catalogue essay states that, “(t)his exhibition explores the relationship between the past, the present, and the future that is evoked in (Katherine Anne Porter’s novel The Ship of Fools )”, a fuzzy-enough objective as far as pompous curatorial themes go. One can only (re-)construct images from an existing visual vocabulary, hence it is unsurprising that most artists utilise found objects as the medium of choice. An accumulation of cut-out business cards by Choy Chun Wei, and resin-encased used t-shirts by Ivan Lam, turn stereotyped items into abstract luxury objects. On the opposite wall, ten year-old paintings by Chong Kim Chiew are arranged around a relatively large  depiction of a map, titled ‘Invisible Word’. These small works with thick impasto project shorelines, denoting the artist’s interest in boundaries has not waned over the years.  Choy Chun Wei - Bricolage of Identities II (2016) Nostalgia for a place has always figured in Ki...