HOW TO live your life according to someone else @ Kedai

Curator Izat Arif stages another astoundingly coherent show, where the exhibition theme is bespoke in the works of three artists, and extends to the storefront / window display approach. Greeting the visitor at the left is a long neck pot on a pedestal, and at right, a table with four human legs and one brain-y teapot. Lily Osman’s confectionary creation is literally gut-wrenching, yet delightfully absurd. One can imagine the hilarity, when ants swarm and devour the few pieces of chopped liver served on its tiered cake stand. Viscera is neutralised via the surrounding white sculptures of Naz Imagine, its seductive lines taking after slacking postures.

Assuming the role of artefact, pottery is paired up and propped against these constructs, to juxtapose traditional and modern notions of beauty in sculpture. An obsession with art manifests in the presented poses and its titles, evident in the kneeling reverence towards ‘What would I do without you (7525624’s)’, and the frustrated slouch in ‘I give up’. ‘The Radical’ apes the position of sitting on a toilet bowl, its centre stripped bare to expose the underlying wooden frame. Metaphorical interpretations vary widely from farcical contemplation, to sculpture’s progression from form to process and back. It is perhaps also a reverential ode to Marcel Duchamp, someone the artist referenced for his final year project. 

Izat’s cheeky catalogue essay Leave a comment aptly describes the banal and garish works by Leo Ari, whose restyled YouTube playlist is projected onto a couple of mannequins. Celebrating the banal and grotesque nature of streaming online content, Leo’s choice of videos is unbalanced in its deference to shock value, and ultimately no different from his sources. In responding to the explicit theme, artists demonstrate their sensitive approaches towards individual environments and patriarchal hierarchies. Identity issues dissolve into personal preoccupations and virtual independence, as individuality becomes the only strategy, for living in this capitalist world.