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Art KL-itique 2014 Look Back
Following in the tradition of my favourite non-authoritative end of year awards, the 2014 visual art events in Kuala Lumpur that tickled my fancy are…Favourite programming: Goethe Institut’s visual...
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Snippets: Singapore Art Museum, Dec 2014
Heman Chong’s wall texts at the reception area of the Singapore Art Museum ends with “(s)ome of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.” This clever statement forecasts the unrealised...
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Snippets: Gillman Barracks, Dec 2014
When most exhibition spaces in Gillman Barracks closed during year-end, Singaporean galleries Fost and Yeo Workshop extend a neighbour’s welcome by staying open. A new visitor’s disappointment is...
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Ombak @ Sasana Kijang + Shared Passion @ The Edge Galerie
Collectors and artist collaborate to exhibit paintings across two galleries, as maintaining one’s market value is an apparent concern given the poor quality of Yusof Ghani’s new works. The “Ombak”...
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Beauties @ National Portrait Gallery
“…perfection emanates beyond the physical form and resonates strength in character”, reads the wall text for “Beauties”. Featuring the celebrated Hossein Enas and fellow members of Angkatan Pelukis...
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2 Jan 2015 (I): Trans Book Sketches @ NVAG
Greeting the visitor are twenty rectangular frames, each with an object placed upon a dot matrix printout of Surah Al-'Alaq. Low-tech reproductions emphasise the Quranic verses’ inherent meaning...
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Making Space: We Are Where We Aren’t @ Sekeping Sin Chew Kee
“Here space is everything, for time ceases to quicken memory. Memory – what a strange thing it is! – does not record concrete duration, in the Bergsonian sense of the word. We are unable to relive...
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Into Outside (I/O) @ 無限發掘 FINDARS
“Of course there is inside, otherwise there wouldn't be outside. You are inside, now come out!”, reads the hilarious first line of the exhibition brief. Greeting the visitor is Ayesha Keshani’s...
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HOLES Perspective @ Atelier Art Space
Coinciding with the launch of a pothole-reporting mobile application by the Petaling Jaya city council, this exhibition plays upon the common gripe of Malaysian road users, and applies a...
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2 Jan 2015 (II): Recent Acquisitions @ NVAG
Akin to an apologetic gesture, works last seen at the dismal M50 exhibition greet the visitor into Galeri 1A, Gan Sze Hooi’s map leading to Yee I-Lan’s pinafores and plates. The recreated...
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Being Human @ White Box
Despite the significant calibre of exhibiting artists, it is difficult to take huge paintings of human beings seriously, especially when the catalogue essay takes one pop-rock song as a reference...
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Maestro @ Galeri Petronas
Corporate and private galleries join hands to promote one’s collected prints, while the other aims to draw in the crowds under its new Art for Everyone tagline, hashtags included. Significant Spanish...
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Contemporary Propulsion – Influence and Evolution @ G13
Repressed desire in Loh Bok Lai’s pair of women aside, Dasein graduates present humdrum paintings – personal metaphors and visual effects lack intellectual depth, while Hoo Kiew Hang’s ambitious take...
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Ivan Lam: Twenty @ Wei-Ling Contemporary
Threading a slippery path on the top floor, to view Ivan Lam’s sleek new creations under fluorescent lights, feels like experiencing the beginning of the end. Large eye-catching fare devoid of politics...
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Like Someone In Love @ Lostgens'
Moving on from an intuitive art-making approach to a rigorous execution of formal theory, chi too maintains his signature trait of sentimentalism, through the choice of medium and titles. Bubble wrap...
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Ayat-ayat Semesta @ University of Malaya Art Gallery
Melukis itu Menulis - this wonderful maxim is a subject in one of Abdul Djalil Pirous's writings, and aptly describes the works displayed here. A doyen in the Bandung art scene, Pirous is also known as...
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Picturing Change @ White Box
Despite good intentions to educate the public about visual culture, a dearth of visually attractive exhibits render this show a wordy affair, notwithstanding its concise wall notes. The wide time gap...
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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...
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Pulse: Q1 2015 Art Auctions
Residents flock supermarkets for sanitary pads and toilet rolls. Customs and police officers scurry about trying to follow orders. Book stores make last minute changes to their accounting software....
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M13 @ Richard Koh Fine Art
Aged pillars made from plastic bowls and white frames fabricated with powder coated steel, greet the visitor into Haffendi Anuar’s imagined cityscape, where buildings are reduced into a cluster of...
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