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| Thorrrrebe by Andre Tan |
Recently, Malaysia has become flooded with ‘art’. Art tourism, art conferences, art forums, art talks, art exhibitions, Expos and even art which is ‘up for grabs’. On social media we are inundated with invitations for ‘events’, the opening of this and the launch of that, so many that any ordinary mortal would have to metamorphose into Thor (the thunder god) to be able attend them all. Ordinarily that would not matter as some exhibitions are clearly more important than others, but at this late Summer juncture, in Kuala Lumpur, worthiness abounds and art lovers must make heart rending decisions about which exhibition(s) to go to, knowing that to visit one may mean being unable to visit another equally as interesting, valid, or valued.
The highlight of the past few years has been the Art Expo, now called Art Expo Plus 2015. Tottering into its ninth year, Art Expo has grown to take pride of place within the region. It is well respected, well organised and has burrowed deeply into the hearts of art aficionados. Began in 2007 by Datuk Vincent Sim Tiak Choo, he, his wife (Mary of City Gallery) and sons have raised the concept of an art fair to new heights, each year surpassing themselves with the quality of artworks on display and collaborations with a wide variety of galleries and auction houses until, that is, this year.
Is it my jadedness, or is this year's Art Expo at Matrade MECC more of a whimper than a bang? In the past Art Expo has always been an assortment of the very best, historical or Contemporary, as well as those 'artworks' which at best could be described as 'illustrations', at worse amateurish. Is this perception because my expectations of this event have been risen by the previous events. Is it that there are just too many fine exhibitions competing for our attention, or that it is just too difficult to keep up the very high standards which the Art Expo has itself set?
There is little doubt that the financial art world, which we had been persuaded to believe would continue to bring in good dividends, has suffered setbacks in Asia due to poorly performing currencies, Malaysian and Chinese included. This coupled with a large number of art biennials and art fairs across the world, to which local artists and galleries are now submitting art, time and expense, mean that there is only so much quality to go around. And, if we are totally honest, Malaysia cannot compare to Hong Kong, or even mainland China/Korea when it comes to prestige amongst art fairs. But the Art Expo in Kuala Lumpur was getting there and, sometimes, our forward progress is not linear, there are often steps backward or sideways too. This year is one of those.
I'll not be crass enough to single out the worse excesses of 'art' or 'illustration' on view this year, but suffice to say that one foreign gallery returned with a show which seemed a carbon copy of last year's, minus some of the best pieces. True we had Dalis and Miros (what again I hear you cry), and for some aficionados that would have been enough to make the Expo worth visiting, but for me there was a large dose of déjà vu.
I was confused to see Dr Cheah Thien Soong’s works at the Expo, having only recently visited them at the National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. It brought quite an uncomfortable feeling of over-exposure of his nonetheless visually stunning works, which I felt had been somewhat demoted to compete with a large range of art works on offer at the Expo. Incidentally I felt the same with regards to the Dalis and Miros which, perhaps, should have had a separate viewing area.
There were, of course, many highlights to the exhibition, Syed Thajudeen’s large work The Eternal Love between Puteri Gunung Ledang & Hang Tuah and pieces by Zulkifli Yusoff, included. Surprises came from The Art Fellas (Singapore) in the guise of Yeo Siak Goon’s works, in particular his Sunny Day’s Garden (2002) and Sunny day an the Blue Night (2012), and the POPcorn Combo with Andre Tan’s work, again from Singapore. Tan won me over with contemporary Pop Art imagery which was both referential and enlightening. Pop Art has been done to death over the past fifty years but, mixing my metaphors, Tan’s work shows that there is still some blood to wring from this particular stone. Favourites included In the Mood For Love 4, Thorrrrebe and Kitty Rider 05.
