Introduction
small but perfectly formed……….
Azad Daniel - Director
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PROJECTION To see more contemporary Malaysian visual arts collected by individuals as well as both the public and private corporations in the next five years.
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In order that contemporary art be made accessible and attractive to the public, we provide a selection of tasteful and affordable works
Limited edition prints, Small sculptures and other contemporary art objects
To promote the idea and love of art, we also host art talks and related events
Our weekend Art workshop
OUR CORE BUSINESS SERVICES ARE: Contemporary Art Exhibitions & RELATED ACTIVITIES A number of these have been the first of their kind exhibition
– Enigma: Ilse Noor’s world of paradox, mystery and conundrum
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Ilse Noor is no enigma to the Malaysian art scene where she is well known as one of the country’s fine graphic artists and printmakers. With over 100 group and solo exhibitions under her belt, Ilse uses etching and aquatint to interpret and convey the world around her. Her work is semi-autobiographical, a reflection of someone wishing to communicate the conundrums, paradoxes and often unsolvable riddles posed by life. Ilse’s intense interest in her immediate surroundings, may these be objects, music, history, politics or literature often leads her to raise such questions in her art. The artist has chosen etching and aquatint, the highly disciplined art of printmaking using copper plates etched in acid as a preferred medium for many years. This discipline allows the artist to portray her inner world in a detail that might be difficult to achieve in other mediums. Born in Germany, Ilse grew up with her mother and sister in a 300 year old house surrounded by fields and forests at the outskirts of Hückeswagen, a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia. Ilse lost her father at the age of four when he died during a bombing raid while working as a Morse code operator in Germany’s army. The charmed life of living in such a beautiful house and surroundings coupled with the harsh and often ugly realities of growing up in war torn Germany, served to imprint themselves on Ilse’s young mind. She’d often escape by retreating into her own world, spending many hours drawing and sketching.
Ilse’s talent did not go unnoticed. Her mother, who is now a robust 102 and still goes for two hour walks, encouraged Ilse to take her art further and study at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Here, Ilse’s art blossomed, informed by new thinking and processes in booming post war Germany. Ilse’s life and art changed dramatically when she immigrated to Malaysia following her marriage to Tengku Nazif Noor, who originates from the Sultanate of Asahan (1630-1946), Sumatera, Indonesia. The Sultanate ended in 1946 when nearly everyone in the royal house was killed during Indonesia’s ‘social revolution’. Fortunately Tengku Nazif and his parents escaped but political events in Indonesia at the time, forced Tengku Nazif to leave his parents at the age of 12 and start a new life in Europe. Ilse met her husband while he was a student at the University of Bonn, Germany and the couple have two grown up daughters. These new influences and surroundings have greatly informed Ilse’s work ever since. While German art and literature have influenced much of Ilse’s thinking, the literature, histories, myths, legends, flora and fauna of Southeast Asia have become major players in her work.
Enigma: Ilse Noor’s world of paradox, mystery and conundrum Enigma: noun: a person or thing that is mysterious or difficult to understand. synonyms: mystery, puzzle, riddle, conundrum, paradox, problem, unsolved problem, question, question mark, quandary, a closed book.
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hat goes on in the mind of someone who is constantly trying to interpret the world from various angles? Someone who mixes eastern and western thinking, the modern and the traditional; fantasy and reality; dream and nightmare? The result of such thinking and visions can be seen in many of Ilse Noor’s works, in which dead birds sing, ginger stems personify a courting couple and sea shells metamorphose into fantastical underwater palaces. Much of Ilse’s work could be described as surrealist and symbolist. As Andre Breton, author of the Manifestoes of Surrealism wrote: “I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality, if one may so speak.” One example of such a work is the “Garden of Happiness” in which real life objects have metamorphosed into beings that defy logic, but somehow make psychological sense. Here two ginger stems in a garden of crystals come alive, depicting a couple that is overjoyed to see each other. The couple’s arms are open as if preparing for a passionate embrace. Or, is that really what the artist was thinking when creating this work or could a ‘Garden of Happiness’ exist on a darker level? Could they be two Japanese warriors in the middle of battle, one about to administer a fatal blow? Ilse says that she often might start a work as a still life, but that creative processes and the effect of her surroundings turn the work into something fantastical. While early surrealists have been known to use illicit substances to reach altered states, Ilse’s ‘drugs’ of choice are music, literature, history and poetry. Her taste in music is eclectic. Listening to gamelan music, Latin American pan flutes or Bach and Chopin concertos could spur fantastical thoughts turning a mere sea shell into Princess Hang Li Po’s palace like in her etching and aquatint, “The Jewel of Hang Li Po”.
“Metamorphosis” pays homage to Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924) a German-language writer of novels such as "Die Verwandlung" (The Metamorphosis), “Der Prozess” (The Trial), and “Das Schloss” (The Castle). Kafka has been termed by historians as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century; the term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe surreal situations like those in his writing. In “Metamorphosis”, traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. Samsa finds that he becomes a burden to his family as his new form repulses them and causes them to have to care for him as he is unable to do the things that he was able to before. On a symbolic level this could be applied to those suffering incapacity due to illness, accident or age which render them burdensome and even repulsive to family and friends. Kafka much admired “Die Andere Seite” (The Other Side) a book that deals with an imaginary oppressive land written by Austrian artist and writer, Alfred Kubin (1877–1959). Kubin’s art and literature greatly influenced Ilse’s thinking and work from a very early age. “As a child I found his book, “Die Andere Seite” on my mother’s book shelf and was mesmerised” says Ilse.
Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism. Expressionism’s typical trait is to present the world mainly through an emotional perspective, altering it to evoke moods or ideas. Symbolists saw life as fundamentally mysterious and their work is suggestive, rather than explicit with particular images or objects endowed with symbolic meaning. While Kubin’s art is noted for often disturbing, figurative fantasies, Ilse’s work is free of the angst and dark symbolism that typifies much of Kubin’s art. Her work is sometimes audacious in nature, forcing the viewer to think, rather than just look, while other pieces appear more internalised, the true meaning only known to the artist and those close to her. With the latter type of work those on the outside might only be able to guess at its true interpretation, but meanings are never hidden and there are plenty of hints, usually by looking at a work’s title and scrutinising the etching closely. One such work is ‘Bunuhku Aku, Aku Akan Tetap Menyanyi’, (You can kill me, but I’ll still carry on singing”), a bird’s decomposed corpse can be seen singing and dancing mirthfully. The bird’s head is thrown back as if it is laughing. The message might be obvious to the viewer: you can oppress me, you can mistreat me, but you’ll never break my spirit, but Ilse says that even though the picture eventually came to symbolise this idea, initially this was not her intention. “I found a dead bird and it occurred to me that it is rare to find a bird’s corpse. Usually one hears birds singing every day and the song of a particular bird always seems to be the same. However, it can’t be that very same bird singing year in year out as it probably has a short life span and the song we are hearing is that of its successor. What I was trying to say is that like the bird, everyone is dispensable but their song, their effort, their work and spirit remains.” In “Cenderawasih”, Ilse uses yet another bird to embody man’s dreams and aspirations. Ilse writes of the Cenderawasih in her book ‘Warisan Nusa’, Shell Book of Malaysian Heritage, page 116, “… the Golden Bird of Paradise, Cenderawasih, soars eternally, glittering like a star, a manifestation of beauty and fantasy…..’. Perhaps on another level, Ilse has mixed East and West, with the Cenderawasih as a Malay version of the Phoenix, a symbol of hope and rebirth.
Ilse’s art seeks to draw the viewer closer into her world, to question, to find answers and ascribe meaning to the mysterious and often dreamlike forms that inhabit it. In the words of Einstein: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science”. Natalie Noor-Drugan, London, UK
“Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die,Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.” Langston Hughes, American poet and social activist
MO: Formal (and) Scapes:
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O: Formal (and) scapes is the canopy title under which Dhavinder Singh presents his carefully curated series of five new works. Interactive and intellectual, these site-specific installations result from a formalistic approach into the artist’s examinations of the visual and cerebral elements of fine art, using landscapes as the conceptual starting point. The landscape has traditionally been a subject artists look to when contemplating occupied spaces, be they natural or manufactured, and the impact of humans and society on the land. Painters such as J.M.W. Turner grasped the subject matter and elevated it to additional heights with the use of composition, developing new techniques to demonstrate light and luminosity. Parallels can be drawn between the process of Turner, who trained in a strictly academic fashion before expanding into an increasingly loose style in order to create highly experimental paintings, and Dhavinder, a talented intellectual who challenges the acceptable definition of painting. It was precisely this mix of formalistic approaches with new ideas that marked Turner out as an artist who bridged the gap between “traditional” art and Modernism, a genre whose emergence brought new challenges to the art world. Artists began to struggle with reconciling the depiction of real world experiences through the often two-dimensional reality of traditional art materials. British artist Andy Goldsworthy, who concerns himself with Land Art, broke through this barrier with the use of elements from landscapes themselves in his work. The inclusion of natural matter such as stone, twigs, flowers, leaves and icicles afford him the ability to illustrate specific aspects of the natural world without resorting to producing impressions. A similar thread runs through MO: Formal (and) scapes. Dhavinder’s use of sand, turmeric and saffron to obtain an unadulterated colour and texture carry traces of Goldsworthy’s influence.
MO: Formal (and) scapes is created using custom made acrylic cases, filled with organic material including saffron, turmeric and sand, wooden shelves, hinges and pulley systems. Juxtaposing natural and artificial matter slots neatly into the current parameters of contemporary art. Dhavinder looks to highlight harmonious conflicts, understanding that is a position that well defines the currency of the twenty-first century. This mixed media approach is not entirely new for the artist; indeed previous works such as the recent Magnum Opus: Landslide cleverly incorporate these highly current ideals of contrast and minimalism. A late 2013 work, Magnum Opus: Landslide features a large yellow triangle, with a smaller black triangle at its tip. A pulley system is installed between the triangles as part of the work. Choosing to involve organic materials, Dhavinder poured turmeric into the large triangle, and black sand into the smaller triangle at the tip. This period was one where the artist cemented his experimentations with extracting pure pigmented colours in order to discover which satisfy his vision. The established thread of clean simplicity continues through to MO: Formal (and) scapes, belying the incredible technical feat behind their inception and creation. Pure distilled shades from organic matter highlights the isolation of colours themselves to the viewer. It should be noted that the ability to edit and extract specific shades from an inexhaustible palette requires integrity of foresight. As is a signature of true minimal artists Dhavinder’s perceptions of colour, composition and space are uncompromising
The use of powdered matter contributes to the surprising appearance of MO: Formal (and) scapes. In each of the works, the artist either unhinges the acrylic cases or engages the levy system, causing the containers to pour out their contents in an irrepressible manner. A number of indefinable forms occur on and around the wooden shelves lining the base of the works, resulting in new, spontaneous forms. An interesting contrast is now created between the hyper precise, technical vessels and the natural spillage structures. Dhavinder notes one of his aims was to arrive at a self manifested outcome, appearing of its own volition. Subtly, and without force, he manages to trigger shadow and play with colour. He concerns himself more with the support structure and sense of light and tonality, principles he underscores as essential fundamentals for the creation of art. The artist seems to be redetermining the format of art, which typically exists in defined boundaries. This process gives rise to associations with landscapes, unplanned forms of nature, forms that are still in transition while questioning the lines between nature and the abstract. A contradiction is expressed in terms of the appearances between the polar opposites of the uninhibited, organic powders and the linear, austere acrylic. It is impossible to touch the installations without disturbing the visual, raising awareness in the audience on the fleeting presence of nature in an increasingly developed world.
While continuing aspects from previous works, MO: Formal (and) scapes indicates a growth period in Dhavinder’s career. The artist is now breaking away from his previous works, be they drawing, painting or even installation. This new series of works crosses over into art for which the concept and execution take precedence. The use of the installations themselves to somehow create new forms can be seen as the artist’s attempt to mimic the use of machinery in creating man made landscapes. Living in the urban landscape of Kuala Lumpur, Dhavinder observes the interminable development of infrastructure surrounding him daily. Studying development from foundation to finish he has the desire of a contemporary artist to depict the fabric of modern living and issues in an intellectual manner. MO: Formal (and) scapes is indeed a representation of the artist’s experiences living in a metropolitan environment.
“His sophisticated aesthetic approach is highly revolutionary in contemporary Malaysian art, where minimalism is still in its infancy, leading to a keen interest in Dhavinder’s work from critics, curators and collectors. ” -Zena Khan
Built for corners in walls, Dhavinder maps out the arrangement of his installations to offer a specific, streamlined presentation. Restricting the viewers’ ability to see the whole series from any single location, Dhavinder challenges his audience to imagine the series in its entirety by piecing together memories of the works from each vantage point. MO: Formal (and) scapes is assembled to emphasise and reveal the architecture of the space it occupies. Sharing one common area, it is as if the installations and gallery are intertwined for the purpose of this show. Eliminating any barrier between viewer and artwork encourages the audience to consider their personal relationship with each piece. The viewers are encouraged to interact with each work on their own level: approaching, retreating, circling or stopping to contemplate. As such MO: Formal (and) scapes can be seen to present a series of objects of “charged neutrality”. Directly engaging and interacting with their immediate space, the installations openly reveal everything about themselves and they subsequently approach the viewer as a subject. Hence highly personal and two-way relationships between the installation and the observer are established. Minimal Art is an abstract genre centering on the essential and elemental features of art. Emphasizing pure shapes and colours, minimalist artists strive to decant their art into its structural origins. The result is generally purely aesthetic and provides the viewer with a strongly visual approach. Dhavinder attempts to communicate an immediate, thoroughly visual response, providing his audience with an intense experience of the pure qualities of colour, form, space and materials. In this way his works are de-mystified, revealing their most fundamental character. With MO: Formal (and) scapes the medium and materials of the work are the primary reality, bolstered by a successful, innovative attempt to reinterpret the landscape as a concept. Dhavinder has dissected the lessons of his predecessors, taking apart their themes and completely personalizing them by extracting the essence from established conventional styles.
Director’s Notes
My warmest greetings and highest regards! As we come to the end of 2013, I wish to take this opportunity to offer my sincerest appreciation for your support as well as to all the artists whom we’ve the pleasure of exhibiting at Project Room Fine Art since its inception in April. The last few months have been most hectic, with exhibitions, workshops and other art related assignments that has kept us on our toes. As expected, there are the usual challenges and I am glad that some of it has turned out alright. Indeed, this modest gallery is only beginning to take its tentative steps towards its objective, to be a visible and viable platform for contemporary visual arts in the heart of the capital. Therefore, your continued support is most invaluable. “Why another gallery for contemporary art?” you may ask, well the answer is simple. First, as a practicing visual artist, I am aware that opportunities for exhibitions is not a given. An artist is only considered for an exhibition in a private gallery if there is a high possibility that works will be sold. As a result, it is usually the same artists (or artists who produce works similar to those who are well received by buyers) that gets invited to exhibit at various galleries in town. Consequently, ‘other’ artists have to ‘move around the circuit’ a bit to find a gallery or galleries (with the right clientele) willing to showcase them. It is sometimes a tricky process, especially for contemporary art practitioners as most contemporary art are deemed ‘difficult’ to be understood or too ‘adventurous’ to be appreciated. Most of these works may not even blend well with one’s furniture or swanky interior due to its unconventional subject matters, use of non-traditional art materials with its odd scales and dimensions. Much
contemporary art today can be seen as unsettling, heavily issue-based, non-decorative or anti aesthetic in its approach, not to mention some are way too loud or too surreal for one’s delicate peace of mind. For that reason, by establishing a gallery receptive and supportive of contemporary art practices, offers opportunities for these artists, especially the younger generation to expose their works to a more adventurous audience, which in return hopefully, encourages them to continue producing works which pushes boundaries that will further widen our understanding and appreciation for the visual arts beyond the popular and conventional. Secondly, as a gallery owner, I have the pleasure and prerogative to choose the artist and the types of works to host and showcase. And there are many whom I feel deserves to be introduced and promoted to a wider audience. With that in mind, a series of exciting exhibitions by local contemporary artists as well as those from abroad has been lined up for the whole of 2014. Do check our Facebook and website for the latest developments and announcements. It is no coincidence that I have chosen to end this year with an exhibition of the latest works by Khairul Azmir Shoib or more famously known in the art scene as Meme. The title of the exhibition is “Let It All Rain Down From The Blood Stained Clouds“ and it showcases his exquisite drawings, paintings, a handful of miniature figures and other imaginative mixed media works.
This is a special exhibition for me, partly because Meme is an old friend and teacher whose works I admire and always enjoy viewing. Every show by this mid-career artist is never boring and Project Room Fine Art is pleased to host his fourth solo. In his works, beginning with his metal sculptures to the other mediums which he explored later in his art career, all the characters that he’s created are embodiments of the different personalities that reveals itself when a situation or circumstances obliges. And most of the situations in Meme’s works are never, at first glance pleasant or cheerful. Many have commented that his art is dark or disturbing, but that is precisely what good art is supposed to do! And he has the uncanny ability to induce such uneasiness with characters that do not seem out of place in fairytales and even in children’s storybooks, says much about his artistry and appeal of his works. I hope you’ll enjoy this show just as much as I have setting it up. Before I conclude, allow me to thank you again for your generous support and time. I look forward to your warm presence at our exhibitions again and I wish you a Merry Christmas and have a Happy and Productive New Year. Azad Daniel Haris
For the weather report: Meme’s ‘LET IT ALL RAIN DOWN FROM THE BLOOD STAINED CLOUDS’. By T.S.HON
“A sense of duty / was my one intention and an ugly beauty /was my own invention Pride / a proud refusal / and I refuse to need your approval“ Echo & the Bunnymen’s ‘The Game’ (1987)
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or those who have been following the local art scene for more than a decade, the name Meme needs no introduction. The low profile multi-talented visual artist have delighted many with his numerous Goth-like characters and morose-themed situations through his bizarre and imaginative sculptures, miniature and life size figurines, paintings, drawings and other mixed media works. The Taiping born Meme, whose real name is Khairul Azmir Shoib (b1975), tends to create divided opinions about his artistic outputs. On one hand, there are those, especially the younger generation who absolutely love his art pieces, while the not-so-young generation mostly feel that they are not ‘serious’ enough to warrant attention. Though many influences can be traced from his works, from Gothic fiction and fashion, Art Nouveau, old school Surrealism to its contemporary counterpart as well as horror movies, animation with ‘Nightmare before Christmas, Corpse Bride’ and ‘Where the Wild things are’ that usually comes closest to mind in terms of style, approach and overall ‘feel’. It is however a misconception to assume that Meme appropriates these without injecting personal or local elements into his works. Meme himself has cited many writers and artists in past interviews as having some sort of influence but the final outputs are purely the inventions from his own imagination. His witches, vixens, warlocks, elves, gnomes, dwarfs, orcs and also other anthropomorphic characters that populate his wicked and gloomy world, often engages simultaneously in ‘sweet’ innocent acts of cruelty, either as a self inflicted or on another, are personifications of familiar emotional responses and reactions which many of us have been trained to conceal.
His many eccentric but never one dimensional characters have the magic to enchant even in their shady demeanour, surrounded by simple instruments of torture and other symbols of desolation. It is never calculated to be revolting or shocking rather Meme cleverly imbues them with elements of kawaii that serves as a buffer of sorts, so that viewers are momentarily spared from being overwhelmed by the menacing and malevolent energies, behind those big brown eyes with their childlike expressions of bewilderment at their harmless looking activities and forlorn stares. Meme has never been explicit in claiming to subscribe to Goth subculture, rather his approach is considered a part of the low brow art ‘movement’ variously identified as Pop Surrealism, Magic Realism or even ‘Dark’ art. It is not a coherent ethos but a collective celebration of the creative (and destructive) exuberance of youth and partly a reflection of the spirit of silent rebellion against the stultifying environment from which one operates. This is clearly seen in the latest exposition of Meme’s new works at Project Room Fine Art. The dramatic title (all of Meme’s past exhibitions have dramatic and colourful titles) “Let It All Rain down from the Blood Stained Clouds” showcases his new drawings, paintings and even a handful of miniature figurines.
The few stand out pieces are where lone female sitters with their helpless and vulnerable stares at the viewer while minor transgressions are being committed against their bodies by little demons and evil looking spirits. Here Meme masterfully shows a passive form of resistance as exemplified by the countenance of his female subject matter. It embodies a quiet “Fuck you! apa nak jadi, jadilah!“ attitude that sees the futility of dissent or the folly of open hostility against powerful adversaries. Rather, they chose to adopt a way of behaving, subscribing to another worldview where others have no power to pry, censor, control or manipulate...one’s fantasies and imaginations. It is inside this ‘safe zone’ where their ‘flights of fancy take to the air’, that anything goes, while they patiently bid their time to thumb their noses at the foibles of their lesser halves whom they are sure will unfold and be their undoing in time. They have taken the higher moral ground with their abstinence. However, do not be deceived by those lovely sad eyes, when those tears have turn to blood, “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”! There is a red storm coming, for the faint-hearted, stay indoors... Friday, 13 December, 2013
Standing here shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the everyday people, (some more than others are like living mannequins, whose clothing and persona changes with the ‘season’ and their ‘branded’ goods as simpleminded his whiff of burning wood and asphyxiating smog displays of their ‘importance’ whose sense of pecking that drifts blithely from across the straits of Malacca order and distance between each other are augmented by that separate us from a populous neighbouring the scale of their ambitions, desperation and the depths of country we claimed close kinship and seek cheap their desires,) one is hard pressed to detect genuine signs labour has made its annual presence felt again. of life from their blank eye stares, their bored countenance For the misty eyed, it’s easy to make believe that this annual punctuated by a frequent but irrational need to check, environmental disaster, (courtesy of the corporations operating swipe and update their status on their latest hand held there, their owners from the very countries which are on the gadget as they go through their daily motions on the way receiving end of this calamity!) is like another cold foggy day in to that place where they exchange their labour and surrensome swanky or romantic capital of the world, a la London or der their time for a month’s (or two) wages to buy these maybe a Paris. And on this jam packed train, stuck like gadgets while keeping the creditors at bay. Their inexcusable sardines in a can, the working ignorance of the transgresclasses, the blue and white sions of their surroundings, collars as well as those in the “Estragon: What about hanging ourselves? their blind obedience to the service industry looks out of Vladimir: Hmm. It'd give us an erection.” diktats, as if they are holy these smudged windows, as the writs, issued through the faulty train makes its way, -Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot mealy-mouthpieces of the hesitatingly from station to unpopular ruling classes station, staring impassively as on a daily basis and their misty haze smothers the many stylize pigeon holes masquerading as architecture and what hearty acceptance of the gerrymandering by the same not built on the backs of these passengers which steadily mush- regime to cling to power only underscores the insignifiroomed from the ruins of our colonial past, now bright, shiny cance with which they hold their own lives and others, a testaments celebrating our current domination by transnational simplistic view of life whereby its ultimate aim is to maximize capitalists instead. An absurd sense of wonderment and profits and pleasures while avoiding pain and hardship at achievement arises. Never mind that these buildings are mostly all costs, to be unburdened on others when possible, has banks, insurance companies, hotels, malls and high end prop- allowed crimes from the most subtle and hidden to the erties where the majority of us do not live in or are able to most brazen to continue. Perhaps we are living in the end afford to own one anytime in this lifetime, it’s the image and times, where cunning flatters are elevated, all manner of semblance to some successful metropolitan civilization that buffoonery celebrated as ingenuity and mediocrity rewarded while knowledge, wisdom, diligence and honesty are counts. sidelined or vilified. These are the same people who upon hearing that song by R.E.M, “It’s the End of the World as we know it”, will complete these last few words “and I feel fine...”
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allowed crimes from the most subtle and hidden to the most brazen to continue. Perhaps we are living in the end times, where cunning flatters are elevated, all manner of buffoonery celebrated as ingenuity and mediocrity rewarded while knowledge, wisdom, diligence and honesty are sidelined or vilified. These are the same people who upon hearing that song by R.E.M, “It’s the End of the World as we know it”, will complete these last few words “and I feel fine...”
Though Khairul Azmir @Meme, Khairul Azuwan@ Ujang and Rini Fauzan@Ojan graduated from the same institution, they’ve adopted vastly different approaches to their works. How does one detect the underlying connection between their drawings, paintings and 3d outputs? Perhaps it is from the abovementioned circumstances that these artworks are made to be contextualized. It is from the irony and the gravity of the current situation that such works are produced to comment, parody and to offer alternative ways of thinking, delivered in humorous and interesting ways. Ojan’s works exposes the spectacles and misinformation maintain by those controlling the channels to information and also their efforts to undermine access to it while Ujang’s tongue in cheek depiction of Homo sapiens evolving to vote sheds amusing light on the current political debacle. At first glance, Meme’s instantly recognizable works may be an oddity in this configuration, however, inspired by the dictum of one of his favourite author Roald Dahl “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it”, it makes perfect sense that Meme’s works encourages and promotes alternatives to the false consciousness maintained that the current version of reality is the only version that should be subscribed by the masses. ‘Faded Imagination’ is an exhibition to kick-start your TS Hung 24 June 2013