Secret Lies

SECRET LIES FADILAH KARIM

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I would like to thank Allah swt, To my beloved family, ta k s u , Liz Bautista, Ahmad Syafiq Yaacob, Din Dirann, Jinjit, Jeffrey Lim, Dr. Sharmiza, Shafiq Nordin, Sabihis Md Pandi, Azrin Mohd, Hisyammudin Abdullah, Syed Fakaruddin, Fazrin Abd Rahman, Nizam Rahmat, Aida Farhah, Syukur Rani, Amirul Roslan, Yown Naquib, Nurul Roslan, Zul Luèy, collectors, artists and friends.

SECRET LIES FADILAH KARIM

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Works of art are often, if not always, a projection of an artist’s subconscious, autobiographies of sorts if you may, and paintings of artist Fadilah Karim are not any different. “My paintings are about myself and about my emotions,” she acknowledges, adding, “but sometimes I don’t paint just that. Sometimes I just want to paint my cats,” almost with a manner of insouciance.

You could say that this painter’s singularity lies in her ability to spontaneously plait her personal stories into her work, each creation echoing a raw intensity shaped by her own opinions, experiences, interests, philosophies, vulnerabilities, and ideas of beauty, whether it is a portrait of herself or a good friend, an image of either one of her four cats or a diptych depicting an aging patriarch. The latter is, in fact, the first portrait she has ever exhibited, and probably one of her most personal, too. A dual-paneled painting from 2011, the work features the artist’s father in two stages: his image as a 33-year-old on one side and when he was 53 years old on the other.

find ing fad ilah karim by liz bautis ta

l i vi n g c o l o rs

Born 1987 in Batu Pahat, Johor, Fadilah is the daughter of Abd Karim Abdullah and Hamnah Othman. The second of four daughters, Fadilah grew up accepting that she wasn’t like any of her sisters who excelled in science, mathematics or sports—practical things she likes to call them. She “wasn’t very good with a lot of things,” as she self-deprecatingly puts it. That is, except for one: Art. Her earliest introduction to the field came, innocently enough, through children’s coloring contests she remembers joining as a little girl. Says the artist, who holds a master’s degree in Fine Art and Technology from the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), “I just know I love to draw and I love colors early on.”

Yet if there is one color that holds the gracious power to truly move this artist’s soul, it would have to be the color of the skin. “I have a soft spot for painting people because of the skin tone; I am in love with the color of the flesh,” notes the 29-year-old artist. Life-like figurative subjects, mostly women, certainly occupy many of Fadilah’s paintings in pensive passivity. And combined with her unspoken judgments and masterful maneuvering of oil, her medium of choice to date, and muted palettes on linen, she has been able to develop a visual language informed by maturity and artistic confidence that is markedly her own.

Fadilah’s new show at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s taksu gallery is an honest continuation of her personal story, her purpose and of her beautifully reproduced realities. For her sophomore solo exhibition, the painter generously offers her spectators an insight into where she is at the moment, again delving into the inner workings of her consciousness to produce a series that is at once intriguing, psychologically charged and highly intimate.

Walking away from earlier techniques—overlapping figures, flat backgrounds, smooth surfaces, patches of color—she once employed for her first solo exhibition entitled “Vague” back in 2012, she now chooses to take advantage of realistic elements, concentrating on finer brush strokes, light and shadows, as well as subdued, muddy, earthy, and dim colors. “The hue is low, almost no light, even the brush stroke is more finer than before, playing with space,” she describes.

Obsessed with photography, Fadilah also uses the medium as a study and reference for her paintings. Experimenting with the practice, she would often stage (as she have in most of the pieces for this current exhibit) her subjects and photograph them in her combined home and workplace located in Ara Damansara. This ability to conceive images through a skillful control of camerawork compositions, color design and storytelling clearly is a sign of her innate sense of aesthetics. And while she doesn’t see pursuing photography professionally and only considers it as an interest and an aid to her art, she, however, has managed to amass a large following on social media through the images she shares, allowing the outside world a curated view of her life as an artist who is accessible yet enveloped in melancholic mystery.

She also notes that her own space played a major part in this new exhibit. Apart from propping and photographing her subjects, as well as painting all of the pieces, in her studio, she also emphasizes on her need for sunlight. “I need natural light,” declares Fadilah, referring to the afternoon rays coming in through her home’s clear, oversized windows. Sure, the light illuminates her living space, but that’s not all.

For this artist, natural lighting likewise helps in creating a soothing atmosphere to the space she has been calling her natural habitat for the past four years.

A palpable intimacy is strongly felt in each of the 12 works included in Fadilah’s second exhibition, as if the artist is offering to reveal her complexly communicated thoughts in a rather familiar merging of physical and psychological space. But the intricately fused visual and emotional projections are not intentional. According to the artist, she didn’t have a specific theme in mind while she was working on the artworks. It was only after she has completed the paintings that she noticed parallels: the models are hiding their faces in almost all of the paintings.

In “Defying Gravity,” the 183 x 152 cm self-portrait shows Fadilah defying the very laws of nature as she falls or floats diagonally whilst concealing her face with her hands. While the title is something that can be taken at face value, the artist motions that there is more, stating that it represents her quiet and peaceful indifference to what others think about her or her works.

A well-known artist referenced in her latest exhibit is Marina Abramovic´ . As a nod to the highly acclaimed performance artist, Fadilah has decided to include a reimagining of the Serbian artist’s earlier work called “The Other: Rest Energy” (1980), a tension-filled four-minute video which features her then-partner Ulay directly pointing an arrow to her heart. Not only is the Johor-born artist an admirer of Abramovic´ ’s work, but she also identifies with what the performance is trying to demonstrate, which is the trepidation that results when you give another person the power to hurt you.

The paintings in the series are reminiscent of those of Lucian Freud, except that her canvases shy away from the distortions, exaggerations and asymmetry that somehow manifest in most of the German-born artist’s realistic portraits. A piece entitled “The Keeper,” meanwhile, features a standing figure in isolation, wearing a black dress with its back turned against the viewer, and holding a rabbit close to its chest, as if scared to let go. The same protagonist stars in a piece called “Undisclosed Desire,” but this time wearing a white dress as she lies on the floor, non-verbally conveying some sort contentment, while the rabbit warmly rests next to her.

If it’s true that one only needs to look at an artist’s work to find them, then does the female character represent Fadilah Karim and the rabbit, someone or something in her life? The simple answer is yes, but the painter insists that people are always welcome to interpret, digest, and appreciate her art in however way it speaks to them.

a s o lo s o jo urn

Sweet Sorrow oil on linen / 152 x 183 cm / 2015

Hush oil on linen / 79 x 61 cm / 2016

Defying Gravity oil on linen / 183 x 152 cm / 2016

Deep End oil on linen / 91 x 79 cm / 2016

The Golden Bow and Arrow - After Marina Abramovic ‘The Other: Rest Energy (1980)’ oil on linen / 244 x 183 cm / 2016

The Keeper oil on linen / 213 x 107 cm / 2016

Carry Me On oil on linen / 274 x 110 cm (triptych) / 2016

White Lies oil on linen / 183 x 183 cm / 2016

Come Undone oil on linen / 183 x 183 cm / 2016 previo us spread;

Undisclosed Desire oil on linen / 213 x 107 cm / 2015

Broken Arm oil on linen / 79 x 79 cm / 2016

FA D I L A H K A R I M 1 9 8 7

Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

E D U C AT I O N

SOLO EXHIBITION

2013

2010

2008

2016 Secret Lies taksu kuala lumpur 2012 Vague Pace Gallery, Petaling Jaya

M.A of Fine Arts & Technology UiTM Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya, Selangor BA of Fine Arts (Hons) UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor Diploma of Fine Arts UiTM Lendu, Alor Gajah, Melaka

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2016 n asi c a m p u r taksu singapore

a rt stag e 2016 taksu singapore 2015 a rt ta i p e i 2015 Taipei World Trade Center,

Taipei, Taiwan

n e w v e n t u r e Galeri Chandan, Publika, kl

a rt e x p o p l u s m a l aysi a

Matrade Exhibition & Convention Centre, kl

a rt : g wa n g ju : 1 5 Gwangju, South Korea

a rt a i d ’ 1 5 Segaris Art Center, Publika, kl

a da sh ow Segaris Art Center, Publika, kl

h at i & ji wa The Zain Azahari Collection, Galeri Z, Kuala Lumpur.

b e i n g h u m a n Fklub, Art Stage Singapore.

b e i n g h u m a n Fklub, Whitebox, Publika, kl 2014 a rt ba z a a r b e r l i n Messe Berlin, Germany

sua r asa 3 Segaris Art Center, Publika, kl

a rt e x p o m a l aysi a 2 0 1 4

Matrade Exhibition & Convention Centre, kl

Two-men show – Myst{eo}ry

HOM Art Trans, kl

Malaysian Eye Ritz Calton Hotel, kl

yo u n g g u n s ChanHampe Galleries, Singapore

Locals Only taksu kuala lumpur

n asi c a m p u r taksu singapore 2013 Piece of Me White Box Publika, Kuala Lumpur

yo u n g g u n s White Box Publika, kl &

The Whiteaways Arcade, Penang

Favourites From The Zain Azahari Collection

The Edge Galerie, Mont Kiara, kl 7 t h a rt e x p o m a l aysi a 2 0 1 3

Matrade Exhibition & Convention Centre, kl

s. u. a . r . a . s. a . 2 Segaris Art Centre

Solaris @ Publika, Kuala Lumpur

Viii Segaris Art Center, Kuala Lumpur

M.A Show UiTM Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya

Sekaki Segaris Art Center, Publika, kl

AWA R D S

2012

2011

2010

2009

Transit a 4 HOM Art Trans, Kuala Lumpur Songsang Galeri Chandan, Bukit Damansara Locals Only taksu kuala lumpur Deceitful Truth Galeri Chandan, Kuala Lumpur Anniversary Show Pace Gallery, Petaling Jaya Bapak Maison of Malaysian Arts (MoMA) Gallery, Kuala Lumpur Woman And Their Landscape Pace Gallery, Petaling Jaya Figurativismo Core Design Gallery, Selangor Kami ARTI Gallery, Kuala Lumpur January Showcase Galeri Chandan, kl Tanjong Heritage Ampang, Kuala Lumpur Load Faculty of Art and Design (FSSR) UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor Out In Numbers Black Box Publika, kl Open Show Galeri Shah Alam, Selangor Tanjong Heritage Sri Melayu Restaurant, kl Open Johor Johor Art Gallery, Johor Bahru

2013

2010

2009

2008

2007

yo u n g g u n s awardee White Box Publika, Kuala Lumpur Consolation Prize, Oil/ Acrylic Tanjong Heritage, Kuala Lumpur Intensive Awards, Open Show Galeri Shah Alam, Selangor 3 r d Prize, Oil/ Acrylic Tanjong Heritage, Kuala Lumpur Consolation Prize, Peristiwa Bersejarah Johor Galeri Seni Johor, Johor Consolation Prize, Citra Terengganu Muzium Negeri Terengganu, Terangganu Intensive Awards, Open Show Galeri Shah Alam, Selangor 2 n d Prize, Charcoal/Ink Tanjong Heritage, Kuala Lumpur 1 st Prize, Art Competition, Melaka Tyt Action Portrait UiTM Lendu, Alor Gajah, Melaka

SECRET LIES FADILAH KARIM

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ISBN 978 - 981- 09- 9370- 2 PAPERBACK

978 - 981- 09- 9371- 9 E-BOOK

All rights reserved. No part of this brochure may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior consent from the artists and gallery.

TAKSU is a leading contemporary art gallery and specialist in Southeast Asia.

Representing selection of fine art with distinctive urban edge, we are at the forefront of contemporary art in this region. TAKSU works to forge a platform for established and emerging artists to share their pool of creativity and knowledge through its residency programs and exhibitions. Encapsulating the true meaning of the word TAKSU; divine inspiration, energy, and spirit.

Suherwan Abu Director, TAKSU Galleries Artworks & Images Š 2016 Fadilah Karim Essay Liz Bautista Photography Din Dirann Graphic Design Jeffrey Lim / Studio 25 Printer Unico Services

THIS CATALOG IS PRINTED ON FSC-CERTIFIED PAPER TAKSU is also taking proactive steps to make the transition to a cleaner, sustainable future. This catalog (inside pages) has been printed on FSC-certified paper Hanno Silk 180 gsm.

FSC mixed.

SECRET LIES FADILAH KARIM

_

ISBN 978 - 981- 09- 9370- 2 PAPERBACK

978 - 981- 09- 9371- 9 E-BOOK

_ ISBN 978 - 981- 09- 9370- 2 PAPERBACK

978 - 981- 09- 9371- 9 E-BOOK