Chronicle of Lines — Khairul Izham

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SOLO EXHIBITION BY KHAIRUL IZHAM

_ I would like to thank Allah S.W.T, all my beloved family, Fuad Arif, Suherwan Abu, Syukur Rahmat Ali, Anisa Abdullah and friends for all their support throughout this journey of mine.

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SOLO EXHIBITION BY KHAIRUL IZHAM

ISBN 978 - 981- 07-1875- 6 PAPERBACK

978 - 981- 07-1876- 3 E-BOOK

“The ethical quandaries surrounding issues of subjectivity and interpretations of art often revolve around the question of who is representing, who is represented, and who is looking; and around how these dynamics produce and reproduce visual systems of power on the basis of gender, race, and libidinal desire. On a slightly different trajectory, phenomenology interrogates how we interpret in the first place. Though it presumes that the artwork and the spectator situate one another within a shared network of sense, this is not to say that information is easily communicated between them.

The viewer’s task is not to ascertain the artwork’s objective meaning, but rather to respond to the artwork with the question, ‘how does this artwork mean to me?’”

Amanda Boetzkes

Bibliography Boetzkes, Amanda. (2010) Phenomenology and Interpretation Beyond the Flesh. In Arnold, Dana (Ed.), Art History: Contemporary Perspectives on Method (34-55).

United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

Bolt, Barbara. (2011) Heidegger: Reframed, New York: I.B. Tauris.

Moustakas, Clark. (1994) Phenomenological Research Methods, California: Sage Publications.

“The lines that I create are impulsive.

I let them flow freely into any corner of the canvas, wherever my hands lead them to. They are uncontrollable but at the same time I am ‘with’ them. Lines for me are like the ‘steps’ that I take in life. Sometimes they are tiny ‘steps’, whilst sometimes they could be huge one. They are like the steady strolls that I go through in life.

Having a ‘teh tarik’, or reading a book or seating on a bench in a park. While sometimes they are like running, a rush, or a haste. They are like the journey in life—it surprises me, leading me to somewhere eternal but going through it in many unexpected episode, discovery, and trails. Through experiencing all of this I learn to know how life teaches me. Lines are symbolically what I see when I relate myself to this journey. They forever astonish me and also test me and make me see things differently.”

Khairul Izham

In its original meaning science is a methodical scheme that constructs and systematise knowledge in the form of testable predictions and explanation about the universe.

In its modern use, ‘science’ is not only about the knowledge itself, but referring more towards a way of pursuing knowledge. Science’s claim to truth lies in its replicability methods and systematic procedures that aim to bring forth objective truth (Propositional). Here, truth is presented as evidence that can be explained, and has the quality of correspondence and ‘correctness’, and through progress can be refuted by hypothetical questioning.

It is often treated as equal with ‘natural and physical science’, and thus restricted to those branches of study that relate to the phenomena and their laws in the material universe.

Art in contrast is often criticised for the subjective and process quality in its endeavours. Art is seen as sometime bewildering and most of the time does not hold any objective truth. Jackson Pollock for example found ‘the truth in art’ when he discovered “the drip technique” (Robert Morris in Boetzkes, 2010, 39) and “therefore positioned the basis of the artwork’s meaning in the interaction between the bodily behaviour of either the artist or the viewer and its raw materiality.” (ibid) Pollock ‘observation’ was more of a poiesis engagement than of empirical. Through his embodied engagement with time (history), tools, and materials; he experienced an unconcealed understanding which revealed ‘another way of seeing’ about the being of art,

as what was discovered by other artists before him such as Cezanne, Kandinsky, Melville, and Mark Rothko, just to name a few. ‘Truth’ here is a form of ‘revealing’ or ‘unconcealment.’ Art proceeds on the assumption that we can never know the outcome in advance and that knowledge is emergent rather than prescribed. (Bolt, 2011, 150) For philosopher like Heidegger the primary ground for understanding truth derives in the first place physis and poiesis. ‘Physis’ is understood to be as coming from darkness into light, biologically, cosmically, cognitively (Henry David Thoreau), or something that grows, becomes, or develops.

In art as poiesis, original and originary truth happens. (ibid) Truth existence as it discloses (unfold) itself. We recognise this disclosing, which brings something out of concealment forth from the state of unconcealment as aletheia.

(The state of not being hidden; and it also implies authenticity- pure) Art in its phenomenological experience is a form of authentic encountering and behaviour, as an integrated and inseparable relationship of subject (the artist – the viewer) and object (the work of art) as a whole. The ‘challenge’ in experiencing art (especially in looking, thinking, discussing and writing about it) is to explicate the phenomenon in terms of its constituents and possible meanings. Thus we can distinguish the features of consciousness and arrive at an understanding of the essences of the experience.

(Moustakas, 1994, 61)

As a spectator and also as a writer I experience Khairul Izham’s works by initially letting the ‘rest of my life’ go, and prepare myself by not having any suppositions and prejudgment notion of what to expect or having (taking control) my ‘own preference’ getting in the way of the experience. To understand the art works that appear before me, I return to the self, to know and recognize myself in the experience of which it is examine. By letting myself absorb in the moment of being face to face with the artworks I am to presuppose ‘that what appears to be appearing is actually appearing”. (ibid) Khairul Izham’s works in so many ways remind me of the reflexivity character of the work of art. At far they seem very abstract but when coming closer the lines are actually jumbled up masses of ‘faces’ and recognisable everyday objects residing in an earthly landscape of the canvas. Realising this, the images become ambiguous and neutral. The lines interlacing with other elements such as colours and textures also become a manifestation of struggle within these elements and somehow deep inside its reality they reflectively becomes an emblematic projection of how the world has become today - full of mix match, chaotic, intertwine while still wanting controllability.

The manners of how the lines were drawn were in itself a form of letting oneself go in experiencing poiesis. I become attentive to how he ‘loses’ himself in his making.

But I also realise that ‘making’

is not the only domain of the artist. Rather it develops in the powerfully charged social relation of dialogue between the artist, ideas, expression, materials and his tools.

In ‘making’ (createdness), artist is co-responsible for and indebted to these other collaborators in the progression for the appearance of art. He as the artist is indebted to his materials and tool and also to the spectator.

Khairul Izham constantly acknowledges the active meaning-making qualities of his materials and his tools in this conversation. His understanding of these qualities emerged through ‘handling’ other domains in relation to how they are being reflex within him experiencing his everyday life. In his interpretation, Khairul compares his voyage in making his work (line, as seen dominance) with his own reflexivity on life, which for him can sometime bring “many unexpected episode, discovery and trails.” These are the moment of unconcealment for him in experiencing art. And through experiencing his works it was also my own form of unconcealment.

_ DRAWN INTO IT MOHD FUAD ARIF ESSAY

Serenity / acrylic and ink on canvas / 183 x 153 cm / 2012

this spread; Beatings of a Heart / acrylic and ink on canvas / 153 x 122 cm / 2012 next spread; Behind a Journey / acrylic and ink on canvas / 142 x 92 cm / 2012

Remains / mixed media on

canvas / 214 x 152 cm / 2012

No Turning Back / acrylic and ink on canvas / 153 x 183 cm / 2012

Emptiness / mixed media on canvas / 152 x 305 cm

/ 2012

The Hidden Underneath / mixed media on canvas / 152 x 152 cm / 2012

_ ISBN 978 - 981- 07-1875-6 PAPERBACK

978 - 981- 07-1876-3 E-BOOK

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All rights reserved. No part of this catalog 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 selections 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

KHAIRUL IZHAM

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BORN 1985 IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

EDUCATION

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2010 Bachelor (Hons) Fine Art Majoring in Painting UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor

2012 Chronicle of Lines TAKSU Gallery, Kuala Lumpur An Environmental Art Show Puncak Art Gallery, Selangor Young Art Exhibition RA Fine Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

2008 Diploma in Art and Design (Fine Art) Ikip College Kuantan, Pahang

2011 Locals Only TAKSU Gallery, Kuala Lumpur Deceitful Truth Chandan Gallery, Kuala Lumpur MEAA 2011 Exhibition Soka Gakkai Malaysia, KL

New Young Contemporary Art Show Pace Gallery, KL Anniversary Show 2011 Pace Gallery, Kuala Lumpur Kalimah Chandan Gallery, KL

2010 Dischromatic Small Talk With The Moon, KL LOAD Degree Show, FSSR UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor Nando’s, Kicking Off With Art And Soul, Damansara Utama LOAD Tengku Nurzahirah Gallery, UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor

Open Show 2010 Shah Alam Gallery, Shah Alam Con/Form 360 Art Development Studio, Desa Park City, KL 2009 Young Art R A Fine Arts, KL Open Show Shah Alam Gallery, Shah Alam, Selangor

2008 Diploma Show IKIP College, Kuantan, Pahang 2007 Lakarasa Inderapura National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur