From 22 to 24 April 2010, the Dance Programme at Rimbun Dahan presented Bodies across Boundaries: two dance works by Malaysian choreographers & performed by Australian dancers, plus two dance works by Australian choreographers & performed by Malaysian dancers.
In the studio and on stage, we reached across the seas, building bridges with our bodies, and showing that differences of language, background, and home are no barrier to moving together.
‘Bodies Across Boundaries’ presented two new contemporary dance works by acclaimed Malaysian choreographers Amy Len and Suhaili Ahmad Kamil, performed by a group of powerful young Australian dancers. The show also included two contemporary dance works performed by talented Malaysian dancers including Hii Ing Fung, Stephanie Lim, An Nur Azhar, and Bilqis Hijjas, and created by Australian artists who have been in residence at Rimbun Dahan.
8.30pm Friday 22 April, Saturday 23 April 2010
3pm Sunday 24 April 2010
The Actors Studio, Rooftop at Lot 10 Shopping Centre, Jalan Sultan Ismail
Presented by the Dance Programme at Rimbun Dahan
Supported by the Australia Malaysia Institute and the Australian High Commission
Works in the Program
STRINGS is a multidisciplinary work involving Australian visual artist Rochelle Haley, who will be making live drawings in response to the movements of dancers on stage. The dancers themselves will respond to the projection of the drawings as they develop, creating an intricate web of causal connections between the two dimensions of the paper and the three dimensions of the bodies on stage.
SHUTTLING is a dance work choreographed by award-winning Malaysian choreographer Amy Len and performed by the three Australian dancers currently resident at Rimbun Dahan, as well as three of Amy’s dancers from Kwang Tung Dance Company. The work is about the unconscious memories that are aroused when people from different backgrounds meet.
DAZZLE was created by Australian choreographer Angela Goh for three Malaysian dancers — Hii Ing Fung, Stephanie Lim and Jojo Wong, two of whom she worked with when she was first in residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2009. The work explores the idea of camouflage and deception, being seen and not seen, and how hiding the face makes someone inhuman.
WONDERWHATTALAND has been created by hit Malaysian choreographer Suhaili Micheline with the three Malaysian dancers. A crazy trip inspired by Alice in Wonderland, it includes rap songs made of the names of Malaysian food: gulp, slurp, chomp! Pulling out the bizarre in the most everyday things, Wonderwhattaland will be a work that sends the audience out giggling but thinking.
Burmese artist Zaw Win Pe undertook a short residency at Rimbun Dahan from April to June 2010.
“I am inspired by landscape themes, not with the thought of painting particular places, but of expressing elemental moods and emotions. But the paintings never lack the geographical and environmental characteristics of the places I paint. Colour is the key element for me. I believe colour can tell everything about human’s feelings and thoughts.”
Born in 1960 in Le Gaing, Mague Division, Central Myanmar
1981 – 1984 State School of Fine Art
Myanmar exhibitions:
1994 Wintry Winter Group Exhibition, Judson Hall, Yangon
1996 Five Fingers Art Exhibition, New Treasure Gallery, Yangon
1998 Page 98 Group Exhibition, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon
1998 Libra Art Exhibition, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon
1998 All Myanmar Art and Sculpture Exhibition, Yangon
1999 Aesthetic Journey Art Exhibition, Yangon
2000 Nudes by Contemporary Myanmar Artists, Yangon
2000 Artistic Touch Exhibition, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon
2000 “Zaw Win Pe’s Palette Knife Paintings”, Yangon
2001 Stroke in Tempo Exhibition, Yangon
2002 5th Annual Group Show, Myanmar Gallery of Contemporary Art, Yangon
2002 “Exotic Eye” – Solo, Myanmar Gallery of Contemporary Art, Yangon
2003 Page 2003 Exhibition, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon
2004 4th Artistic Touch Group Exhibition, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon
2004 Myanmar Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition of Finalists, Yangon
2008 Myanmar Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition of Finalists, Yangon
Overseas exhibitions:
2004 Myanmar Contemporary Art Award Exhibition of finalists, HK
2004 Two man exhibition with Ba Khine, Singapore
2005 “Searching the Colour with Knife Strokes”, Solo exhibition, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2005 Three man exhibition “Burma Stars”, Hong Kong
2006 “Quiet Wind” Exhibition of five Myanmar artists, San Francisco
2007 “Burma Phoenix” Group show of Myanmar artists, New York
2007 Contemporary Art from Myanmar. Group show of Myanmar artists, Washington, USA
2007 Art from Myanmar. Group show of Myanmar artists, Princeton and New York
2008 “Serenity” Solo Exhibition, Ernst & Young Solution LLp, Singapore
2010 “Christies-30 Artfriends Exhibition, Christies International Art Auction House
Awards and collections
2004 Winner of the Myanmar Contemporary Art Awards
2008 Second prize winner in the Myanmar Contemporary Art Awards 2008
2008 Painting acquired by the Singapore National Art Museum
As the first artist project at Hotel Penaga in Penang, four mosaic artists from around the world spent almost a month in Penang creating a stunning work entitled ‘The Shyness of the Trees’ for the new boutique hotel.
Helen Bodycomb of Castlemaine, Australia, had had a residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2006 and organized this collaborative exercise with two other Australian mosaic artists, Dominic Johns and Glenn Romanis, and George Fishman from Miami Beach, USA. They stayed in the Lebuh Clarke houses for almost a month to create a piece for the verandah at the back of the four terraces on Jalan Transfer.
The fifteen shophouses of Hotel Penaga, in the buffer zone of the Georgetown heritage district, were developed as a luxury boutique hotel which will help to support ongoing activities at Rimbun Dahan. The images below show the development and final work of ‘The Shyness of Trees’, on the back verandah of the four terrace houses on Jalan Transfer.
Norwegian choreographer Kristine Nilsen Oma was in residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2010.
She developed a solo work, Marilyn Monroe’s last 20 minutes before committing suicide, which was performed at Dancing in Place, a weekend of site-specific work at Rimbun Dahan, 7-8 August 2010.
About the Work
Western neuroses meets the Third World. The work is an experiential exploration of the Buddhist concept that earthly desires can lead to enlightenment.
The work is a response to meeting a whole new environment and culture, and a personal quest to understand both my own desires and how to make them come from a higher perspective. In the context of the Third World certain neuroses becomes ridiculous. Yet they were created as a response to the Western world I have lived in all my life. How do I cope in the Third World? How will my neuroses behave? Is there a control in this experiment?
Marilyn Monroe, goddess of the Western world, a legend still worshiped, becomes the symbol and character of what the Western world promotes as success. Yet I suspect her life was not a happy one. I have my own spin on it. I relate to it.
Judy Garland is singing somewhere over the rainbow. Marilyn is nowhere to be seen, only a hijab lying by the side of the pool, and the record playing and playing again and again…
In 2010, Brussels-based choreographer Arco Renz and dancers from Amrita Performing Arts, Cambodia, spent an intensive residency at Rimbun Dahan developing the new work Crack, commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival 2011.
The development concluded with a work-in-progress showing, “Cracking in Progress” at The Actors Studio Theatre @ Lot 10 Rooftop, on 27 March 2010. During the showing, Arco will presented and explaiedn the movement material created so far and the dance tasks he has set for the Cambodian dancers. Arco and the Amrita dancers also discussed and took questions on their work.
Crack is a performance about the developing individuality of a new generation of Cambodians after their civil war – their conflicts, hopes, dreams, and desires. Physically exploring the themes of emergence from isolation towards integration in the complexities of the contemporary world, this performance promises to ascribe and describe through contemporary dance, music and performance the zeitgeist of a new country.
About Arco Renz
A protegee of famed Belgian minimalist dance artist Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Arco Renz’s productions reveal an intense physicality and explore the emotional force of abstraction. In his creations he consistently broadens the principles of Abstract Dramaturgy to light, sound and multimedia interfaces. Kobalt Works is the production organization founded by Arco Renz. Since the establishment of Kobalt Works in 2000, Arco Renz has developed a successful artistic track, creating and touring several performances as well as developing transcultural and multidisciplinary research and exchange programs. He presented ‘heroine’, a solo work by Taiwanese dancer Wen-Chi Su, at the Singapore Arts Festival 2010.
About Amrita Performing Arts
Amrita Performing Arts is an international NGO based in Phnom Penh whose mission is to preserve the spectrum of Cambodia’s traditional performing arts, while nurturing contemporary artistic expression. In 2011 they presented ‘Khmeropedies I & II’ at the Esplanade, Singapore, created by former Baryshnikov dancer Emmanuèle Phuon.
Alice comes from Texas, but lives in Portugal. Sometimes her English is perfect, and sometimes it isn’t. She won a million dollars in a lottery and every day she paints her fingernails red. She might be someone you know, or perhaps you have never heard of her. So does she really exist?
Singaporean choreographer Joavien Ng and Spanish choreographer Paloma Calle are currently undertaking a one-month residency at Rimbun Dahan supported by the Asia-Europe Foundation. During their residency, Joavien and Paloma are collaborating to create a new performance work entitled ‘The Diary of Alice’, intertwining the concepts of fiction and identity.
A 3-hour performance laboratory exploring creative processes associated with the body, objects, space, image and sound will take place on Sunday 14 March, from 12pm to 3pm, at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market Annexe. Artists in all genres are invited to participate, while Paloma and Joavien facilitate a development process involving their new work, ‘The Diary of Alice’.
Each participant should bring a digital camera (a mobile phone with camera is suitable), and an object with special meaning to the participant, either positive or negative. Participants are requested to wear loose comfortable clothes, as some movement will be involved.
A lecture presentation of the artists’ previous works will take place at The Annexe Central Market on Monday 15 March, from 8pm to 10pm, followed by a discussion and Q&A session.
About the Artists
Photo of Joavien Ng by Matthew G. Johnson.
Joavien Ng began her choreographing and performing career in 1997, after graduating from La Salle School of Performing Arts in Singapore. Her works have since been presented by various Singapore and international arts organisations such as Esplanade Theatre (Singapore), Singapore Arts Festival, Kampnagel (Hamburg), Contemporary Dance of Fort Worth (USA), Little Asia Dance Exchange Network (Asia), Alkantara (Portugal), and Singapore Art Museum.
Joavien’s most recent work, Body Swap, in which she collaborated with Germany-based American choreographer Dani Brown, was presented at Kampnagel and Esplanade Theatre in 2009. Other works include LAB at the Esplanade Theatre in 2008 and Body Inquireat Singapore Arts Festival 2008.
Paloma Calle was born in Madrid in 1975. After training and working for more than 10 years as a performer in experimental dance and theatre companies in Spain, Germany and Italy, she began to develop her own projects in performance art, staged performances and video in 2004. Her work is usually based on autobiographical material that she explores and reconstructs from an ironic and artifactual perspective. There is a constant questioning and experimenting with the conventional use of space, resulting in works in different formats conceived for diverse spaces ranging from a theatre to a walk with the audience through the periphery of a city, or a performance in a private house. Paloma also regularly questions the role of the audience in her work, encouraging the audience to enter a state of alertness and activity.
Paloma’s work, presented in a number of centres and festivals in Europe and in Spain, include des-trozos, lovely epi-ladies, parlez moi d’amour, ZOO, simple present, SECRET, territorio: sad y k, DE MANO, 1, 2, 3, 4 partes, EVEREST/príncipes, 100 cosas que hacer la noche en blanco mejor que ver la noche en blanco, concierto y subasta, and hello myself.
This residency is supported by the Asia-Europe Foundation as a follow-up to ASEF’s Point to Pointe dance forum in Portugal last year.
Gecko on My Shoulder
The 16th Rimbun Dahan Residency Exhibition
6th to 20th March 2011 in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan
‘Penang Cloud’, 2010, fabric ink & silk embroidery thread on cotton, 56 x 142 cm.
Acknowledgements: Hijjas Kasturi and Angela Hijjas, my partner Alex, my daughter
Jacqui, my parents Sue and Geoff, Marianne Erikson, and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.
Textile Art with glowing colours, growing in Jessica B Watson’s concepts
“…Into the future I would like to continue working with costume, sculptural textiles and art as a profession. I’d like to continue developing and exploring – methods and paths may change along the way but I’m sure that something shall glow and grow…”
These were the words Jessica wrote ten years ago, concluding the report of her Masters’ Degree in 2000. Her project then was called “Flickers” — a colourful swarm of mushroom-like figures, entering trams and spreading out in Gothenburg City, Sweden, as homage to spring, blowing into the gloomy infrastructure after a long winter. — What is this? Confused people asked. This playful group in Jessica’s designed outfits also took part in the Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival, which led to further engagements in the international field.
Nature seems to influence Jessica wherever she goes in this world: The structure of the squiggly bark of the eucalyptus trees in her native Australia, the bright red mushrooms with white dots in Swedish forests, the vivid yellow lichens of the grey rocks at the Scandinavian coast and here the tropic vegetation of Malaysia. What inspiration do they bring out in an artists’ mind?
Her motifs are, however, not only aesthetic or decorative, they also reveal a concept. That is what makes them soimaginative. They deal with different phases of human relationships. Some phenomena in nature take a long time to grow; sensitive textile art is indeed time-consuming and sincere relationships between people need time to build up. All to be handled with care!
Characteristic for Jessica are bright colours which vibrate through layers of different materials and are accentuated through light and a number of techniques. Embroidered simple lines or sketchy, but dramatic stitches show an expressive movement in her pictures such as the ambulating salesmen with their dangling goods on the beaches of Rio or heavily falling rain where she is now. Motifs are emphasized, being worked in series and different scales. Her three-dimensional forms show connection to wearable art and costume design.
For an observant and aware artist like Jessica the environment of Rimbun Dahan ought to be stimulating. Her residence is in an old traditional Malay house, surrounded by a large garden. The multicultural society, where Muslim arabesques and lattice screens meet ancient Chinese symbols and Indian kolam applications are incorporated in Malaysian daily life. Here the skilled handicraft is the base of a fascinating blend. The blue sky holds changing dragon-clouds, bringing cosmic energy to people on the earth. Look up and you will see!
Jessica’s titles are often subtexts. “Good things happen in threes” is among her recent works. The three fertilefig trees, supported by the screen, are individuals, each carrying an ethnic issue. Delicate embroidered lines, like nerves in a leaf, shape shou — the sign of long life, still beloved by the Chinese. The polychrome segmented leaves are influenced by the colourful Indian kolam floor decorations. The third plant with translucent, fluorescent flowers is like an attractive part of Malaysian songket (weaving with gold or silver thread). It is a piece of beauty, but it also points at some global complications. People from different regions and religions live together and have to face the problems of coping with each other. Hopefully they will grow together, glow side by side, like the art of Jessica. Intentionally she uses a combination of frottage, songket, screen-printing, hand painting and embroidery to achieve a richness more expressive than in a painting. Being open-minded the spiritual fire will be maintained, developed by concentrated work to multifarious flowering.
Marianne Erikson
Textile historian, Head of the Textile collections at the Röhsska
Museum of Arts & Crafts and Design, Gothenburg Sweden
between 1974-1999.
Jessica Watson embroidering ‘Rain Falling on Butterflies’, a work for Art for Nature 2010 ‘SURVIVAL’. Photo by Noor Mahnun Mohamed.
About Jessica Watson
Jessica Watsons’ work is a fusion of 2-dimensional textile art and wearable art. Her interest in the human body, both covering and depicting it, has taken her into the fields of art, costume design and fashion.
Surface, identity and contact are reoccuring themes in her artwork and as a textile artist she subconsciously investigates the boundaries imposed upon textile art from the fine art world. Working predominantly in series, Watson develops and enhances her ideas through repetition and scale.
In 2003 Watson spent three months in the Australian Snowy Mountains where she developed embroidered screenprints based on the squiggly bark eucalyptus for the joint exhibition wouldwork. In 2006 and 2007 she travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, dividing her time between ritzy Ipanema and the Rio slums developing the embroidered series Sketches from Rio based on the salespeople of Rio de Janeiro’s beaches and the traditional ‘plein-air’ sketch.
Her interest in textiles, the human body, clothing and movement has also led her into costume design where she has worked with childrens productions, musicals and provocative political drama/dance with Swedish, African and Iraqi choreografers.
Watson started her visual art studies at Newcastle University in 1995 and in 1996 travelled to Sweden as an exchange student. In 2000 she graduated with a Masters Degree in Textile Art from Gothenburg University, School for Design and Crafts in Sweden (HDK). Since graduating she has been exhibiting in Australia and internationally.
She has been teaching fashion drawing and screenprinting for the past seven years and is represented at the Gothenburg City Arts Council, in private art collections and has received the Swedish Artists Associations (KRO) One Year Artists Working Grant and the Gothenburg City Arts Grant among other grants and prizes for her work.
The patterns, colours and textures of plants inspire me; enlarging these to create compositions I move the identity of the plant into another context. I have previously worked with cold climate plants and am now interested in looking at the tropical plants of Rimbun Dahan and what they reveal. I aim to continue exploring the themes of identity, surface and contact using the garden plants of Rimbun Dahan and Malaysian butterflies as sources of inspiration.
Cover of Jessica’s catalogue for Gecko on My Shoulder, featuring Surviving Paradise (detail), 2010, fabric ink, oil pastel, pencil & cotton embroidery thread on cotton, 60 x 140 cm.
‘Good things happen in threes’, 2010, watercolour & gouache on paper, 21 x 15 cm.
Curriculum Vitae
2000
1998
1996-97
1995-96
Education
Master of Fine Arts and Applied Crafts HDK, Göteborgs Universitet
Bachelor of Textiles, HDK, Göteborg Universitet
Undergraduate Student, HDK, Göteborg Universitet
Undergraduate Student, Newcastle University Australia
Exhibitions
Sketches from Rio, Art in Motion, Frank & Ernest
Sketches from Rio, Galleri mitt i centrum, Gothenburg, Sweden
Sketches from Rio, Galleri Mosebacke, Stockholm, Sweden
Broderia Fantasia, Floras Rike Gallery, Botanical Gardens, Gothenburg
Butterfly Stomach & Hunter, Gothenburg City Library
Hunter, Galleri D Lyx, Malmö, Sweden
wouldwork, Knot Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Watt Space, Newcastle, Australia
Omfång, 25m2 Stockholm, Formargruppen Malmö, Galleri 5 Visby
flickers, Gothenburg, Sweden
Talente, Munich, Germany
Omfång, Galleri Koch, Stenungsund, Sweden
Masters Exhibition, Rohsska Museét, Gothenburg, Sweden
Under det blå tacket, Magnus & Magnus, Gothenburg, Sweden
Centrum, Frölunda Kulturhuset, Frölunda, Sweden
HDK 150 år, Rohsska Muséet, Gothenburg
Karin and Carl Larsson, Nordiska Museét, Stockholm, Sweden
Suecos, Centro Cultural La Santa, Barcelona, Spain
Den Lilla Svarta, Rohsska Muséet, Gothenburg
Grants
Konstnärsnämnden (Swedish Artists’ Committee) One year Artists’ Working Grant
Företagarna (Association for small businesses in Sweden)
Konstnärsnämnden (Swedish Artists’ Committee)
Gothenburg City Arts Grant
Markarna Lindeqvists Scholarship
Estrid Ericsons Scholarship – group
Slöjdskolans Scholarship
Anna Ahrenbergs Scholarship
Goteborg&Co sponsorship
Stiftelsen Erik och Lily Philipsons Minnesfonds’ Scholarship
Theodor och Hanne Mannheimers fund
Slöjdskolans Scholarship
University of Newcastle Student Exchange Scholarship
2008
Represented
Gothenburg City Arts council
2007
2000
1999
1998
1996
Prizes
Golden needle, Täcklebo Embroidery Academy, Sweden, silver needle prize
World Wide Wool, Australia
Near Distance, Lochem, The Netherlands, 2nd prize
Fashion Design Competition, Barcelona, Spain, 1st prize
Hunter Institute of Technology, Mardi Gras Costume Design, 3rd prize
The louvred sculpture by Darwin artist Brian Ash was destroyed in early February by strong winds that broke a branch from one of the Shorea materialis trees near the front fence. Asialink resident artist Brian Ash created this untitled work in 1999 from aluminium and mirror louvres to reflect the vertical nature of the young dipterocarp grove in the southwest corner of the garden. The long tailed macaques had repeatedly damaged the sculpture in the past, presumably because of the mirrors, or perhaps they just thought it a different kind of climbing frame.
S. materialis is an extremely heavy balau timber that used to be fairly common on the east coast of the peninsula from Terengganu to Endau, on low-lying usually sandy soil near the coast or on tidal reaches of rivers. Ten were planted at Rimbun Dahan where the soil is sandy and most have thrived. The tree which is the culprit of this artistic attack will be pruned further to reduce the canopy load, and a creeper will be planted at the foot to reinforce it and counter lightening strike.
For more information about the Shorea at Rimbun Dahan, see the plant list of Dipterocarps. For other outdoor sculptures, see selections from the permanent collection.
The gold-whiskered barbet excavating its hole and spitting out the debris.
The second interlopers: a pair of dollar birds.
The black-thighed falconets who won the day.
Breeding season is coming, and good nesting property is in short supply.
Our sole gold-whiskered barbet (Megalaima chrysopogon) industriously excavated a hole in the dead tree trunk near the main house, which is a favoured perch of all species of birds.
The family of black-thighed falconets (Microhierax fringillarius) then decided to move in, but were chased off by a pair of dollar birds (Eurystomus orientalis). However, the dollar birds found the hole too small for them and they in turn were forced off by the tenacious falconets. What is possibly the male falconet sits at the top of the tree on the lookout, with the female going in and out of the hole, resting in an adjacent tree before entering hole to make sure no one is watching.
Malaysian Artist for the Malaysia-Australia Visual Arts Residency 2010
Exhibition of Ilham Fadhli’s Work
The 16th Rimbun Dahan Residency Exhibition
6th to 20th March 2011 in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan
The cover of Ilham Fadhli’s catalogue for his exhibition at Rimbun Dahan in March 2011, featuring Seasonal Abyss, 2010-2011, oil & collage on canvas, 229cm x 305 cm.
When we look at various artworks, a certain definite chemistry sparks our senses. An artwork (should) never lie. Time spent on its surface, every moment of neglected emotions and
Ilham Fadhli Shaimy in his studio at Rimbun Dahan at work on a mixed-media on paper artwork for his contribution to Art for Nature 2010 ‘SURVIVAL’.
unspoken words turns into images that represent the maker’s sentiments. Again, only interesting artists produce interesting artworks. I find Ilham Fadhli a.k.a. Kojek an interesting person. From his ‘dark realms’ university days back in year 2000 up until now, he is, in my own three words – fascinating, promising and uncertain. These words describe his artworks too.
Some viewers may be interested in his landscapes, while others are more into his cynically narrated paper collages. He seldom sketches. If he did, the drawings were then overlaid with final images on the same canvas. When he starts to paint, I noticed he would almost constantly choose a central dominant image and with this, he keeps the enthusiasm or momentum going by rendering clouds and smokes. The images change so rapidly within just one day that it makes me eager for the final outcome. Small figures against vast landscapes remind one of J.W.M. Turner and Kalkitos (the 1980’s version) game. Kojek would totally immerse himself in the paintings. The artworks are visions of the things that he can never say in words directly. His “apocalypse and the end of the world whilst little people continue to survive” idea is a reflection of what we are today; whatever and however the outcome, we have to make good if not the best.
His current works is similar in concern and stylistically familiar but Kojek has started to insinuate more hope through his selection of images and colours. We can also trace these subtle transitions from the titles and the figures collaged onto his canvases. At first few glances, the viewer often thought that the small figures were painted. This approach with collages blends well with his chosen media. It has become his trademark to merge the smokes from burning buildings or fields with the clouds in the sky. He also develops a habit to watch the clouds while driving from home to Rimbun Dahan and vice versa. His favourite would be the biggest and darkest cumulonimbus against the clear blue sky. Cloud watching has become our pastime and breaks the unspoken silence between husband and wife.
He works every day, at home or at the studio, now or before this residency. Making artworks puts his mind at ease. He is definitely absorbing and benefiting from Rimbun Dahan’s positive atmosphere of fresh oxygen, loyal crew of dogs and his new circle of friends. Kojek’s debut in manipulating oil paint gave him certain pleasures. At first, his oil palette seems more vibrant. However, when the works were completed it looks almost exactly as his acrylics. Talking about such discoveries has become part of our lively discussions and dialogues in the studio at home.
A multi-faceted artist, making little trees or buildings for his (miniature world) dioramas is one of his interests. He also does stop-motion videos. In fact, he co-directed MONOPOL, my instructional video for the Fukuoka Triennale in 2005. Artists have the pleasure of creating and engrossing themselves in their own invented world. Some people may enter this realm, with open arms invitation and some with an extra effort. We can expect a more varied approach from Kojek in the future. Anyway, I saw him first.
Azliza Ayob, Equine Park, 5th January 2011
‘Collapse 2,’ 2010-2011, acrylic & collage on paper, 41cm x 31 cm.
‘Collapse 1,’ 2010-2011, acrylic & collage on paper, 41cm x 31 cm.
‘Dog, Father, One, Two and Tree,’ 2010, oil & collage on linen, 213cm x 213 cm.
‘Kandas,’ 2010-2011, charcoal & collage
on paper, 76cm x 56 cm.
About Ilham Fadhli
Born in Pasir Mas, 1980. Lives and works in Selangor, Malaysia.
Kojek graduated from UiTM Shah Alam with Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts in 2003. After winning the Major Prize for Young Artist Award 2006 and Consolation Prize for Mekar Citra, Merdeka Show, Galeri Shah Alam, Selangor 2007, his paintings and dioramas were exhibited at renown galleries such as Kebun Mimpi, Pace, RA Fine Arts and Galeri Nasional, Jakarta. Most of his works deals with contemporary issues in an absurd/surrealistic setting with collages of delicate figures. He is nominated for five awards at the IMCAS Iskandar Malaysia Show, to be announced soon. He is currently having his first solo show at PACE Gallery in October 2009. He is married to installation artist Azliza Ayob and blessed with 3 children.
Art Exhibitions & Activities
2010
SPICE Show, PACE Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
MATAHATI ArtTriangle, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Anniversary Show, PACE Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Once Upon A Time in Malaysia, SOLARIS Kuala Lumpur
WWF Art For Nature – SURVIVAL, Rimbun Dahan, Selangor
2009
Unfolding, RA Fine Arts, Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Living Room: Art Couple Project, The Annexe Central Market & Jendela KL
IMCAS Iskandar Malaysia Art Exhibition, Danga Mall, Johor Baharu
WWF Art For Nature, Rimbun Dahan, Selangor
2008
Force of Nature, Pace Gallery, KL
Palestine Fund Raising Show, The Annexe, KL & National Library KL
Anniversary Show, Pace Gallery, KL
NIKE Pop Up Space Exhibition, Pavilion, KL (Beijing Olympics)
Rapat Umum Merdeka Show, RA Fine Arts, Ampang, KL
Friction, Two-Man Show, KebunMimpi, Bangsar, KL
Mea Culpa, RA Fine Arts, Ampang, KL
BANGUN, LostGenSpace, Taman Seputeh, KL
2007
Mekar Citra, Merdeka Show, Galeri Shah Alam, Selangor (Consolation Prize)
Jejak, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia
Not That Balai Art Festival (Performance), Annexe, Central Market, KL
SUPERSTAR 00:15, Rimbun Dahan, Selangor
Exhibition of Young Artist, Jeri’s Studio, Bangsar
Bau-Bau Café Opening Exhibition, Annexe, CM, KL
2006
Young Artist Award KLPAC/Gudang/Arts&Earth (Major Prize)
TABIK JERI, Balai Senilukis Negara
Mural Relief PROJEK 49 Merdeka, Balai Senilukis Negara
OPEN SHOW GUDANG
MINIATURE SHOW, GALERI SENI MAYA, KL
KARNIVAL KARNIVOR Group show, GALERI SENI MAYA, KL
POPCULTURE show, GALERI SENI MAYA, KL
Video art director & technical assistant for MONOPOL interactive installation, Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Japan
2004
performance & video art : DIGEST THIS, notthatbalai art festival, Taman Seputeh, KL
Art4All international : artist & art donation, Bangkok, Thailand
video art director & technical assistant for SO, WHY SO SAD? :Footsteps, NAG, KL
set designer : Hari Keputeraan Sultan Pahang, Dewan SUKPA, Kuantan.
mural artist : Sek. Men. Sains Ulu Yam, NAG outreach programme.
interior & logo designer : Treehouse art & craft studio, Sri Hartamas, KL.
Art4All special needs children : volunteer, Arab Women Association & NAG, KL.
facilitator assistant : Gombak district art teacher refresher course, NAG, KL.
set design : PAHANG TOURISM CENTRE.
2002
VOLUME Fine Arts Degree show, UiTM Shah Alam.
technical assistant for RETURN TO INNOCENCE, the young contemporaries, NAG, KL.
2001
IDENTITI, NAG, KL.
crew : SITI DI ALAM FANTASI, Istana Budaya, KL.
ADA LANG ADA SIPUT ADA BAKAU ADA KITA, galeri SENIKA, Pahang
Two students from the second year of the degree program at ASWARA, Malaysia’s national arts university, spent a month as work placement students at Rimbun Dahan as part of the requirements for their course.
Sufinah Abu Bakar and Shafirul Azmi were linked with the dance programme at Rimbun Dahan from 14 Dec to 8 January. During their time at Rimbun Dahan, they worked on several new dance works, including one for a book launch by the Centre of Orang Asli Affairs and another to ring in the New Year.
Gesek-Gosok was performed on New Year’s Eve in and around the reflective pool at Rimbun Dahan. To Indochine-themed music, the group of seven dancers from ASWARA and Balletbase paraded with parasols, lowered themselves into water troughs, and paddled serenely through the waterlilies, to the great delight of the onlookers. Photographs below by Akshay Sateesh.
Sufinah binti Abu Bakar, now 24, was born in Kuala Lumpur and is currently living in Sungai Buloh. A second year student in the Bachelor of Dance program at ASWARA, Sufinah has been trained in classical Malay dance as well as Chinese dance, Bharatanatyam, folk dance, ballet, contemporary and modern. She has worked with local choreographers such as Joseph Gonzales, Umesh Shetty, Zhou Gui Xin, A. Aris A. Kadir, Shafirul Azmi, Choo Tee Kuang, Loke Soke Kim, and Gan Chih Pei. She has danced in various local ASWARA performances including Jamu, Stepping Out, Langkah, traditional Mak Yong theatre, Randai, Bangsawan, the dance drama Huminodun and Asyik. Sufinah has performed in the musicals Puteri Gunung Ledang, Rubiah and Ibu Zain, and has also performed overseas in ASWARA collaborations in Singapore, with RTM in Brunei, Festival Tari Nusantara in Palembang, Indonesia, and the 6th and 8th Asian Art Festivals in Beijing. Sufinah’s television work includes video clips for Hafiz AF7 and Pisau Cukur, commercials for Mummy Slrpp and BOH Tea, and RTM and TV3 programs.
Originally from Sabah, Shafirul Azmi bin Suhaimi began his career in art when he was 18 years old, as a cultural artist for Lembaga Kebudayaan Negeri Sabah (1998) and Badan Kesenian Negeri Kedah (1999). After receiving his diploma in choreography from ASWARA, Shafirul choreographed for Badan Kesenian Negeri Kedah in 2005 and Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya before continuing his studies at ASWARA for his Bachelors. Shafirul in currently a lecturer at ASWARA as well as a dance artist in the local industry. He has been involved in many contemporary performances including Gerak Angin (Sutra Dance Theatre), Jamming The Box (Nyoba Kan and The Actors Studio), Curfew (Five Arts Center), Spring In Kuala Lumpur (Japan Foundation), AWAS (ASWARA) and The Light Show (Annexe Central Market). His musical work includes Ronggeng Rokiah, ANTARA, P. Ramlee, Kasih Menanti and Tun Abdul Razak at Istana Budaya, and TUNKU at KLPac. His own choreographic works are IBN, Let’s Swim, Kabur, Tabung Uji, Niaki, Pipit, Hari+Hari, Escape, Typhoon, Transporter, Shakti, Tapak 4 and Cik Mah. Shafirul is always looking for unusual ideas for traditional-based art works, and favours productions with a collaborative element.
