Author: Angela Hijjas

Hasanul Isyraf Idris

Angela Hijjas Resident Artist, Southeast Asian Arts Residency , , ,
Hasanul Isyraf Idris

Hasanul Isyraf Idris (b. 1978, Malaysia) was trained at Mara University of Technology, UiTM, in Perak. He has received a number of awards, including the Young Contemporary Arts Award in 2007 at the National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, the Incentive Award at the  Open Show held at the Shah Alam Gallery and the Consolation Prize for the Young Talent Art  Exhibition at the Penang Art Gallery. A highly elusive artist, Hasanul shuns attending openings and attempts to work anonymously in the art scene. He produces works in a variety of media, from paintings and meticulously crafted drawings to painted oven-baked clay sculptures. Mining inspiration from within, he articulates his personal struggles as an artist by personifying them as strange characters  that inhabit his invented universes. Influenced by the graphics of underground comic books,  1960s science fiction, fast food, and street art and fashion, he juggles pop-culture references  with a personal viewpoint. Recurring topics in his practice are the meaning of life and death, memories and fantasies and sin and reward.

Hasanul will be at Rimbun Dahan as a resident artist for the month of June 2015, via a collaboration with Richard Koh Fine Art.

Ruth Taylor & Auke de Vries

Angela Hijjas Open Residencies, Resident Artist , , ,
Ruth Taylor & Auke de Vries

Animated Trip

Ruth Taylor and Auke de Vries are professional animators from The Netherlands who both worked in the TV industry for a few years. After working commercially they wanted more time to spend on their personal artwork. So they decided to go on a trip around the world to explore new environments, learn from different cultures, get inspired and create artwork based on these experiences. Malaysia is their second stop of the 7 countries they’re going to visit. In 6 months they will travel from artist residency to artist residency. You can follow them on their journey on Facebook.

Ruth Taylor

Ruth Taylor is both animator and illustrator. She grew up in Rotterdam, where her interest in illustrating grew. After finishing high school she moved to Breda to study at St. Joost Art Academy. While she was studying, she started doing mainly illustration, but after a while she considered that the possibilities of moving images were also very interesting. Animals and nature are a recurring theme in her illustrations and animations. She loves creating detailed illustrations and the painstaking work of animation does not keep her from putting those details in for a few seconds of animation, frame by frame. You can check out her work on her website.

Auke de Vries
Auke de Vries is a filmmaker, animator and motion graphics designer. He graduated from the St. Joost Art Academy and uses a wide variety of animation techniques in his work such as stop motion, mixed media and computer animation. He strips down complex stories to tell their essence in a simple way and puts the real world in perspective by creating his own, usually with a bit of humor. You can check out his work on his website.

Rose Thomas

Angela Hijjas Open Residencies, Resident Artist , ,
Rose Thomas

Rose Thomas, founder and creative director of New Zealand label Nymphets uses costume, textile design and multi medium art in a fresh approach to fashion.

Installation and performance art are central to exhibiting Rose’s work. Under the Nymphets brand, Rose has created a fantasy world allowing her audience a kaleidoscope view into her personal aesthetic and perspective.

Nymphets is a unisex label and Rose wishes to further explore gender politics in fashion while at Rimbun Dahan. A deeper understanding of how clothing affects how a person is perceived and approached in society will allow an increased emphasis on gender fluidity in Rose’s future collections.

After travelling through South East Asia in February and March of this year in search of new and colourful inspiration, Rose will also focus on textile design and developing her fashion photography portfolio during her residency at Rimbun Dahan.

(written by Anna Hanlon)

Rhiannon Rebecca Salisbury

Angela Hijjas Open Residencies, Resident Artist , ,
Rhiannon Rebecca Salisbury

Rhiannon Rebecca Salisbury is an emerging artist from London. Since the inception of her career her work has been exhibited across Europe and the US (London, Rome, New York, Los Angeles). The Artist was awarded The Rome Art Program Scholarship, The Art Academy Mixed Media Prize, and won The “Picture the Heath” painting prize.

The artist’s work recalls Alan Moore’s assertions that; “The one place gods and demons inarguably exist is in the human mind where they are real in all their grandeur and monstrosity. Much of magic as I understand it in the Western Occult tradition is the search for the self with a capital S. This is being understood as being the great work the gold that alchemist sort.”

I have a formal approach to painting that is guided by aesthetic intuition. For me painting is an enabling medium that opens up a liminal space to access memories from the subconscious.

My influences range from the Surrealists concerns with the unconscious, through to contemporary practices concerned with memory and magic. My practise is one of recall and expulsion, it is a process of storytelling and self mythologising.

In order to produce an image the first thing I do is recall an experience. I focus on the emotions that my memory of the experience evokes and try to intensify them. Once I have brought the experiential feelings to the forefront of my mind, I begin the technique of visualisation. Many things rush through my minds eye, I allow these to settle and try to consolidate the whirling forms, colours and flash backs into a single image that will embody them.

Rhiannon will be in Rimbun Dahan from the start of April to the start of May 2015. Find more of her work on her website and blog. She is also on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Tran Dan

Angela Hijjas Resident Artist, Southeast Asian Arts Residency , , ,
Tran Dan

Tran Dan studied architecture in university, but his artistic career is built on self-taught painting and sculpture. His primal medium is lacquer, which is widely represented and used in Vietnamese traditional and modern arts. Tran is keen to further develop its form and use in art: lacquer with/as mix-material paintings/sculptures or (video) installations. He has made full use of Rimbun Dahan’s gardens and surroundings for materials to make into lacquers and paints. His collaborations with foreign cultural institutions in Vietnam, such as British Council, Embassy of Denmark, L’espace French Cultural Centre, and The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange have resulted in experimental videos and performances about human consciousness, dreams, Vietnamese culture, and food. Tran has also opened an independent art space in Hanoi where he organizes and directs programs for local and international artists. His recent lacquer paintings are inspired by the relationship between humans and animals, and by the power of humans and nature. Tran’s work explores the dreamlike rhythm of life, stories that are repeated every night; this also speaks to existentialism, a theme he consistently returns to.

For more information on Tran Dan and his work, visit his blog or his Facebook page.

Nina Rupena

Angela Hijjas Hotel Penaga, Resident Artist , ,
Nina Rupena

Nina Rupena is a Bosnian born project-based artist currently located in Melbourne. She works across mediums and practices using both visual art and design as tools for communicating ideas. Painting and drawing are her passion and she has a great interest in collaborative work. Since 2008, Nina worked on numerous collaborative projects with artists, designers, filmmakers, organisations and communities.

We wrap ourselves in cotton wool and try to iron, bleach and polish our emotions. We constantly try to predict the future and ignore the uncertain and fleeting nature of our existence. But isn’t the intensity of human experience what makes that very existence beautiful? Pain is intrinsic to the human experience. Without it something of our humanity, dignity and beauty of human life is trivialized. Life without experiencing pain breeds complacency, ignorance and passivity. Beauty is all around us I look for it in human experiences such as disability, old age, displacement and tragedy.

Nina is currently in residency at Hotel Penaga in Penang from February to April 2015. While in Penang, she started a project FACE IT:

“What do you wish you had known when you were younger? For the duration of my art residency I posed this question to the guests and staff at Hotel Penaga, trishaw drivers, backpackers, food vendors, people I met on the streets and bars. Then I drew their portraits, often on the spot or later from a photo. FACE IT is an ongoing project. The aim is to create a meaningful interaction and a space where people let their guards down and show their vulnerabilities.

Portraits and answers are uploaded daily at http://ninarupena.com.au/faceit/ or follow on Facebook and Instagram. You can find out more about her and her work at her website.