Resident Artist

Samsudin Abdul Wahab

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Samsudin Abdul Wahab

DL-1029-014

Samsudin was the Malaysian resident artist for the year-long Malaysia-Australia Visual Artist Residency in 2009. His joint exhibition with Australian artists Rochelle Haley and Monika Behrens was presented in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan from 28 February to 14 March 2010.

Bio

Education
2005 –  2007 : Bachelor (Hons.) Fine Arts, Majoring in Print Making, UiTM Shah Alam.
2002 – 2005 : Diploma in Fine Arts, UiTM Seri Iskandar, Perak.

Solo Exhibition 
2008 Enough!, Taksu Gallery, Keramat, Kuala Lumpur

Selected Group Exhibitions 

2009

  • Locals Only! Taksu Gallery, Keramat, Kuala Lumpur
  • MEA Art Award 2009, Sokagakai Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
  • Peace, An International Art Exhibition, Niko Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
  • Imcas, Malaysian Contemporary Art Exhibition, Danga Mall, Johor Bahru
  • Tanah Air , Art for Nature, Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Selangor
  • Fab 4, Taksu Gallery, Keramat, Kuala Lumpur
  • B.A.C.A, RA Fine Art Gallery, Ampangt, Kuala Lumpur
  • ART Singapore, The Contemporary Asian Art Show 2009, Santec City, Singapore

2008

  • The 70th Mokwoohoe Members Exhibition and combined with the Malaysian Figurative Artist, Korea.
  • SPACE, Emerging Young Artist, Taksu Gallery, Keramat, Kuala Lumpur
  • Peninsula & Island, Taksu Gallery, Singapore
  • Young and New, House Of Matahati Gallery, HOM, Kuala Lumpur
  • Di Dinding, PTL, Pelita Hati Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
  • Shifting Boundaries, Art for Nature, WWF Malaysia, Rimbun Dahan Gallery, Selangor
  • Peninsula & Island, Taksu Gallery, Keramat, Kuala Lumpur
  • ART Singapore, The Contemporary Asian Art Show, Santec City, Singapore
  • Exhibition X, Taksu Gallery, Keramat, Kuala Lumpur

2007

  • Print-Print, Kebun Mimpi Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
  • Mana Batik, Annext Central Market, Kuala Lumpur
  • Flora Fest Art Exhibition, Putrajaya Conference Hall, Putrajaya, Kuala lumpur
  • Mekar Citra, Shah Alam Gallery, Selanggor
  • Global Logistic Art Exhibition, Gothe Inst. KL City Library, Kuala Lumpur
  • Pack Max Art Award Exhibition, Gurney Plaza, Penang
  • Salon Meet Art, Gothe Inst. Elle Six Gallery Kuala Lumpur
  • Weird Art Exhibition, Rantai Art Evnt. Kuala Lumpur Chinese Hall, Kuala Lumpur
  • Degree Show, Segitiga, Tunku Nur Zahirah Gallery, Shah Alam, Selangor
  • The Tanjong Heritage 2005 Art competition organized by Tanjong Public Ltd. Co., Maxis Tower, Kuala Lumpur,
  • My Wildest Dream Logistic Competition, Gothe Inst. Kl City Libry, Kuala Lumpur
  • Word Aids Day ( Pepaktaklumat Art Group ), S.U.K Shah Alam, Selangor

2006

  • Open Show Shah Alam Gallery, Shah Alam, Selangor
  • Open Exhibition, Sri Pinang Gallery, Penang

2005

  • The Tanjong Heritage 2005 Art competition organized by Tanjong Public Ltd. Co. -consolation prize, Watercolour, at Saloma Teathere, Kuala Lumpur

2004

  • Metal Sculpture exhibition show – Foyer FSSR UiTM Perak, Seri Iskandar, Perak
  • USM Penang public sculpture exhibition, USM Galllery, Penang

2003

  • Open exhibition , Shah Alam Gallery Selangor
  • `Estetika Perak` exhibition – Perak Art Gallery, Perakk
  • Digital Artworks Exhibition – Foyer FSSR UiTM Perak.

Activities

  • Art Performance, SOsound, “Boneka”, Friction Show, Kebun Mimpi Gallery, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur 2008
  • Art Performance, SOsound, “Aku Adalah CCTV”, Prologue, Threesixty Art Development Studio, Desa Park City 2008
  • Art Performance, SOsound , “CCTV : Episode 1”, Telu Tau, Lookiss Gallery, Manjalara, Kuala Lumpur 2008
  • Art Performance, Pepaktaklumat, “ Mirror Mirror”, Bukak Mata, Ruang Kala Gallery, Shah Alam Selangor 2007
  • Art Performance, SOsound, “Destroy”, Pati Satu Gallery, Puncak Alam Selangor 2007
  • Caricature Demonstration, ‘Sehari Di Sini’ event, organized by the Graphic & Digital Media Department, UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor 2006
  • Printmaking Demonstration, Opening of Badan BALKIS, Shah Alam, Selangor 2006
  • Printmaking Demonstration, LACRAFT, Langkawi Art and Craft Festival, Langkawi, Kedah ( Art and Design Crew )2005
  • Printmaking demonstration, `Hari Bertemu Pelanggan`, Art & Design Faculty, Dewan Seri Budiman, UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor 2005
  • Art & Design Faculty’s stall, demonstration crew, Laman Bistari, UiTM Perak, Seri Iskandar, Perak 2004
  • Drawing demonstration, Art & Design Faculty, Foyer FSSR UiTM Perak, Seri Iskandar, Perak 2004

Awards and Achievements

Winner, Malaysian Emerging Artist ( MEA) Art Award 2009
Rimbun Dahan 15th Residency Programs, April 2009
House Of Matahati HOM Residency Programs, April- June 2008
2nd prize, Saloon Meet Art, Gothe Inst. Elle Six Gallery, Kuala Lumpur 2007
Finalist Pack Max Art Award, Gurney Plaza, Penang 2007
Consolation Prize The Tanjong Heritage 2005 Art competition organized by Tanjong Public Ltd. Co. Mixed Media 2007
2nd and 3rd prize, My Wildest Dream Global Transportation, Global Logistic Art Exhibition, Gothe Inst. KL City Library, Kuala Lumpur 2007
Consolation Prize The Tanjong Heritage 2005 Art competition organized by Tanjong Public Ltd. Co. Watercolor 2005

Monika Behrens

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Monika Behrens
'Grafted Soil', 2009. Oil on linen. 150 x 100 cm.
‘Grafted Soil’, 2009. Oil on linen. 150 x 100 cm.

Monika Behrens was one of the Australian resident artist for the year-long Malaysia-Australia Visual Artist Residency in 2009. Her joint exhibition with Australian artist Rochelle Haley and Malaysian artist Shamsudin Wahab was presented in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan from 28 February to 14 March 2010.

The exhibition included the ancillary event, ‘High Tea at the Pleasure Garden’, a discussion moderated by the managing editors of online arts writing platform ARTERI (Eva McGovern, Simon Soon & Sharon Chin) based on the site-specific installation Pleasure Garden by Monika Behrens and Rochelle Haley in the newly constructed Penang House at Rimbun Dahan.

 

 

Bio

monicaOver the past five years Monika Behrens’ career has developed rapidly.  In 2005 she was selected by Felicity Fenner to be included in the prestigious annual Primavera exhibition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.  Since then Behrens has shown in a number of prominent group exhibitions such as the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW, Girl Band at Deloittes, EEA21 at the Museum of Modern Art in Saitama Japan, the ABN AMRO Emerging Art Award and theHelen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship at Artspace, Sydney. In 2007 Behrens completed a Masters of Fine Art at the College of Fine Art, UNSW and exhibited the outcome, Silent Bang, at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney.  In 2007 Behrens travelled to Europe on an Australian Council ‘New Work’ Grant to research the historical and contemporary political art in Amsterdam, Madrid and Venice. The research focused in particular on the historical war paintings located in the National Gallery of London and resulted in two bodies of work based on the Australian History Wars exhibited at Gallerysmith in Melbourne and Firstdraft Gallery in Sydney. In 2008 Behrens undertook a year long studio residency at the National Art School resulting in a show at the NAS gallery. Behrens currently is represented by Breenspace in Sydney (www.breenspace.com) and Gallerysmith in Melbourne (www.gallerysmith.com.au).

Under the guise of still life oil paintings comprised of playful, nostalgic and seductive objects Behrens works subversively with serious and insidious ideas. Her work is based broadly on themes of loss, violence, deceit, power plays within society and the subsequent impact on the vulnerable. Behrens’ early works were provoked by her perceived manipulation of mainstream thought by the media and how this influence gives rise to fear and in turn invokes oppression.  These particular works focus on current worldwide events that often involve violence with the opinion that violence is both a barbaric way to deal with conflict and a senseless form of self-expression.  More recently Behrens’ practice has developed into well considered studies which are historically informed and concentrate on her own cultural context, including political, social, and environmental perspectives.  While on residence at Rimbun Dahan, Behrens aims to focus on contemporary political issues within Malaysia.  Local organic materials and Malaysian toys will be employed to create works that contrast perpetrators with victims, violence with peace and destruction with sustenance.

Mike Ladd

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In 2009, Australian poet Mike Ladd spent some time at Rimbun Dahan working on four-lined poems inspired by the Malaysian pantun form, as well as writing a prose fiction work about corruption and the world trade in orangutans as pets.

In July 2010 Mike Ladd launched “The Eye of the Day”, a film poem he made during his residency at Rimbun Dahan, at the Lit Up Festival in Singapore. The film features Rumah Uda Manap, the restored Perak kampung house at Rimbun Dahan. Former resident artist Tony Twigg exhibited the film at his Slot Gallery in Sydney.

In September 2010, “The Eye of the Day” won equal first prize for the best new media poem at the Overload Poetry Festival in Melbourne.

mike

Bio

Mike Ladd is currently producer and presenter of ABC Radio National’s poetry program PoeticaThis link will open in a new window..

Born in 1959, he grew up at Blackwood in the Adelaide Hills. After completing a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy at Adelaide University, he began to publish his poetry widely in Australia. He has often collaborated with musicians, including the groups The Drum Poets and newaural net. Mike has published 6 books of poetry. The latest, Transit, was published by Five Islands Press in 2007.

In 2006 he was awarded the Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship at the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature and was a guest of Venezuela’s World Poetry Festival.

Works in Progress

Here are some of the “Pantun Rimbun Dahan” in progress during Mike’s residency:

 

I start the great four-bladed ceiling fan.
Seconds later, a gecko drops to the floor,
stunned. Yes, the world’s like that.
We all hang on as long as we can.

*

From the estate’s wall grey macaques leap
into the laden mango tree.
From your side of the bed, you told me to sleep,
but the night’s so warm, and I want something juicy.

*

Oil palms, oil palms, oil palms, oil palms.
Freeways, freeways, freeways, freeways.
Oil palms, oil palms, oil palms, oil palms.
Smoke-haze, smoke-haze, smoke-haze, smoke-haze.

*

In the warm evening, smoke drifts from the end
of a sweet and unhurried clove cigarette.
Your mind has thinned, then gone, old friend.
But the sense you made, I won’t forget.

*

That cicada sounds like a dentist,
drilling all day into my eye-tooth nerve.
Shrilling on and on about Time,
everything you love,  but can’t preserve.

*

Out of the sky of luminous black
rain falls joyfully. You and I
who lived so long alone together
now walk again under one umbrella.

Lynyrd Arwyn Paras

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Lynyrd Arwyn Paras

lynyrd

Painter Lynyrd Arwyn Paras from the Philippines stayed for a short residency at Rimbun Dahan from January until the end of March 2009.

Lynyrd Arwyn Villanueva Paras (b. 1982), graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Technological University of the Philippines. Since then his work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the Philippines and Malaysia. A finalist of the Philip Morris Philippine Art awards, Lynyrd also took second place in the Metrobank Art & Design Excellence competition in 2007, and received the grand prize in the First GSES Museum National Painting Competition in 2004. This is Lynyrd’s second arts residency, following a six-month stint at the Blanc Compound in Mandaluyong City at the end of 2008.

Lynyrd will return to Kuala Lumpur to take up the TARP (Taksu Artist Residency Program) in preparation for his fourth solo exhibition, at Taksu Gallery in September 2009.

Eve Lambert

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One of Eve Lambert's costume designs, created from a parachute.
One of Eve Lambert’s costume designs, created from a parachute.

Thanks to the support of Scottish Arts Council, costume designer Eve Lambert spent three weeks at Rimbun Dahan in October 2008, working with resident choreographer Lina Limosani, designing and creating costumes for Lina’s contemporary dance work A Delicate Situation .

Eve Lambert first trained in fashion design at College Marie-Victorin, Montreal. During the course of her studies, Eve was selected for the final of a fashion contest in Paris, to participate in a design seminar in Copenhagen and was granted an award for best student of the Fashion Design Program in both her 2nd and 3rd years. Following this, she was awarded a scholarship from the Fashion Foundation of Montreal to study Performance Costume at the Edinburgh College of Art. Whilst studying, Eve undertook various work experience opportunities in order to gain experience in costume design and construction for theatre, film, television, dance and puppetry, in both Montreal and Edinburgh.

In 2007, Eve was invited to present her degree work at the West Kilbride Gallery, Scotland. Since then, her professional practice has included designing costume for X-Factor Dance Company (Edinburgh) on various productions such as ‘Ragnarok’ (2007), ‘Person or Persons Unknown’ (short film, 2007), ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ (site specific, 2008) and ‘Unspoken’ (2008). Other experiences include collaborating with puppet theatre company The Pupper Lab (Edinburgh), on ‘EH3’ (2006), ‘The Big Shop-Inverness’ (2007) and ‘The Gift’ (2008). Her most recent work includes designing costumes for ‘The Red Room’ by David Hughes Dance and Al Seed (Traverse Theatre, 2008). See attached for samples of Eve’s work.

Oceu Apristawijaya

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Oceu Apristawijaya

In 2008, Indonesian visual artist Oceu Apristawijaya undertook a three-month residency at Rimbun Dahan, accompanied by his wife Fadilla, who was volunteering at the international development organisation Third World Network.

In February 2012, returned to Malaysia and completed a mural at Hotel Penaga, created during his arts residency in George Town, Penang, under Rimbun Dahan and Hotel Penaga’s cultural program.

Under Protection presents treasures that need to be protected. “Our environment changes, as our culture does,” says the artist, “In this art work, both of them are in one unity that cannot be separated. Our culture gives us knowledge as our environment gives us life. By giving them space and time, we will always have reflection.”

The enormous mural stretches along an outside wall of Hotel Penaga beside a laneway between Lebuh Transfer and Lebuh Clarke, and is freely visible to the general public.

Bio

Oceu Apristawijaya started working in fine arts when he entered the Fine Arts Faculty of the Jakarta Institute, and was a member of Garajas Studio in Jakarta from 1993 to 1995. In 2002 he received a Bachelor degree in Fine Art with a focus on painting from Jakarta National University. He also studied graphic arts at SUDARFAST-Kraan Graphic Studio in Pondok Gede.

Oceu also volunteers for the non-profit organisation Sokola as an alternative education teacher for marginalized communities. He has taught literacy and alternative art methods for indigenous communities in Jambi and Bulukumba and for poor fishing villages in Flores and Makassar.

Oceu’s works centre around the theme of nature, and man’s relationships with it. He is hoping that his stay at Rimbun Dahan will help him develop the natural mood of his work and explore the diversity of nature, whether in Indonesia or in Malaysia.

Al Seed

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Al Seed

From 16 to 21 September 2008, British physical theatre artist Al Seed conducted an intensive workshop for actors and dancers interested in exploring physical theatre.

Al Seed giving feedback during the workshop.
Al Seed giving feedback during the workshop.

Al Seed is the Artist in Residence at The Byre Theatre, St. Andrews, and a Creative Associate of The Arches, Glasgow. He also works as a free-lance performer, writer and director and hosts master-classes in a range of disciplines.

Al received an M.A. in Theatre, Film & Television from the University of Glasgow before studying Physical Theatre and Contemporary Circus Skills at Circomedia, Bristol. He now creates both solo and collaborative works of theatre drawing on a variety of physical disciplines including clown, buffoon and mask-work and often combines the use of these disciplines ith original text.

Al is an award-winning artist who performances have toured in Europe, and he also has acted extensively for film and television. For more information, see his website http://www.alseed.net/.

Physical Theatre Workshop with Al Seed & Lina Limosani

From 16 to 21 September, British physical theatre artist Al Seed conducted an intensive workshop for actors and dancers interested in exploring physical theatre.

Al was invited to Rimbun Dahan by Australian resident choreographer Lina Limosani, to help her lay the foundations for her new contemporary dancework to be performed in Malaysia in December 2008. A number of the workshop participants will perform in the work.

Eight participants — Low Shee Hoe, Grace Ng, David Lim, Elaine Pedley, Suhaili Micheline bt Ahmad Kamil, Shirley Ng, Mcebisi Bhayi, Lee Hui Ling and Teresa Chian — spent long hours in the Dance Studio at Rimbun Dahan with Al and Lina working with masks and costumes, concentrating on rhythmic isolations, developing movements for inhuman creature characters, and being introduced to the painful and confronting truths of clown work.

 

Above: First day, taking creature work out into the garden. The task: reacting to every sound.

Below: The last day, creature work with self-made costumes in the dance studio, exploring what a costume wants to do.

Mcebisi Bhayi

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Mcebisi Bhayi

South African dancer-choreographer Mcebisi Bhayi first came to Rimbun Dahan on a residency with Singaporean choreographer Joey Chua. He returned to Malaysia for a short residency in September 2008, during which time he taught a workshop in Afro-contemporary dance to members of the local dance community.

Bio

McebisiBhayi was one of the three finalists of the Shell Road to Fame Talent Search in Johannesburg in 1995. In 1999 he participated in the Community Dance Teachers Training Programme at Moving Into Dance. Bhayi was a nominee for Most Promising Male Dancer in Contemporary Style at the FNB Dance Umbrella in Johannesburg in 2001. In 2002, Bhayi won the Peak of the Stepping Stones Award. He attended the FNB Dance Umbrella Young Choreographers’ Residency in 2007 and 2008. His works ‘Free Us Now’ and ‘Muntu’ were featured in FNB Dance Umbrella in 2007. He recently attended the Young Choreographers’ Residency in Senegal in March-June 2008. He performed in Gregory Maqoma’s ‘Skeleton Dry’ at FNB Dance Umbrella in 2008.

Workshop

20 excited dancers filled the dance studio at Rimbun Dahan, to take part in Mcebisi’s Afro-contemporary dance workshop. It was an exhausting high-energy romp of furiously contracting rib-cages, cat-like leaps, and endless sequences. Mcebisi’s constant cheery exhortations — “Keep on pouncing!” — and fantastic accompaniment on the drums by Rimbun Dahan resident artist Justin Lim made it an experience to remember. Afro-Contemporary dance combines the spirit and technique of African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian and Contemporary dance styles. It is a grounded, rhythmic dance form with movements originating from the pelvis and core.

Photos below by Foo Chiwei.

Nicholas Wong

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Nicholas Wong

nicholasWong Yoke Hin Nicholas took up a one-month residency at Rimbun Dahan in August 2008. He read some of his poetry in an informal presentation in the Underground Gallery on 25 August 2008. During his residency, he worked on pieces about Malaysian flora and fauna, as part of his first poetry collection.

Bio

Nicholas Wong was born in Selangor, Malaysia. He was a recipient of the 2008 Academy of American Poets Award while at Columbia University, where he will soon commence his second year in Comparative Literature and Society. He has also received the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2006 and the Singapore Young Dramatists Award for playwriting, among other awards.

His publication credits include The Rialto, Softblow, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Tablet and he has been featured in several local newspapers and magazines. He has read his poetry at Dram Projects, Seksan Gallery, National University of Singapore, MPH Bangsar Village and No Black Tie. He was also one of the judges for “50 Years, 50 Heroes: Young Malaysians You Need to Know” essay writing competition, and was part of the editorial team for Inkyhands, an e-zine to promote new Malaysian writing. He was proud to host Preeta Samarasan for her reading of her debut novel Evening is the Whole Day at Barnes & Noble, Columbia University. Besides writing, he loves playing the piano and harpsichord, and is currently learning how to cook.