Painter

Banny Jayanata

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Banny Jayanata

Indonesian visual artist Banny Jayanata spent a month in residence at Rimbun Dahan in April 2025, culminating with a solo show “The Garden Bites Back” at The Back Room gallery in Kuala Lumpur in May 2025.

About the Artist

Banny Jayanata (b. 1983, Surabaya, Indonesia; lives and works in Sidoarjo, Indonesia) received his Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Communication and Design from the Petra Christian University, Surabaya, Indonesia, in 2007 and his Master’s Degree in Visual Arts from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, in 2014.

Jayanata’s paintings explore the existential human condition, enclosing distorted characters in a melancholic tableau of impasto brushstrokes. This interest in the weight of life’s transience is translated primarily through movement in what he describes as a “living image”; his subjects are often caught in moments of profound inner turmoil or meet in violent collisions with other bodies. Jayanata’s overarching interest in the interplay between beauty and decay simultaneously infuses his painting with a sense of inevitable decay, where beauty is juxtaposed with the harsh reality of its fragility. In this decay, Jayanata finds deeper meaning, reaching for beauty as a kind of redemption and purpose in the face of life’s inevitable transience. In his paintings, Jayanata captures the essence of what it means to be human—fragile, beautiful, and inexorably bound to the passage of time.

Jayanata has participated in a number of exhibitions throughout his artistic career. His solo exhibitions are Black and Blue Mood at Museum dan Tanah Liat, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2018) and LUKA at Independent Art Management, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2014). Selected group exhibitions include Onsen Confidential: The Final at Mujin-to Production, Tokyo, Japan (2024), Basel Social Club in Basel, Switzerland (2023); murmur at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2023); Identitas yang Hidup at Museum dan Tanah Liat, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2021); Merayakan Optimisme, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2019); Virtual Territories at Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2013); Works on Paper #2 at Aswara Heritage Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2013); and DEKA – EXI(S) at Biennale Jogja at Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2013).

About the Residency

Issues of anthropocene with its contradictions is my main concern, reminding me the importance of coexistence living between nature and human.  Being aware of the complexity of environmental issues, the artist’s works may only give suggestions. I too am not giving any solutions on the issue. 

During my residency in Rimbun Dahan I’d rather feel gratitude towards the opportunity I have to explore such a beautiful and natural place, yet which has so many challenging moments, like thunderstorms. Also there are moments of nice warming sunrises or beautiful sunsets near the pond, and birdsong in the mornings. I follow the rhythms of living which is very similar with nature’s dynamics.

The experience of living both in a natural environment and an urban city like Kuala Lumpur gave me rich nuances and inspiration to make some works. For example, a work titled ‘branches and concrete’, the last work I made in this residency, is an attempt to depict the antagonistic impression in the relationship between urban and natural life. 

About the Exhibition

From 16 May to 1 June 2025, the works Banny Jayanata made at Rimbun Dahan are on display in a solo exhibition at The Back Room, Zhongshan Building, Kuala Lumpur. Go to The Back Room website for more information about the exhibition, and to read the exhibition essay by Ong Kar Jin.

Tan Choon Ting

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Tan Choon Ting

Malaysian painter Tan Choon Ting undertook a 3-month residency at Rimbun Dahan from March to May 2025.

About the Artist

Tan Choon Ting was born in Johor Bahru, Malaysia in 1992. Graduated from the Fine Arts Department of National Changhua Normal University in Taiwan in 2019. In recent years, he has been focusing on painting as his main creation. In his creation, he is interested in accident, expressiveness of painting and microcosm.

https://www.instagram.com/tanchoonting

About the Residency

At Rimbun Dahan, I created works about nightscapes, portraits, plants, and passive imagination.

What impacted me the most when I first arrived here was the nightscape. I enjoy gazing into the night—it feels mysterious, and at the same time, there’s a strange pleasure in being conquered by it. I tried to find a subjective color that could represent this feeling within the night.

Portraits and plants always seem to “appear” together. My understanding of the plants didn’t come from actively studying them, but rather through the words of speakers during the guided tours here—those moments of “Ah, so that’s what it is.” This way of encountering things is a kind of escape I long for, a way to receive what we often call inspiration.

As for passive imagination—one day, on my way out to buy groceries, I saw some common roadside plants, and suddenly felt a sense of rediscovery. Perhaps this feeling came from the contrast with having stayed in the jungle of Rimbun Dahan for some time. It refreshed and reversed my perception, creating an alternating relationship between subject and object. At one moment, the inside becomes the outside; at another, the outside turns into the inside—pointing freely in either direction.

Pare Patcharapa Inchang

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Pare Patcharapa Inchang

Thai visual artist Pare Patcharapa Inchang was in residence at Rimbun Dahan for one month in April 2025.

About the Artist

Pare Patcharapa Inchang (b. 1984) is an artist based in Thailand. She began painting in her mid-thirties. Her painting work primarily focuses on themes of emotions through poetics, memories within individuals or communities, and the interaction of social issues and political conditions, reflecting personal experiences.

Pare holds a BA from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. Her works have been exhibited across Thailand. Her photo book Touch Me is published by 89books, Italy (2022). She was a fellow at apexart in New York in 2024.

www.parepatcharapa.com
https://www.instagram.com/parepatcharapa

About the Residency

Whisper from the Ground : Soundscape Between Soil and Sun

Time is the creator of what we are and what we desire to become. We live in the moment, whether because it has not yet happened or because it has already passed.

Music is an art that conveys sensations in another form, is the aesthetic of time without consuming space.

The process of this project started with exploring the area around Rimbun Dahan, examining the traces of living beings. It presents stories of the passage of time that moves through the story of life, labor for whom the completeness of plant species is never ending, in the form of paintings to represent the feeling of being enveloped by movement of colors in raw linen, as well as sound recordings of insects and wind to create a music about space between the creator and the sun, reflecting the state of something that resembles reality.

All painting and music experiments emerge at the atmospheric crux between present and past, conjuring the liveness of place where I was.

Screenshot
Screenshot

M. Sahzy

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M. Sahzy

Malaysia sculpture artist M. Sahzy was in residence at Rimbun Dahan for one month in March 2025.

About the Artist

Born in 1996, M. Sahzy, an artist and sculptor residing in Kuching, Sarawak, draws inspiration from the lush jungle surroundings, crafting surreal sculptures from organic materials found within.

Each artwork is a testament to his deep connection with nature, reflecting the intricate interplay between materials, environment, and his boundless imagination. Spending weeks or even months on each piece, Sahzy infuses his sculptures with personal narratives and experiences, creating a captivating visual journey for the viewer. In addition to natural elements, Sahzy seamlessly incorporates discarded man-made objects, further enriching the storytelling aspect of his creations.

Through his artworks, Sahzy invites people to think about change, strength, and the cycles of life. He also highlights his deep interest in forgotten objects and the spaces they inhabit.

About the Residency

During my one-month art residency at Rimbun Dahan, I embraced the challenge of creating an installation and sculptures that carried a familiar narrative—but using entirely new materials and spaces, far from my usual resources in Sarawak.

The lush forest of Rimbun Dahan became both my muse and my source of materials. I collected discarded objects scattered throughout the woodland, transforming forgotten fragments into something meaningful. With my studio nestled so close to the forest, I was able to fully immerse myself in the creative process.

Each day, the symphony of rustling leaves, the earthy scent of damp soil, the presence of monkeys, birds, and frogs, and the textures of bark and trees guided my hands.

What began as an experiment in adaptation became a month-long dialogue between nature and creation.

Now, Gerbang Alam / Portals stands complete—a testament to the beauty of reinvention and the quiet whispers of the forest that shaped it.

The Otters sculpture, crafted from driftwood and ironwood, will find its place by the lake at Rimbun Dahan—a fitting home for its spirit.

Shia Yih Yiing

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Shia Yih Yiing

Malaysian visual artist Shia Yih Yiing is undertaking a short self-funded residency at Rimbun Dahan in December 2020.

About the Artist

Throughout her thirty-year career as an artist, Shia Yih Yiing has been portraying the world around her through vivid visual stories, imaginative characters (portraits of family members and friends) juxtaposed with the subjects that inspire her. Her work delves into themes of femininity, motherhood, and is often imbued with a sense of playfulness and metaphor.

Hailing from Kuching, Sarawak, Shia Yih Yiing studied at the Malaysian Institute of Art and holds a Masters in Fine Art from the University of Western Sydney.

About the Residency

During her residency, Yih Yiing is working on a visual study of native trees and the making of forest through fieldwork with Rimbun Dahan’s chief and assistant gardeners. She then hopes to undertake a creative research field trip into Penan villages in Sarawak’s vanishing rainforests in Ulu Baram.

This is part of an ecologically-concerned community art project for “Planting Dreams, in Search of a Good Gardener” project, supported by CENDANA’s Visual Arts Inspire program.

Molly Murphy

Bilqis Hijjas Open Residencies, Resident Artist , ,
Molly Murphy

Molly Murphy is a visual artist from Lawrence Kansas. Her current work deals with cycles of life and death as they exist in the interconnected systems between humans and the natural world. Shared Biology is an ongoing series of abstract landscapes intertwining lush plant life and waterways with lines of human interventions.

This series was born of my own anxieties about adherence to prescribed social systems and anthropogenic existence. With suggestions of artificially drawn boundaries obscured within tangled and overlapping patterns, the line between existence and memory is blurred. Thee works push an uncomfortable beauty and vibrancy, while considering our very short time in this place and what we will leave behind.

Molly will be our Open Residency artist for August 2019. While at Rimbun Dahan, she will be working in the studio with her three year old daughter, and will continue her series titled “Shared Biology.” During her residency, she will be focusing on water media and cut paper rather than oil paintings she is more noted for.

Visit her website for more information about the artist and her works.

Manuela Hincapie Vidal

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Manuela Hincapie Vidal

 

Manuela Hincapie Vidal is our Open Residency artist from Kentucky, USA. She is with us from 12 June until 30 August 2018. Below is her artist statement about her residency with us:

As an artist, immigrant, and peace and social justice scholar, I process both my reality and that of others through an array of lenses that continuously inform my artwork.

In the past three years, these gender, race, spiritual, environmental, and feminist perspectives have formed the conceptual basis of most of my work.

During my stay at Rimbun Dahan, I will continue to allow these lenses or perspectives to guide my creative process while at the same time fully submerging myself in my new surroundings in the hope of unexpected turns.

You can follow Manuela on her instagram to know more about her works.

Ross Liew

Bilqis Hijjas Asia New Zealand, Resident Artist , ,
Ross Liew

Ross Liew (b. 1978) is the receiver of an Asia New Zealand Foundation grant and will be staying in Rimbun Dahan for three months from mid-April to mid-July.

I am a New zealander of Chinese and European ancestry. My grandfather’s story provides the entry point to this residency project which involves the exploration of Serdang/Seri Kambangan and Belakong and my family’s presence and activity there over the last 80 years. Serdang village and the site of the family orchid farm in Balakong have been substantially developed over the years and many relatives have now died or moved away. Within my family’s history there are themes of cultural and personal dislocation, forced resettlement and immigration. These themes presence and impact on my family history are key points of reference as I build a project specific to Kuala Lumpur and the Rimbun Dahan residency.

Learn more about Ross and his works at his instagram.

Nicholas Choong

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Nicholas Choong

A go-to conceptual artist for agencies and brands like MRT Gamuda, Uber Malaysia, Tiger Beer, restaurants as well as Accounting & PR Firms in Malaysia – Nicholas Choong is no stranger to the visual arts and design world.

He studied watercolors under a mentor at the age of 13 and when he was 16 he learnt Graphic Design and Photography working as a Production Assistant in the film industry.

By the time he was 19, Nicky (a moniker he goes by sometimes) was already working in the events, music & entertainment industry. The next 17 years of his life was spent working and raising a family before he began painting again in 2011. In 2014 he helped shape (and was the first artist in residence for) the sembilan Art Residency Programme in Seremban. During that time he also mentored under Wei Ling Gallery and has continued to exhibit his work in group and solo shows up till this day.

In 2015 he opened his own studio, Satu Arts and continued to perfect his craft. Nicky also dabbled in installations and collaborative mural projects. In 2016, he began his foray into video production and has since then worked as a director, Art Director and Creative Director in the media and corporate world. In his traditional paintings, Nicholas works in a series based format and is known for his strong ink and line work.

During my residency at Rimbun Dahan I’d like to explore the relationships between the environment (source materials) and mediums available to me (video, photography, paintings) and create a body of work that resonates on all levels to create a story.

Here you can find interviews he’s done/been a part of on BFM (with Jael Estrella and solo), The Star, and Chalk and Raddy. To find out more about Nick’s work, you can check his Website, Facebook, Youtube, or Instagram.

Christopher Strong

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Parrots and an orange and mango sky, watercolour on paper, 2016

During my residency I will continue my recent practice of finding small instances of beauty in every day life and magnifying it. By limiting my focus to a tiny space, I can find shapes, forms and colours that always around me but not often the focus of me attention. Usually my subject is nature thriving within an urban environment, but sometimes I focus on food or industry.

During my residency I want a new artistic experience by letting the environment change my work, both in the subject matters that will capture my attention as I live at Rimbun Dahan and travel in Kuala Lumpur, and how the physical environment that is very different to Melbourne.

I am a self-taught visual artist, painting with oils and watercolour. See more information about me and my work at my website.