As been excitedly planned from yesterday, today I took a trip to the National Art Gallery. Finally! It's been years since I went there. I missed those times. And lately I really got this sudden urge to go there and finally today, that chance came!
There are some exhibitions going on there. I'm very excited about that!!
:: Syed Thajudeen's Solo Exhibition: Paintings on Love ::
['Seroja' by Syed Thajudeen. DISCLAIMER: I don't own the artwork. This one is not one of the paintings shown for the 'Paintings on Love' Exhibition]* Syed Thajudeen's paintings on love as the main theme. They got these beautiful color combination which creates an aphrodisiac mood. By the way, he gives red color to every human figure's lips, fingertips, and toetips... I wondered why? Well I got three personal faves from this exhibition. The first one is titled
'Lovers on Couch II' (if I'm not mistaken), the second one is the painting on the big panel about Paramesvara watching the mousedeer fights the fierce hunting dog, and the third one is another big panel painting which got people watching a dancer on a boat on a river.... geez, my explanation sucks! Haha sorry folks, been a long time since I kept up with my writing. Guess I'm getting old arghh!!
:: Women Artists Exhibition ::* ahh, for this one I just wanted to highlight this: I'm very excited to see more works of my fave woman artist in Malaysia,
Eng Hwee Chu. When I first went to The Art Gallery, the only work of her I saw was only the one titled
"The Last Supper." Since then though, it has been my favorite paintings of all the paintings in the Art Gallery. Today I saw two more of her works. One is titled
"Black Moon," and the other one... DARN!! I forgot the title!! But they're awesome... I think I've read it somewhere that they refer to the style as 'magical realism.' (which at first I thought IMO was something close to
Magritte's definition of
surrealism) Well, never mind the movement and all, I just personally loved her works :)
:: Lukisan Anak Pelukis ::* now this is a very interesting exhibition! This one exhibits the works of the children of some famous Malaysian artists such as
Shamiza Abu Hassan :D I tell you--I'm speechless seeing their works (did I sound like Charles? Ahem--sorry. But I'm sincere on this, y'know? Hahaha). They're only children ranged from 5-12 years old, I think. But their works are awesome, man!! Well, I guess the parents really taught them very well, those great artists!^^ In that very early age they've started using mixed media (and darn good at it), creating some expressive works of art which is not only limited to just simply creating 'pictures with amazing color gradation' (like, sadly, I noticed, is the average standard in winning a drawing competition in Indonesia).
What's difference in this Children's Paintings Exhibition is, they seemed to understand that art is not simply standardized and limited as creating pretty pictures but--it's the idea and the expression that matters. In this exhibition, I see more freedom of the soul to express--an aesthetic freedom not boxed inside those average standard of what a group of people thinks is beautiful; but an aesthetic freedom without a burden of what defines a good work of art. Some of the works might not have pretty color gradation, nor right proportion, but they speak for themselves. They tell a story.
All I can say about this painting is-it's how the purity children's souls should be expressed in art. They should be free, firsthand.
:: The Pop Art Exhibition (OMG again I forgot the artist's name. Sorry!)* Sadly, by the time I visited his solo exhibition, the artist has already passed away on 31 July last month. But nevertheless, his pop works were awesome and interactive. Some of the 3D works remind me of
DuChamp's Fountain somehow, I don't know why. But his idea of using magazine and newspaper collage, plus some curious cubicle structure, as a signature for each of his works is an amazing idea. Oh yea, there's this one curious installation there--a white desk and a white chair, each of them has a modified magazine print on it. Well to me, it seems like an interactive installation art actually. I really wanted to sit there for a while and feel something but I'm not sure whethere it's allowed or not, because they had put the
'Please do not touch the artworks' on every space of the works there. So I didn't. *sigh*
:: Bakat Muda Sezaman 2006 (The Young Contemporaries) ::*well this one is not yet started. But they're calling for entries now :D I'm waiting for the exhibition on early December! I think this will be the 3rd
BMS Exhibition I'll be seeing. The previous two were awwweeesome, man!! I can't wait for this one!! I hope they come out with more installation arts and interactive arts! XD
... so ended my report from this year's visit to the National Art Gallery. Haaa~! Finally. I haven't seen some fine arts in a while. It feels good. Like drinking cold water in a hot afternoon! :)
...[ better to light one candle than curse the darkness ]...
