News & Views

Still Looking East

3 July 2013

While art auctions are being held, seemingly almost every other month, new galleries are also popping up in Kuala Lumpur. One of the most interesting is the month-old Project Room Fine Art gallery.

Located at the former Art Case Galleries in the Great Eastern Mall in Kuala Lumpur, the new gallery is the brainchild of budding gallerist Azad Daniel Haris.

According to Azad, who has worked in various art galleries in KL, including Art Case, Richard Koh Fine Art and Petronas, the offer to take over the space occupied by ArtCase proved to be too tempting to turn down.

Auction with caution

3 July 2013

It’s good that more auction houses are coming into play in Malaysia now, remarks RA Fine Arts Gallery owner Raja Ahmad Aminullah.

But it would be constructive, he points out, for the local art scene, if the operators learn from more established auction houses in the region. Like those in Jakarta, Hong Kong and Shanghai, explained the 58-year-old art consultant who has been an art collector for 20 years. His RA Fine Arts Galley was established six years ago.

“Auction houses must stop treating art like the stock market in the 1980s – like a gambling den,” he exclaims.

RM1/2 million for IX Months

29 June 2013

First Published : 6:00pm, Jun 29, 2013

Last Updated : 2:00pm, Jul 01, 2013

The Edge Auction’s inaugural sale today achieved 85% sale by lots fetching RM2.5mil

The highest price paid was for Kuala Lumpur IX Months, a canvas painting by the late Datuk Ibrahim Hussein which sold for RM495,000 inclusive of the buyer’s premium of 10%.

Interpreting the Hallucination of Facts

28 June 2013

What is the significance of the lemon motif in Jalaini Abu Hassan’s enigmatic work, Hallucination of Facts in Ungrounded History? By any measure, the 244cm by 305cm diptych is a giant painting depicting Malaysian themes and references.

Speaking with Jalaini Abu Hassan, we get glimpses of his methodology and his thought process.

Interview by Alexandra Tan

On the lemons:

Yusof Ghani Unmasked

28 June 2013

Yusof Ghani has stated that he does not have specific titles when he starts painting, but he does have a rough story for each piece. The story would then dictate the selection of colours, the images and eventually, the title.

“Titles are important for me for my finished works (and to most people, for that matter) as it can help to create an identity and also a story for each painting.” (Yusof Ghani: Drawings, Rusli Hashim Fine Art, 1997)

Ib’s Missing Link

28 June 2013

The 1986 catalogue of Datuk Ibrahim Hussein’s retrospective exhibition (Ibrahim Hussein: A Retrospective held at the then National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur) claims that the late artist began drawing his distinctive lines in 1975 when his wife Datin Sim Hussein gave him some graphic pens.

Art collectors awaiting The Edge Auction debut

27 June 2013

Top art collectors at the Kuala Lumpur preview of The Edge Auction’s inaugural sale on June 29 have earmarked what have caught their fancy.

Besides the VIP guests and collectors at the June 20 preview held at the newly-opened art space known as The Edge Galerie in Mont’Kiara Meridin, there has been a steady stream of visitors including many new collectors.

The preview which ends on June 27 is open from 11am till 7pm.

Among the favourites are Chang Fee Ming’s Trail of Zheng He – Semarang, which caught the eye of some of Kuala Lumpur’s leading art collectors.

Kok Yew Puah: Looking in or out?

27 June 2013

In 1995, Kok Yew Puah (1947-1999) painted Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town, a 162.5 by 162.5cm oil on canvas. The preparatory watercolour study (55cm by 76.5 cm) was exhibited at Valentine Willie Fine Art gallery’s Tribute to Kok Yew Puah in 2004.

Beauty on Canvas

27 June 2013

“Beauty” informs the idea behind Chong Siew Ying’s painting Paper Rose, 2007.

Part of the series entitled On Beauty that was completed between 2006 and 2011, the painting portrays a lady’s face surrounded by bright red roses and the faint outline of trees. The title itself reflects the illusory nature of beauty – a depiction of how a paper rose is, after all, mere paper in the end and not real.

The Importance of Ib

25 June 2013

Drawn by the political commotion of May 13 in 1969, he returned home in September that year after a successful international career and created a namesake painting. May 13 caused enough controversy to attract the attention of the then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. After their discussion, the Malaysian flag that “Ib” – as the artist was popularly known – had blackened and used as a canvas, was eventually allowed to go on public exhibition.