Meowrrr

Caught in hell-fire writer's block with two reviews that were due... yes, my dears, yesterday. Sometimes I wonder at the trust editors and curators place in me: I hope none of them read this blog - they would discover that I am ever only one step away from complete nervous, creative and financial breakdown.

One of these shows is the annual WWF Art for Nature show at Rimbun Dahan, 00:15 Superstar. The other is Filtered at Wei-Ling Gallery. Both have interesting themes, I suppose - 00:15 Superstar is about celebrity, fame, all that jazz; Filtered has stuck its neck out and calls itself 'socio-political artworks from Malaysia's contemporary artists' - a move that is tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot anyway withOUT the help of a snarky reviewer, IMO. I sound jaded do I? Yes, alright. Frankly am sick in both head and heart with looking at exhibitions that group artworks together under some common theme without developing or addressing the issues of the theme itself. The extent of curating in this case seems to be picking this square shaped peg (artwork) to fit that square shaped hole (theme).

I guess 00:15 Superstar has a better excuse for being such an empty exercise - it's actually a charity exhibition where 50 percent of proceeds go in support of WWF. It's always a highlight on the Malaysian art calendar, but I've begun to feel that having a curatorial theme (which changes every year) might not be the best strategy both in terms of artistic interest or fund-raising. A show that aims to sell as many works as possible needs to have a sizeable portion of saleable, marketable work. Yet being a 'curated' exhibition raises expections that it will be a challenging one for the audience. This implies of course that challenging work is not saleable in Malaysia. That may or may not be so (an issue that I won't address here), but my point is more that one should stop looking at the annual WWF show as a source of new or challenging ideas. It is simply an event that groups related works by Malaysian artists together under some theme du jour in order to raise money for charity. What I'd like to see is something ostensibly facile like oh, say, Works in the Color Red as the curatorial premise. I'd venture that that would actually be more interesting than something apparently socially engaged.

Filtered however has no such excuse but engages in the same vaccuos enterprise. Actually both shows operate on nearly the exact same lines, except that point of Filtered is not make money for charity but for the gallery business.

On a positive note, I saw an artwork that I would actually give alot to own. This doesn't happen to me very often in KL. It was at Rimbun Dahan and is a painting by Yusof Majid called Larger Than Life. It's a huge work of a prima ballerina in the most appealingly fresh whites and pinks, with two tiny figures looking up at her. Description only does it disservice, as will photographs. The colors in this painting really hit my pleasure spot - just that perfect note of innocence, candy pink, and glamour. I noticed that it wasn't sold, which means that it's not inconceivable I should have it in my house one day in the remotest future. I didn't take a picture, but here's one of his others, just to give you an idea:

Yusof Majid, The Great Balloon Race