Right Here! Right Now! in Kuala Lumpur
Art Gallery Weekend and CIMB Artober
By A&M
Joshua Kane Gomes, ‘Bless Me with All My Sins II’, 2020, steel, ball valve taps, mannequin hands, chain & brackets, 49 x 46 x 48cm. Image courtesy of Richard Koh Fine Art and the artist.
October is shaping up to be an exciting month for the Malaysian art scene, starting with Right Here! Right Now! Art Gallery Weekend 2020, taking place from 9 to 11 October 2020. Five galleries Artemis Art, Core Design Gallery, Richard Koh Fine Art, Suma Orientalis and The Back Room have come together to present the works of five artists: Syahbandi Samat, Haafiz Shahimi, Joshua Kane Gomes, Jane Stephanny and CC Kua.
Haafiz Shahimi, ’Bunga Gersang V’, 2020, pyrography print, inverted burn, direct petrol burn, rusted chemical wash, fabric dye and acrylic on jute, 92 x 92cm. Image courtesy of Core Design Gallery and the artist.
Jane Stephanny, ‘Jazzercise’, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 148 x 192.5cm. Image courtesy of Suma Orientalis amd the artist.
Effectively, five solo exhibitions are reimagined as a group exhibition across five physical spaces. This encourages visitors to go to galleries they might not have visited before to look at an artist’s work. “In order to see all the work of a particular artist, one needs to visit all the five galleries,” says Richard Koh. “It’s a bit like a treasure hunt.” In doing so, one might discover other artists, in a setting that conceptually mirrors the art fair format but with very different logistical arrangements, where the artworks are not gathered but dispersed.
“In doing so, one might discover other artists, in a setting that conceptually mirrors the art fair format but with very different logistical arrangements, where the artworks are not gathered but dispersed.”
To illustrate the idea of the “treasure hunt”, Artemis Art is showing the work, ‘Unriveted’ by Syahbandi Samat, which is especially apt for the event’s configuration. Composed of five body parts, Artemis Art will exhibit the torso, while each of the remaining four works of the four limbs will be spread out across the other participating galleries’ spaces, compelling the visitor to visit all the galleries to view, so to speak, the complete body of work.
Syahbandi Samat, ‘Un-Riveted’ (right arm), 2020, ballpoint pen on canvas and plywood, 31 x 71 x 20.5cm.
Syahbandi Samat ‘Un-Riveted’ (combined), 2020, ballpoint pen on canvas and plywood, 133 x 191 x 20.5cm. Image courtesy of Artemis Art and the artist.
It is a show of solidarity among the galleries that generates some much needed buzz in the local art scene. “We’re very excited not only because it’s the first time we’re in such a collaboration in Malaysia, but more importantly that it benefits all parties by creating the positive vibes that we all need in challenging times,” says UC Loh, co-founder of Artemis Art. “This allows us to cross-promote each gallery’s artists and provide the artists with wider exposure.”
CC Kua, ‘Going Bananas I’, 2020, watercolour on canvas, 122 x 91cm. Image courtesy of The Back Room and the artist.
Right Here! Right Now! is a refreshing take on art viewing at a time when digital exhibitions are the norm. Incidentally, it is an event of CIMB Artober, an initiative to support local artists and galleries through the month of October, as part of CIMB’s The Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit that is focused on ‘Resilience, Recovery, Responsibility’. The nine participating galleries include Artemis Art, Core Design Gallery, Richard Koh Fine Art and Suma Orientalis, as well as A+ Works of Art, G13 Gallery, Nadine Fine Art, Segaris Art Centre and Taksu. Together, Art Gallery Weekend and CIMB Artober provide examples of mutual support and innovation for other regional art scenes that are looking to reactivate in the physical world.
For more information about Art Gallery Weekend and CIMB Artober, click here.
