artist
Works exhibited in
Realpolitik , Cult Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
2 September - 16 September 2023
When it comes to politics, it often seems that all we are left with is a prevailing sense of disappointment — broken promises and unfulfilled social contracts. This is hardly surprising, given the fact that while political discourse rests upon lofty ideals, reality is brimful with the grains and textures of imperfection.
With reference to the idea of a "perfect" circle, which exists only as a mathematical abstraction, On Balance seeks to reframe the conversation surrounding politics in a more hopeful perspective. What we are able to create in reality, with the inherent flaws and limitations of our world, will never amount to what we imagine it to be — but it is still recognizable, still worth recognizing. Furthermore, the deliberate choice of using leftover fragments from an unrelated mould-making endeavour to create the sculpture serves to underscore the idea that working with what we have readily available to us can and ought to be enough.
The work is composed of two distinct parts: a plaster sculpture pieced together by repurposing trace materials from an unrelated project, and a looped 3D animation created in Blender, a 3D modelling software with mathematical underpinnings.
Works exhibited in
MEAA 2023 Thirteen Best Artists Showcase , Limkokwing International Gallery, Cyberjaya
6 July - 16 July 2023
When it comes to art, I have somewhat contradictory desires. I want to make the work, because I feel that there's something interesting that I'd like to share, but I also dread making the work because, often, it's about something that’s very personal, something very vulnerable; and needless to say, revealing our vulnerabilities is universally undesirable. I want, and I do not want. I show, and also, I hide. These five works consider the duality of "hiding" and "revealing"; specifically, how they can co-exist and what new meanings may emerge from the within.
Works exhibited in
Ways of Seeing, Cult Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
18 March - 1 April 2023
Being at war with your own mind is often an exercise in contradiction. The anxious, intrusive thoughts may make absolutely no sense, but you are left utterly convinced, nevertheless. It is odd to think that the mere images existing within our minds have the capacity to exert so much weight upon us, but they do. While the thoughts themselves may not be real, their outcomes–our actions, our habits, our behaviours –are.
Using a hybrid of painting and sculpture, my creations are about exploring the power of mental images. Is it the dog that acts upon the image or the image that acts upon the dog? My interest lies in portraying the misleading power dynamic that is formed by the interaction between the subject (the black dog) and the painted image. Often we regard images as being lesser representations of the real world, but here, each scene is constructed such that it is the image that exerts a pull upon the dog instead, dictating it's very actions; the subject, in effect, has become the object, the passive participant, the acted-upon.
It is this similar complexity that makes me return time again to working with the black dog. The complicated and conflicting layers of meaning that it carries fascinates me. There is the black dog, a metaphor for depression, that I first came across in a medical pamphlet that was handed to me; then, the black dog–the actual, living, breathing companion, who greets me when I get home; and also, the black "dogs", that each took me weeks and weeks to knead and shape into being, a lesson of patience. In this particular instance, the black dog builds onto the contradiction and brings no clarity, yet it acts as a good placeholder for the "self", which I do not understand any better.
