The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

Posted: 06 Nov 2011 02:45 AM PST

While some people may find comfort in familiar beauty, others want to be challenged by the bold and the bizarre. Art Expo Malaysia catered to both tastes.

WHAT makes an art expo a success? From the organiser's point of view, it might be how many visitors it draws or how many artworks it sells, and for how much.

A collector might be focused on getting his hands on a specific artwork by an artist he adores. It would probably make his day if he manages to unexpectedly snag a good deal from the art fair.

But to the casual visitor, it is perhaps more about how much he enjoys wandering around the different booths and looking at the art showcase. Are there works that he has never seen before, are they aesthetically pleasing, are there any that he would – even if only theoretically speaking – like to hang on his wall?

In the eyes of art collectors, I am no art collector. The last drawing I received from a friend shows a white lamb frolicking in a bright green meadow. He drew it on a graphics tablet. And I have it on my desktop, not on my wall.

If space were no object, and money were to fall from the sky, the fifth annual Art Expo Malaysia – held at the Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur until last Tuesday – would surely be a good place to start searching for that perfect piece to grace my wall.

With over 400 artists from over 20 countries and more than 2,000 artworks on display, visitors were spoiled for choice.

The range of works was diverse: there was a depiction of China's Cultural Revolution set against a Pepsi backdrop; boys stripped to the waist with eyes covered, standing atop a roof overlooking the city; a man with a fiddle and a dancing dog; musicians playing on long slender horns; galloping horses drawn in ink; elaborate architecture reflected in a water ripple; bobble-head figurines; fabricated metal and wooden sculptures. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, so it's hard to settle for a favourite piece.

I started my walkabout at the art expo with the Malaysian galleries (they made up around 25% of the expo this year), weaved my way through the crowds at galleries from Indonesia, Germany, Myanmar, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam galleries, to name just a few, before ending at the Embassies Row, which comprised booths from the embassies or high commissions of Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Switzerland.

You know how people say art is subjective?

At the art expo, I had a few reminders of exactly how true this is.

Rather taken with a series of three works by Chinese artist Luo Jie (from 88.6 Szechuan New Wave Six) depicting three figures in various poses – frozen in a soundless scream or puffing on a cigarette – on a wall by themselves, I said to the woman standing beside me that I found them fascinating. I liked that these works of acrylic on canvas looked almost like photographs of a sculpture or someone in costume. The lines were fluid, graceful, the overall look was clean, strong and bold.

But the woman looked at them quizzically and said that she wasn't sure that she would like them up on her wall. "I'm worried that they would startle me when I get out of bed in the middle of the night and stumble past them on my way to the toilet," she said.

I guess the resemblance to a writhing mass of worms on a man's face and neck while he pauses to pose for the camera between cigarette puffs isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea.

This year's art expo had works from China showcased for the first time here, and the selection of works showed that, contrary to popular belief, Chinese art is so much more than just traditional ink and brush mountains and waterfalls. Many works were contemporary, quirky and they would be able to stand as an exhibition on their own.

These aside, a fair number of other works at the expo were refreshing to me – whether it was because the artist depicted a common subject in an unusual way or took a chance in exploring a new concept.

And probably for that reason, I felt indifferent towards most of the works displayed at the Malaysian art galleries. Granted, some were well-suited for display in a large space: Hoe Say Yong's brilliant pools of blue and vermilion contrasted nicely with Bayu Utomo Radjikin's larger-than-life brooding charcoal male figures. There were also some interesting sculptures on display – from Raja Shahriman's fabricated metal pieces to Vong Nyam Chee's sculptures put together from discarded wooden strips and given form and structure with some fancy blade work.

But as much as I liked their works, I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed that there wasn't more of something new to see in the local section. Overall, barring a few exceptions, I felt like I'd seen similar kinds of works before. However, what I personally perceived as a setback was the same reason others liked the works. A friend told me that she liked the art displayed at the Malaysian galleries the best – over all the other countries represented at the expo – because they were familiar.

"It's something I've seen before so I feel that I can relate to them better," she said.

But an art expo is so much more than admiring individual artworks. The experience of this expo would not be complete without a visit to the Embassies Row.

Some booths stood out because they were done up like a mini exhibition hall with a theme in mind. For example, the entire booth occupied by Switzerland was filled with pictures of golden-brown foliage in autumn. Warm sun rays trickled through the leaves on tree branches. Collectively, the ink on raw cotton artworks were quite delightful.

But it was the artworks at the Ecuador booth that blew me away. Contemporary artist Jorge Perugachy's deep warm browns and golds with red, blue and green accents came together nicely on canvas, adding heft to what looked at first glance like heavy armour (but were really soft folds of cloth if you looked closely) and charm to the youthful faces gazing out of the paintings.

I sought to be amazed, so it was quite a challenge to get me excited over the familiar kampung house or padi field scene. If people with blue, green and pink skin do not do it, then a man with a thorny durian head, a woman with a black and white plastic bag over her head or a nude curled up in a foetal position on a splash of bright blue paint might do the trick.

Such were among my favourite works at the art expo – unabashedly bold, confident and daring to be different.

■ The Star was Art Expo Malaysia's official media.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 6 November 2011