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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

Posted: 01 Jan 2012 01:55 AM PST

An art collector picks out the threads of cultural heritage woven into Indonesian ikat textiles.

MARIE Tseng and her husband William's love for art is evident in their spacious condominium in Kuala Lumpur. Occupying walls and shiny wooden shelves are table top paintings, a collection of ceramics and Buddha-sculpted gems.

But for now, the French expatriate has her eyes on Indonesian ikat textile, which she discovered during a week-long study trip in Sumba, an island southeast of Bali.

"It's a small island, but big on heritage, craft and culture,'' says Tseng.

As a cross cultural trainer whose work involves preparing Malaysians and other foreigners on what to expect when they head abroad to work, she gets to travel and meet diverse groups of people. This often leads her to interesting textiles.

Emerging from a room with a pile of ikat pieces neatly folded into squares, Tseng explains that when she lived in Indonesia with William five years ago, she was unable to find employment as an expatriate.

That was when she got involved with the Indonesia Heritage Society.

"We conducted guided tours for free and I loved being exposed to many beautiful things while I was there," she enthuses. "I've always been drawn to cross cultural matters, even as a child. And it was my association with the society that led me to Sumba."

Unfolding a piece atop the stack on the coffee table, Tseng explains that ikat means to knot, in Indonesian. A design is created through repeated knotting of the threads.

"Each piece carries a significant story," she says, adding that textiles were originally reserved for the nobility and are still used during important functions and festivals in Sumba.

Tseng's collection – various pieces accumulated during her visit to Sumba, plus a few purchased from a visiting weaver in KL – is a rich mix of colours and patterns.

These handwoven cotton textiles show warp ikat, plain weave and kabakil terminals, with threads coloured using chemical or vegetal dyes.

There's the lau witikau, featuring a composite four-legged creature with wings, "perhaps inspired by European iconography found on coins and medals circulated during the Dutch colonial era," Tseng suggests. It might have been considered a fine cloth for a bride's dowry.

A more sedate cloth, the lau hada, may traditionally have belonged to a woman of high status, due to the supplementary ornamentation and bead fringe.

"Lau is named after the most valuable patterning technique used in the making of ikat textiles and hada indicates that glass beads were used," she explains.

There is also the hinggi pasola, a striking display of spear-wielding horsemen in reds, browns and whites against a dark background. The stories enfolded in the weaves are taken from key events in Sumba, for example funerals and the annual Pasola tournament – a war game played by two groups of selected Sumbanese men who ride their decorated horses and fling wooden spears in combat.

"The Pasola is an occasion for feasting and ceremonies, during which clan members come together bringing food to share, dressed in their best ikat weavings," Tseng says.

A recent development in Sumba textile production is the addition of bead and shell-disc embroidery on patterned cloths, due to a demand from Chinese dealers.

The lau witikau is a fine example – it shows a pair of Chinese-style dragons on one side and three crouching human-like monkeys facing snakes on the other.

Tseng's knowledge on ikat textiles, and the island as a whole, is impressive.

"I started collecting from Sumba because of the people we met," she says. Her connection with the Sumbanese remains fresh in her mind although she has only visited the island once. She talks about an especially meaningful friendship with Rambu Ata, a female weaver in her 50s. Rambu's husband had died, leaving her a handful of children to raise.

"I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for her. She was a weaver but with so many mouths to feed, she had to uproot from her village and settle down in a foreign place to sell her weavings."

Tseng finds the peasant woman's story moving, and all the more reason to support Sumba's craft industry.

Hers enchantment with Sumbanese culture has inspired her to compile a book, Sacred Ikat From Heirloom To Heritage, which was published in conjunction with a recent exhibition of her collection at the National Textile Museum in KL. The book is available at the museum bookstore.

For six months last year, Tseng immersed herself in compiling references on Sumba.

"Not only do ikat serve a purpose as clothing, they are also a means of communication," she writes in Sacred Ikat. "They carry complex meanings of status, wealth and power. They constitute a way to communicate with the world of the dead and hence play an essential role in funerals, as well as in most ceremonies."

Concerned that these beautiful heritage pieces would be lost in an ever-changing world, Tseng hopes that more people would use ikat textiles more often.

Her collection includes jewellery and accessories such as necklaces and bracelets from the Sumbanese villages, as well as the Malaysian equivalent of ikat textiles. There are the Sarawakian pua kumbu, which shares many characteristics with the hinggi of Sumba, and the Kelantanese kain limar.

"That's what I like about Asian textiles – they carry very strong traditions," Tseng says.

Although these materials may not be the most comfortable to wear, there are ways to fit them into our daily lives, she adds.

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A new playground for art

Posted: 31 Dec 2011 10:46 PM PST

After four successful years up north, a gallery opens another outlet in Kuala Lumpur, offering the same personal service.

IT'S hard to tell where the gallery starts and ends. Hanging on one wall are paintings arranged neatly in a row, but turn a corner and you find yourself face to face with a wooden sauna booth. "Sweat For Life," the tagline says. And right beside it is a huge double bed.

No, it's not installation art. It's just that the distinction between furniture and art is sometimes blurred at Bauhaus Rendezvous in Kuala Lumpur.

a2 Gallery owner, curator and artist Alfred Yeoh is rather taken with this concept.

"It's like a one-stop interior design place at Bauhaus. You have furniture – chairs, tables, beds and lighting equipment, but come up the stairs and here's the art gallery," he says.

The first a2 Gallery was established in Penang in a two-storey residence, in 2007.

Yeoh, who previously worked in graphic design and was also a gallery manager, and landscape designer Jeff Jansen, put their heads together and thought it would be "interesting to open an art gallery".

"Ever since we opened a gallery in Penang, I've dreamt of having something in KL as well. So when a friend offered me this space, I jumped at the chance," Yeoh explains.

The second a2 outlet opened in KL nine days ago. It represents about 20 artists, but various key artists have been placed in a newly established group called e11even. A number of them will be exhibiting their works for the first timeat Bauhaus.

"Many of the artists have only exhibited up north before, some just in Penang. Now we can offer something new to collectors and art lovers," Yeoh says, during a chat at the new gallery.

There are plans to have a different exhibition each month at Bauhaus, and these will include works by foreign artists.

"It's important that local artists and art enthusiasts see what people are doing abroad. We want to bring art from all over the world to people here. There are no borders in our world now," he adds.

The gallery strives to provide interested art buyers with "all the convenience" possible to help them choose the "right" artwork for their homes.

An art space might be nice to wander around in, but a painting up on the gallery wall looks very different from when it is in your living room. And this is something that Yeoh understands well.

The solution, he says, is simple.

Bauhaus will bring the works to you. After all, the gallery's marketing focus is very much tailored to young, new collectors.

People often end up with something they don't really like after taking a closer look and then the artwork ends up in storage for an indefinite period of time, Yeoh notes.

"That can be very demotivating for the collector, not getting to display the artwork. That's why we try to help people have a good start. And feedback has been very good so far.

"It's a free service. Come visit the gallery and select the works you like and we'll bring it to your home for viewing. You can decide on the spot which one you like best."

If contemporary art is your cup of tea, then a2 Gallery is your playground. Yeoh shares the story of a man who went to the gallery with the intention of buying an artwork.

"He said he just wanted one, but when we brought the works to his house, he tried them on different walls and ended up buying six or seven! I always say art is like magic."

Born and raised in Kedah but currently based in Penang, Yeoh never had any formal training in art, although he has always found it fascinating. It was not until he started managing an art gallery about six years ago that he knew his foray into the industry was to be something more permanent.

"I've worked many jobs, but nothing was as satisfying as running the gallery. It felt like I was finally home," he says.

"I like beautiful things and I'm very happy when surrounded by all these paintings. When I meet people who appreciate art, I feel even happier. I really enjoy guiding those who are just starting to collect art."

Yeoh started "drawing seriously" about a year after a2 Gallery opened in Penang. He believes that talent cannot be bought, or taught, and being an artist is something he is meant to do.

"Anyone can open a gallery and even close it after a few years if he wants. But if you are an artist ... well, you can be an artist anywhere, everywhere. I can tell you that I plan to work on this for the rest of my life," he says, naming Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Khoo Sui Hoe and Kow Leong Kiang as among his favourite artists.

Yeoh does some abstract art, but his focus and passion is nudes. He features mostly women, and seldom shows the subject's face.

"It's a bit mysterious that way, isn't it? Then you can imagine the face to be whatever you want. I don't want people to like or hate a painting only because of the face. I want the focus to be on the beauty of the human body, and at the moment my works portray the stereotypical idea of what beauty is, what the perfect body is." .

As for what an artist should have to be successful, Yeoh says it's a combination of knowledge and being bold enough to take the bull by the horns.

"If you are only brave but don't have the knowledge to go with it, then you will only produce rubbish. And if you have just the know-how but don't dare take risks, then you might run into problems with expressing yourself through art," he adds.

a2 Gallery is at 10, Bauhaus Rendezvous, Persiaran Dagang, Bandar Sri Damansara, Kepong, Kuala Lumpur. Call 016-490 7320 for more information.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 1 Januari 2012