Getting the balance right
Former architect turns to art to find a sense of personal renewal.
THE Austrian architect and social reformer Rudolf Steiner once said: “art has something in its nature which does not only stir a man but gives him fresh joy repeatedly.”
For 43-year-old Lian Kian Lek, this could not have been more true.
The architecture graduate from Melbourne University spent nearly 14 years working as an architect in Berlin and Beijing. He was burnt out. He decided to take a sabbatical. And it was during this much need time of respite Lim decided to play around with some paint and paper.
“I folded a piece of paper and then apply paint on one side. By folding the two parts together, it created a mirror image on the other side, thus forming a symmetrical abstract shape as a whole,” recalls Lianin a recent interview at his design studio Putticoop in the Zhongshan building, Jalan Kampung Attap in KL.
This gave birth to the Das Wollen exhibition currently showing at Putticoop, which specialises in architectural projects, scenography and costume design.
Das Wollen, which is German for the will, is a result of the KL-born’s experimentation with repetition of process and colours. It is essentially a culmination of works which Lian started at Berlin in 2012 before moving back to Malaysia in 2014.
“This technique allowed me to paint without knowing what I want to paint. Conventionally, you have a vision in your mind and you draw it out.
“For this, every time it was a surprise since I didn’t know what the result would be. And when I looked at my completed work, it made me happy and more relaxed. It was healing, like an art therapy of sorts,” shares Lian.
This is Lian’s second solo exhibition in Malaysia. His first Malaysian exhibition, Annehman, was held at the Aku Cafe & Gallery, KL in 2014. The artist had previously shown his works both in solo and group exhibition in Germany, Netherlands and Spain.
His first ever exhibition, Maak Mathenesse Mooier, was a project funded by the local council in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to rejuvenate the streets.
Upon returning to Malaysia, Lian worked as the art director for the 2014 Kakiseni International Arts Festival in Pavilion, KL. Two years later, he was awarded the Best Costume Design, Styling & Make Up at the 13th Boh Cameronian Arts Award for Joseph Gonzales’ Becoming King:The Pakyung Revisited interactive dance show. He was nominated for the best set design award for the same show.
The Das Wollen exhibition features an assemblage of abstract figures – 45 in total – made of red paint on paper, spread gloriously on one side of the walls. Upon closer inspection, they look like veins. On another wall lies a combination of works (24) made of what paint on paper.
“I didn’t arrange them with a specific theme in mind. I just hung them intuitively and in the end, they balance each other out,” Lian points out.
Interestingly, Lian observed that different people had different interpretations of his works. He says when he worked on the paintings, “there was no greater purpose to them. I didn’t have a message or philosophy.”
But to his surprise, the artist says “people resonate with them. They make stories from what they see. It occured to me then that my work is very open. The observer completes the work by projecting meaning to it.”
Once he had exhausted the possibilities of the colour red, Lian moved on white which he says marks a transition into reduction.
“A colour still sends out a connotation. You can still hang on to something. So I thought if I removed the colour, there’ll be one less thing to make a story of. I wondered how far can one remove elements in an artwork before it is reduced to absence?
“So when it came to the white on white, it was totally open. It can be anything in your imagination,” Lian says.
There is a certain lightness to the white series, something ethereal. It invites you to get very close to the artworks to actually see what’s on the paper. Essentially, it is very intimate, compared to the red series which can be striking and loud.
“The way I presented the white artworks are like butterfly specimens in glass cases. It is very light, almost floating, as if they could flutter away at any moment,” says Lian.
The artist also did several paintings with different colours and combinations, going completely the other way, once he realised he couldn’t go any further with the reduction.
Lian’s artworks may be small, compared to the towering paintings one would find in many a gallery.
But despite their size, there is a spontaneity and playfulness which calls back to one’s childhood artistic endeavours. They brought joy to Lian, when life seemed overwhelming, and they would bring joy to you too.
Das Wollen is on at Putticoop, Zhongshan building, Jalan Kampung Attap in KL till Oct 7. Opening hours: 12pm-5pm (weekends). Weekdays by appointment. For more information, call 018-2804 4683.