Balancing past and future
Two artists dig inspiration from their small hometown roots, tackling the inevitability of change.
TWO Perak-born artists – Husin Othman and Ng Kok Leong. Both, coincidentally, picked up the top spots (emerging artist category) in the same homegrown art competition – the UOB Painting of the Year (Malaysia) prize. Both come from different backgrounds, different cultures.
However, can Husin, 31, and Ng, 45, make the most of a double-header show? The duo’s The Frames Of Two Cultures ,now showing at Core Design Gallery in Subang Jaya, is an earnest attempt to exhibit their art works through the lens of nostalgia.
“Both artists talk very much about the memories and the kampung life they had. Each wants to bring it out in a different way,” says Scarlette Lee, Core Gallery’s director.
At first glance, Husin’s works appear playful and fun, but the subtexts slowly emerge as the viewer lingers long enough at a particular painting. His piece entitled Rakan Kongsi Gelap, tonally one of his darker pieces, depicts heroes and anti-heroes. There is an assortment of characters – Batman, Ultraman, the Joker, come to mind. They are pressed and lumped against each another, and the scene is set in a pasar malam (night market).
“When I was a young boy, I liked to keep to myself. I didn’t have friends. My companions were toys,” explains Husin, a fine arts graduate from UiTM. “In this work, I picked characters that were usually associated with the night. But they have either a good or bad influence on a person.”
Fictional characters or not, Husin’s work is heartfelt as he touches on themes of identity, and good and evil.
Lagenda Budak Terbang goes back to his childhood days – larkish and hopeful. The striking painting shows a wooden aeroplane sitting atop a mango tree, balancing in uncertainty. In the background, a boy is seen hanging onto the tree branch ... like a lifeline.
The eagles in the painting suggest the artist’s desire to fly but he is gripped by fear. However, he did climb the tree; perhaps this is his courageous attempt to overcome his fears.
“There are a lot of emotions to deal with when remembering a childhood – even when it revolves around the idyllic ambience of a kampung setting,” says Husin.
This is not the Kuala Kurau-born artist’s first exhibit at Core Gallery. He was part of the gallery’s Soya Cincau group exhibition in 2014. In the same year, Husin clinched the Most Promising Artist of the Year (Emerging Artist category) award in the UOB Painting of the Year 2014.
If Husin’s paintings capture the agonies of adolescence, Ng’s works focus on how culture and tradition suffer in the name of progress.
“I worked on a documentary film about things which are disappearing in society such as culture or language. That made me realise that modern Malaysia is losing some of its culture. I wish to keep the essence of these cultures and traditions alive in my paintings,” says Ng.
Ng first started out in the advertising industry upon graduation (an art diploma from The One Academy, KL in 1994) and dabbled with TV work and documentary films in Beijing. It was there the artist discovered his passion for art.
Last year, the Petaling Jayabased artist had his first solo Living Traces at the Jeth Art Gallery in KL, while also showing his exhibit Three Body in Taipei, Taiwan. He won his UOB Painting of the Year prize in 2016.
For this show, Ng’s work My Childhood Perspective is one of the highlights. This painting features a young boy, dwarfed by wooden structures around him. It takes us back to Ng’s childhood, growing up in the Taiping Wet Market. His parents, living in Kuala Kangsar, sold local produce there.
His choice of the Taiping Wet Market hints to the role this market played in the development of the communities surrounding it. It speaks of a time when the marketplace was the meeting point for all Malaysians.
Ng’s triptych My Old Hometown is also as widescreen as it gets. The large painting resides on the top floor of the gallery, claiming an entire wall.
The three panels portray the past, present and future, compressed into one large painting. The first panel shows a mother who is standing at the front of the house, carrying her child, in what appears to be a rainy morning. She enters the second panel, where a young man is seen under the hot sun. Finally, this man progresses into the third panel, which shows an old man at the back of the house on a late night.
In this painting, Ng captures the deeply poignant changing of seasons in a person’s life.
In many ways, The Frame Of Two Cultures is about two artists evaluating why past memories are relevant to them and what, if anything, they learned from them.
It’s a simple, no less meaningful theme.
The Frame Of Two Cultures is on at Core Design Gallery, 87, Jalan SS 15/2A, Subang Jaya in Selangor till March 28. Gallery hours: Monday to Friday, 10am-7pm. Saturday-Sunday, 10am-6pm. Visit malaysiacontemporaryart.coredesigngallery.com or contact 03-5612 1168.