Somewhere behind Central Market leading up to Dayabumi. Shot in 2018 I grew up in a relatively small section of Petaling Jaya in the late 70's and 80's. Back then, there wasn't much in the way of highways or tall buildings. My first experiences with skyscrapers was the IBM Tower in TTDI, and while visiting relatives in Pekeliling Flats in KL, during my youth. My dad was always working to earn a living for the family, my mom, a housewife. In my teenage years I was able to experience personally, the large, immense city that we call Kuala Lumpur. It was then that I began clubbing, dancing, partying and gallivanting the streets and clubs at night till the wee hours of the morning. In the daytime, street, rap and skate culture led me to places like Lot 10 and Sungei Wang in Bukit Bintang. This was in the mid 90's. I began to realize that metropolitan cities like this were found everywhere else in the world. They provide a function of industrialisation; they are working and living spaces for millions of people. People travel and relocate to large cities, primarily for work. To earn better livelihoods and to make worthwhile, an education that was paid for by sweat and tears by parents, families and student loans. A better quality of life. That's the main idea is, isn't it? Cities nourish and prop up the capitalist ideal : to provide spaces that house the best variety in entertainment, finance, food and beverages, hotels, nightlife, stores, movie theatres, grocers and a multitude ways to spend your hard earned cash that would never exist in a kampung. So why do millions of people that live, commute and work in the city feel lonely and alienated? Why do they feel depressed? A disconnection happens when an individual is cut off from his/her family. Humans are social creatures. This is evident in our shared communal history. Essentially, we are all just very advanced animals / mammals that can wilfully create and believe in fictional, abstract ideas. Isn't the idea of money, law, countries and borders, entertainment, trends, social media - merely products of our imaginations? Aren't our combined and shared beliefs, the wellspring that make these things real and tangible? It exists in our minds. It resides there, conscripted to us from infancy. Why are people disconnected and lonely in big cities? Its been demonstrated that the ideologies of capitalism do not benefit our natural state of being. Cities are antithetical to the social animals that we are. When we hit crises in our lives, who do we turn to for support? Our families and friends - Echoing what The Beatles wrote in '67 : 'We get by with a little help from our friends'. I walk around the streets of Kuala Lumpur and I see elderly shopkeepers holding the fort in their businesses. Flower shops, mini markets and grocers, foodstall hawkers etc. - They have been living and working the city almost all their lives. They've been doing the same thing for 20, at times, 30-40 years. Exuberant as they may be, they are ruthless too. They don't take shit from anyone. It's a cutthroat world out there. And there's no time to dawdle. The natural instinct to survive and thrive in the city amazes me. I find this trait and skill admirable, brutally honest and noble. KL is very much like any big city in the world. There's your KFC, McDonalds, Uniqlo, H&M, Fridays, Starbucks, Samsung, Apple store - being in one mega mall is like being in any other mall in the world. The juxtaposition lies in the remnants of the past, embedded in the city's architecture. Abandoned buildings and skyscrapers still tower among us, deserted and neglected. Back alleys co-exist in the dark. They are dingy, broken and remedied streets. Dark alleys await us in the nocturnal light, anticipating the possibility of a passerby. This macabre juncture between the new and the old fascinates me. As a visual artist and human being, it is unavoidable. It's all there for us to look at, like a bad traffic accident. Desolate places where people who fall in between the cracks of life, live, rest and find respite. The streets mimic life ensconced. The ghosts of present and past are laid bare for all to see. Being an artist, this fissure attracts my attention. Old tiles from the 60's, old stairways leading nowhere, rickety plumbing and haphazard electrical wiring - these are spirits of the past; planners and doers contributed to these contraptions. They are now debauched. Uncared for. Put aside and set asunder. Filed away for an unknown future. This is the real KL - the real city we live in. It's the soul of the megacity. It's what swallows us whole, if we let it. For a lot of city dwellers, these are truths of their lives. It humbles me to think about the squalid affairs of things. But let's get real. It is important. And it matters. A homeless man sitting by the roadside at Jalan Walter Grenier. Shot in 2018 Many do not have families to go back to at the end of the working day. They are separated from their kin. There is no other option, sad as it may be. We are a civilised culture, or so we think. Countless wars, revolutions, civil unrest has befallen us throughout history and will continue to do so. In the face of adversity ('Tirar Para Arriba', meaning 'to toss upwards' but most often translated as 'to overcome adversity') - people do what they can and will. There are great, beautiful things that happen on a daily / hourly basis which we will never see in a shopping mall. It is in the giving of food to the less fortunately and homeless (soup kitchens). It is in the giving of money or alms to the needy when they never ask for it. It is in the strength of a community that rallies around to help others in times of need and disaster (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, fires, COVID). It is in the good samaritan who holds the door open for the elderly. Or in the act of holding the lift doors open for others to enter. It is in the generosity of companies and corporations that appropriate yearly funds and resources to feed, clothe, buy school bags and books, toys, playthings, soccer balls, dolls - for the orphans in the outskirts of the city (through CSR programmes) and it is in the sending of money back home to siblings, families, elderly parents, aunties and uncles and ailing families and communities. This is not heroic. These are not superhuman feats. They are basic values, a common decency and natural for us as human beings - as natural as the sun rises and sets. As natural as breathing. 'Rubicon', 48x48 inches, Oil on canvas, 2022 The new Cityscapes embody this story of humanity, hope, responsibility, love and resilience. Never forget your roots. We live on this pale blue dot and in a yellow submarine. For as much hurt and suffering we may inflict upon ourselves and others, we also have an enormous capacity to heal, to take care of, and to believe in the impossible. We can realize our dreams and desires if we want to, no matter who or where we may be. Care for others. Listen. Be still and accountable. Embrace your humanity.
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'Ex Nihilo', 48x48 inches Oil on canvas, 2021 (Sold) Ex Nihilo is a latin phrase that means 'out of nothing' or 'from nothing'. This alludes to the concept of creation : That from nothing, something is crafted and created out of thin air. The monotone cityscape 'Ex Nihilo' pays homage to the powers of the imagination. In art and most other creative acts (music, writing, dance etc.) the composer always begins with a blank slate or a blank canvas. From nothing, the artists applies the first stroke of paint and as the work progresses, the infinite number of possible images that could be made, decreases. Until the work is complete. The work beckons to be made, just like the unknown beckons to be made known. It is this parable, that this work arises from. 'Azzure', 48x48 inches
Oil on canvas, 2021 (Sold) 'Azzure' is my take on the busy and prosperous Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL where ArtWeMe Contemporary Gallery is located. The facade of Pavilion KL is depicted in all it's glory on the right of the painting. Like the city, 'Azzure' is a hotpot of hard vs. soft edges, stark lines juxtapose softer washes of oil paint in turpentine. There is a sense of balance and harmony, like a wet and rainy evening, where the lights bleed down the road - Illuminating the vibrant street scene. In the distance, the horizon line is fixed in the center of the work, shows a conglomerate of lights, shapes, people & cars receding in the distance. 2 primary oil pigments were used throughout this minimal and guttural painting; Mars Black and Titanium White. 'Azzure' is a play on the word 'Azure', which means a very bright blue like a sunny sky, or sapphire. 'Usurp', 36x36 inches
Oil on canvas, 2021 (Sold, but available as a print) I've been painting Cityscapes over the course of 7 years. There has been a constant refining to the techniques, palette and narrative - seeking to unify all disciplines in my creative endeavours; from harmony to mood. Emotion to objectivity. Composition to performance. Style and design to relevance. In essence, the works are meant to capture the monumental buildings and towers that are rife in any busy metropolitan city across the world. They are a reminder that even in these overcrowded steel skylines, there is beauty and energy in everything. Most details are done away with in place of mood and the paintings are generally completed in a few sittings. The paintings are a way to extend the romantic appreciation of architecture. A nostalgic nod to the city, its space and the concept of decay. It’s not my intention to paint scenes with lots of details, but in a more reasonable way of painting the mood of the city and it’s nocturnal energy. |
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