Mixed Media Exhibition Revisits Malaysia’s Contemporary Art Evolution

By Norhidayyu Zainal

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- Amid Malaysia’s rapid development and shifting lifestyles between the 1980s and 2010s, mixed media emerged as one of the defining approaches that shaped the country’s contemporary art movement.

Through the combination of materials such as metal, wood, photography, prints, everyday objects and recycled items, artworks from the period not only showcased visual experimentation but also reflected the social, cultural and identity shifts experienced by Malaysians during an era of urbanisation and modernisation.

In line with this, the ‘Mixed Media from the Golden Period of Malaysian Contemporary Art’ exhibition at Yap Ah Shak House here, which runs until May 31, offers the public an opportunity to explore the evolution of mixed media through 32 works by 20 Malaysian artists from the Aliya & Farouk Khan (AFK) Collection.

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Exhibition curator Zena Khan said mixed media became one of the key drivers of Malaysian contemporary art as the movement began expanding in the 1980s before accelerating through the 1990s and into the 21st century.

“Mixed media also paved the way for conceptual and installation art, which later became highly significant within the local art scene,” she told Bernama recently.

According to Zena, the artworks on display illustrate how Malaysian artists used mixed media to capture the changes taking place in society during a period marked by rapid urban growth, media expansion and evolving lifestyles.

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“For me, the art from that era is extraordinary because, without needing too much explanation, you can immediately feel the transformation Malaysian society was going through at the time.

“Urbanisation, the development of the Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur Tower and highways, as well as the changing lifestyles, were all seemingly captured within these artworks,” she said.

Among the artists featured in the exhibition are Ahmad Shukri, Fauzan Omar, Ahmad Fuad Osman, Zulkifli Yusoff, Hasnul J. Saidon, Rajinder Singh, Shooshie Sulaiman, Choy Chun Wei, Justin Lim, Umibaizurah Mahir Ismail, Abdullah Jones and Tan Chin Kuan.

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Zena also described Ahmad Shukri as one of Malaysia’s key mixed media figures, while Fauzan Omar is regarded as among the pioneers who introduced the approach into the local contemporary art movement after studying abroad.

She said one of the main challenges involving mixed media and installation works is storage, as many pieces are large in scale and created using materials that are difficult to preserve.

“In the early years of Malaysia’s contemporary art movement, some artists were forced to destroy important works because they lacked storage space and could not afford the cost of preserving them, leaving some works surviving only through documentation and archival photographs,” she said.

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The exhibition also follows the success of the AFK Collection’s ‘To Know Malaysia is To Love Malaysia: Highlights from the AFK Collection’ exhibition at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, previously, which helped bring Malaysian contemporary art to an international audience.

According to Zena, the Abu Dhabi exhibition drew the attention of curators and representatives from international institutions, including the Louvre and Guggenheim, which were impressed by the intellectual depth, humour and cultural complexity found in Malaysian artworks.

“We brought Malaysian artworks to Abu Dhabi and many international curators and art practitioners were surprised by the techniques and approaches used by Malaysian artists.

“They know Malaysia, but they had never seen the country through the lens of contemporary art in this way,” she said, adding that the ‘Mixed Media from the Golden Period of Malaysian Contemporary Art’ exhibition is also supported by CIMB Artober.

-- BERNAMA