Malachi Edwin Vethamani’s latest poetry collection 'Rambutan Kisses' and Shivani Sivagurunathan’s 'Being Born' will be launched at Merdekarya, Bukit Gasing in Petaling Jaya on Feb 18. Photo: Handout
POETRY: MAYA PRESS BOOK LAUNCH
Venue: Merdekarya, Petaling Jaya
Date: Feb 18, 4pm
Poetry takes the spotlight with a double bill launch event, featuring Shivani Sivagurunathan’s Being Born and Malachi Edwin Vethamani’s latest collection Rambutan Kisses, at Merdekarya, Bukit Gasing in Petaling Jaya on Feb 18. Both books, published by Maya Press, were part of the programme at last year’s George Town Literary Festival in Penang.
At this upcoming Petaling Jaya meet-up, Shivani and Malachi will also have a conversation about their books in a session hosted by writer Sandeep Ray.
Being Born by Shivani brings to the fore a poet of the Indian diaspora, one who sketches out the contour and its special confluence of Tamil and Malaysian cultures.
Rambutan Kisses is a new collection of poems from Malachi, which were written over the past five years. The Malaysia-flavoured poems cover a wide range of experiences, a spectrum of emotions, tensions within, and responses to the changing world of the 21st century.
Free admission. Event starts at 4pm.
More info here.
Adam Phong's 'Abyssproduct' (oil, acrylic, graphite and thread on canvas, diptych, 2022). Photo: G13 Gallery
ART: ADAM PHONG'S 'LIVINGBRIBE'
Venue: G13 Gallery, Petaling Jaya
Date: ends March 4
This weekend, G13 Project Room is opening a new show titled Livingbribe, a solo exhibition by emerging artist Adam Phong. This exhibition focuses on his obsession with hybrids. The title conveys his thought process of randomly creating words to evoke new meanings and a different set of feelings.
Phong's art-making process offers a combination of painting and sculptural treatment, with the concept of "hybridity" is given the spotlight.
"My feeling is that all artists are world-builders and what thrills me is blurring the lines between other worlds so I can create my own," says Phong in the exhibition notes.
More info here.
Faizal Sidek standing beside one of his artworks seen at the 'Pixel' exhibition in KL. Photo: Handout
ART: FAIZAL SIDEK'S 'PIKSEL'
Venue: Creative Space, Jalan Ampang, MATIC KL
Date: ends Feb 28
Faizal Sidik's fourth solo exhibition Piksel showcases his creative style across more than 30 works, which are paintings and sculptures produced in the last four years.
This new exhibition, inspired by graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block, also serves as a continuation of Faizal's work seen in his previous exhibition Songket Paintings, which travelled to six states (from 2017-2020).
At the Piksel show, Faizal - now a full-time artist - deftly blurs the the line between local traditional motifs and grid designs. His large painting Suprarupa Garden (in four panels) that anchors the exhibit took him nearly three years to complete, while a series of three circular paintings, mixed media drawings and also wooden sculptures offer visitors an insight into the artist's diverse directions.
More info here.
Choy Chun Wei's 'Parade Of Remote Gazes' (mixed media relief on wooden panel, 2022-2023). Photo: Wei-Ling Gallery
ART: CHOY CHUN WEI'S 'CHANGING IDENTITY'
Venue: Wei-Ling Gallery, Jalan Scott, Brickfields, KL
Date: ends March 4
Choy Chun Wei’s Changing Identity is a compendium of works which are ‘built-up’ images, a process the artist described as ‘liberating’. He deconstructs a whole object into various parts, which in turn transforms into an entity in its totality when seen from the viewer’s eyes.
As a result, common texts and images are constantly in a state of flux and become terrifyingly unstable. The objects are another way to see the integration of texts and form as well as the "conventionalised" anatomy appropriate to our times.
“This collection of expressionistic paintings and totemic object works is about how we live and communicate, and its effect on human identities. We have become detached, remote, and homogenised,” says Choy.
More info here.
A view of the ‘Bakul: Everyday Baskets From Sabah’ exhibition at The Godown in KL, which features 70 traditional baskets from the collection of Sabahan writer, researcher and art collector Jennifer P. Linggi. Photo: The Star/Low Boon Tat
EXHIBITION: 'BAKUL: EVERYDAY BASKETS FROM SABAH'
Venue: The Godown, KL
Date: ends Feb 23
The Godown arts space is hosting the Bakul exhibition, which features a collection of traditional Borneo baskets from Sabahan author and collector Jennifer P. Linggi.
This weekend is the exhibition's final weekend. As a send-off, there will be a "Tamu" event and a series of talks, workshops, performances, right to handicraft, book, and food events to celebrate these humble baskets from Sabah which have been the “tenants” at The Godown these past two months.
At 6.30pm today, don't miss the impromptu site specific solo performance by Sabahan dancer Rithaudin Abdul Kadir, who will be interacting with the Bakul exhibition at the Main Hall of The Godown.
By walking through the Bakul exhibition, you can also learn more about Tadang, Reng, Takiding, Wakid, Barait, Saiyon and other everyday baskets, which are used for domestic activity, farming, hunting, gathering and ritualistic practises in Borneo. A selection of photos and items collected from an excursion to Kampung Bakuku in Sabah are also on display as part of the exhibition.
This is a no-shoes exhibition at The Godown. Opens daily noon-6pm (Monday-Thursday) and noon-7pm (Friday-Sunday). Admission is free, with registration required.
More info here.
A photography work from Peris titled 'Bark Of Tree - Study (II)'. Photo: Sutra Gallery
PHOTOGRAPHY: 'ERIC PIRES - ERIC-ISMS'
Venue: Sutra Gallery, KL
Feb: ends March 3
Sutra Gallery is presenting an exhibition of hand-coloured dark room prints by lensman Eric Peris titled ERIC-ISMS. These "one of its kind" A/P prints, based on nature, were created from 1995 to 1998.
Peris, now in his early 80s, is a celebrated camera-wielding pioneer in Malaysia, who convinced the masses that photography is ‘art’ and the medium has a rightful place in a gallery.
He started his career in the 1960s and through the decades, his Zen-like approach towards his work has inspired younger photographers to study and emulate his path.
More info here.
