THE ENERGY TRAP: Painting & Sculpture
Art Exhibition
Thu 8 to Fri 23 Apr
Opening Hours: Sun to Fri, 11am to 8pm | Sat, 11am to 9.30pm
Presented by Valentine Willie Fine Art
Admission Free
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You are cordially invited to the
THE ENERGY TRAP Exhibition Opening
Thu 8 Apr, 8pm
Refreshments provided
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"The need to be creative heralds the formation of a cellular community, energy moving energy about. It motivates and gathers inspiration, and the end result is an exterior reflection of interior goings-on, albeit abstracted or full of symbolism. Sometimes we forget that art is about energy; personal energy which differs with every individual who tries their hand at being an artist." - Suraya Warden, curator of The Energy Trap
Harnessing the spectacular energy of some of Malaysia’s most interesting contemporary artists, Valentine Willie Fine Art (VWFA) presents The Energy Trap: Painting & Sculpture, a fun and dynamic exhibition curated by Suraya Warden at The Annexe Gallery.
Participating artists include Abdul Latiff Ahmad Padzali, Azam Aris, Bibichun, Cheong Tuck Wai, Fabian Tan, Gan Chin Lee, Hee Chee Way, Lim Keh Soon, Lisa Foo, Low Eng Seng, Mohd Safwan Ahmad, Saiful Razman, Samsuddin Wahab, Syafiq Ali’am, Tan Chee Hon and They.
Featuring works by sculptors and painters, including two prominent graffiti artists, The Energy Trap will showcase a wide range of artistic approaches in one exhibition, putting on a show unlike any seen to date in KL. The exhibition will cater to a diverse crowd of visitors eager to enjoy the energy of today’s art scene, view possibilities in painting and sculpture, and consider where Malaysian contemporary art may be headed for the future.
The artists exhibiting in The Energy Trap were collected together to represent the increasingly assured yet fresh output of current contemporary Malaysian art. Professional and residential proximities and cultural backgrounds unify these artists, but can also serve to highlight their differences and bring to light their unique personalities.
Rather than grouping these artists into a singular unit for show, The Energy Trap aims to apply a basic curatorial lens to examine each individual artist in the general context of creative industry, and exhibit them together as a limited cross-section of the local scene.
The Energy Trap will give visitors a fun opportunity to focus on participating artists, individual works, or the exhibition as a whole, with emphasis on the notion of art as energy. Visitors will also enjoy the chance to informally contemplate ideas of ‘Contemporary Malaysia’ whilst assessing their own energy and the potential global impact of their personal levels of involvement in local arts and culture.
The Energy Trap comes about from a commitment by Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, to focus more intently on supporting Malaysian artists. Through The Energy Trap and other exhibitions, VWFA provides a platform for young artists working in a somewhat hostile market, and reminds us of their relevance, playfulness, distinct messages and need for support.
For general or press enquiries about this exhibition, please email liza@vwfa.net
or call 03-22842348
For general enquiries: info@vwfa.net
Please visit: www.vwfa.net
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CURATOR’S COMMENTS
The Energy Trap
by Suraya Warden, BA (Hons) Art History & Curatorship
While we have explained away a lot of the mysteries of modern art, contemporary art still has that rogue energy about it, and for some viewers all it takes to appreciate contemporary art a little more and to feel a little more comfortable with it is to realise that there is unique energy trapped within each artist. So we have that idea.
Then we have the notion that we can put on a group show and trap all these energies in the one place for people to experience – that’s the potential fun of a group exhibition. Then we have the notion that each work itself is an energy trap – also fun.
We can add to that the idea that the Malaysian art market is an energy trap that is so suffering it can sap the artist’s soul; that school was an energy trap of another kind for them… and it can certainly go on. The term ‘trap’ is not necessarily negative here. The positive take on it is much stronger than the negative could ever be – ‘to capture energy’, well, just feel the buzz in those words!
In the case of young artists especially, who often operate from a place of raw drive and talent – a need to get creative, a need to build, draw, paint, photograph, whatever – the energy is lightning force. Theirs is a different energetic material to that which a mature artist brings to their practice.
When the artist is both young and mature, that mix can create intense chemicalisation, at the artist’s whim. ‘Chemicalisation’ – it’s a word I picked up after reading into all things energy-related; it means to undergo change with the major catalyst being a shifting of energies. So the young and mature artist creates and one might call it ‘talent’ or ‘artistry’ and what we are referring to then is that particular individual’s energy and how it differs from everyone else’s.
From a curatorial perspective, noticing certain energies over others is what we do, and I wanted to give these artists, some of Malaysia’s most interesting practicing today, the respect of applying that basic curatorial principle to them and their work. I want the appeal of this show to be wide, so that anybody might come along to see what the artists are like and what they have to say.
Some of them will have local themes, some universal, you will see.
