The Star, 19 September 2010
Contemporary Arts at Wei-Ling Gallery
by Willy Wilson

Wei-Ling Gallery once again curates an exciting contemporary art exhibition featuring Anurendra Jegadeva.
StarProperty.my reports.

MY GOD IS MY TRUCK—Heroic Portraiture from the Far Side of Paradise by Anurendra Jegadeva
Anurendra Jegadeva is a Malaysian artist who has lived and worked in both Malaysia and Australia. Entitled MY GOD IS MY TRUCK—Heroic Portraiture from the Far Side of Paradise, his exhibition presents 15 new painting installations. Jegadeva took two years to prepare this exhibition. Known for his insightful depiction of social and historical issues, Jegadeva often combines his views on the world based on his experiences and observations. He has worked consistently over the last twenty years to forge radical narrative approaches to local contemporary arts.

Insightful: Jagadeva has worked consistently over the last twenty years to forge radical narrative approaches to local contemporary arts

Insightful: Jagadeva has worked consistently over the last twenty years to forge radical narrative approaches to local contemporary arts

In the current exhibition, Jegadeva develops a range of narrative through refreshing techniques such as recurring motifs, text, colour symbolism, the framing devices of temple carvers and stain-glass makers and comic book artists – all of which emphasise the contemporary feel of his works. The artist admits that his current exhibition stems from his own personal point of view about people around him. The sensitive artist that he is, Jegadeva strongly believes in the enduring power of the painted image.

“As an artist, I am interested in depicting moments of truth with equal measure of intensity and tenderness, of hope and despair.
“Whether dealing with the post-colonial realities of multi-cultural Malaysia, Asian immigrant life in Australia or the war in Iraq witnessed on my TV screen, these versions of the truth are also perceived through layers of satire that disarm the complex realities I seek to capture,” he says.

In conjunction with this exhibition, a series of important publications documenting Anurendra Jegadeva’s illustrious artistic journey to date will be released, including a 160-page artist’s monograph that brings together an expansive selection of significant works from year 2000 to 2010 and a 60-page limited edition alphabet book entitled The ABC According to a Third World Malcontent. According to the gallery’s spokesperson, the contents of both these publications will have a crucial art historical value, as far as their aesthetic and academic merits are concerned.

MY GOD IS MY TRUCK – Heroic Portraiture from the Far Side of Paradise exhibition opens for public from September 13 to October 13, 2010.