Art Expo 2018: Project Room by Wei-Ling Gallery
For their first participation in Art Expo Malaysia, Wei-Ling Gallery presents a project room entitled ‘Tanah Air’.
‘Tanah Air’ refers to Motherland, Homeland, Country, and Countryside. To these definitions lie the heart of this project, which comprises of works by Chong Kim Chiew, Chin Kong Yee and Chen Wei Meng.
Referencing archival maps of the region and depicting countryside and cityscapes around us, this project invites audiences to look at their country and region as seen through the lenses of three artists. It is through artists’ perceptions of places or scenes that may be all too familiar to us, that we are encouraged to see a new point of view, to ponder, contemplate and question.
’Tanah Air’ brings us back to the foundation of who we are and the ground upon which our feet rest.
Chong Kim Chiew
Chong Kim Chiew’s art practice provokes us to rethink our national aspirations. His paintings explore the idea of ‘trace’, including notion of tracing, usage of tracing paper, the act of copying, and the subject itself (one who traces). Through his works, he hopes to seek, trail and explore the roots and deeper meanings of matters.
His art expresses the powerful structures of geography, the flow of history and the overlapping of identities. His installations are often connected to the social and political environment of each exhibition site, in relation to space and architecture. He believes in meanings behind each material adopted, which vary and evolve according to cultural contexts and environmental factors; materials are never static, but fluctuate.
His body of work challenges the classical meanings of borders and frontiers today, suggesting the birth of new identities, cultural hybridisation, co-existence and diversity. These concepts are expressed through different kinds of techniques ranging from painting, photography, video installation and mix media work, often challenging the multiple ways of perceiving maps.
Chong Kim Chiew (b 1975) has exhibited widely in Malaysia since 1994. One of his major solo exhibitions, ‘Be Careful or You May Become the Centre’ was held at Wei-Ling Contemporary in 2015. His works have been shown internationally in China, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Singapore, and are in the collection of the Singapore Art Museum (SAM).
Chin Kong Yee
Chin Kong Yee’s paintings display his continuous search to capture his own experience of a time and place. Known for his wonderful fish-eye lens work, his works evoke a somewhat surreal feeling. By combining the present, past and future through a depiction of two perspectives (realistic and unrealistic) his paintings have an exciting, dramatic edge about them that draws the viewer into his space. Chin Kong Yee seeks his audience to feel and see what he has experienced in the creation of his artwork.
He has labeled his style as Actuality Accorded Painting (AAP), whereby, in painting and portraying an object, it has to have existed and undergone the process of being real, in order for it to be translated onto the canvas as art. AAP is basically the act of “seeing” where the past, present and future are enveloped into one when one looks at an object. Once eye contact has been made through AAP, the images become the past. To Chin Kong Yee, nothing is ever stagnant. Images are continuously changing and evolving as you look at them. Space can never be measured or fixed and it is only present in the mobility of time.
His infinite canvas paintings saw the artist taking the depiction and perception of cities and landscapes to another level, where each diptych can be rearranged, so as to allow multiple arrangements and perspectives of the same place.
Chin Kong Yee (b 1973) lives and works in Kuala Lumpur. His inspiration comes from the places he visits. His works have been widely exhibited internationally in Germany, Romania, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Korea, and Taiwan and collected by numerous corporate and private collectors.
Chen Wei Meng
Chen Wei-Meng’s ‘muse’ is his landscape.
Born in Dungun in 1965, Chen Wei-Meng spent his formative years living and growing up in and around the small towns of Terengganu. His love affair with Terengganu began as a child as he grew up living and playing on the beaches and throughout his life he has always felt a need to document its ever-changing character, moods and vistas.
The beauty of Chen Wei Ming’s works have to be seen up close and personal as he painstakingly paints each blade of grass and every grain of sand, in a bid to take us to that place, to share with us the absolute purity of this glorious land. His emotional connection with this land is evident as seen in his breath-taking canvases that manage to capture the dramatic weather changes and mood of the country, but at the same time emanate with a pervasive sense of solitude and serenity.
As the artist aptly says, “I have an absolute sentimental attachment to this land. I am grateful to have the ability to paint, so that I can interpret what I see and feel in my paintings. My paintings are truly my statement. Nature always gives, and it only needs a little effort to be aware of it. I have an acute sense of the observation of nature and I believe that once the heart is quiet and calm, everyone can see the beauty in nature. I never use knowledge to paint – instead, I use my eyes to judge and my instinct to lead. The painting process involves seeing and instinct, as it is an interaction of paints to create an illusion of space on a plane surface.”
MATRADE Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC), Kuala Lumpur is located at Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
12th – 13th October 2018 (11.00am – 8.00pm), 14th October 2018 (11.00am – 7.00pm)
Please call +60322828323/ +60322601106 or email: noel.weilinggallery@gmail.com for more information.
