In March 2011, Wei-Ling Gallery will present a much-awaited show on their year’s calendar, a solo exhibition by the inimitable Ivan Lam. Two years after his much celebrated Panorama series, which saw Ivan Lam’s paintings going up on a billboard in the city, he will be presenting a series of only 5 new paintings.

This series entitled, Together Alone, will see the juxtaposition of images and themes that have taken precedence in his works in the past, with symbolism, optical theories and colourfields. The monumentality of Together Alone lies in the size of the canvases as Ivan Lam once again aims to stretch his works into another realm with the use of scale and the development of his technique. This body of work demonstrates Ivan Lam at the cusp of his artistic practice as he has spent the last five years mastering the use of synthetic house paints in his works and in this body of work he has experimented with and introduced a fresh new medium, resin, into the artistic process. Togther Alone will be a milestone exhibition as it takes contemporary Malaysian art into a new dimension with an unprecendented scale and quality.

Ivan Lam (b1975) has earned a reputation as one of Malaysia’s leading contemporary artists for his ability to push the boundaries of his art practice. Unafraid to take risks and never content to rest on his laurels, he constantly challenges himself by experimenting with new techniques and mediums in a bid to take his artworks to a new level. In so doing he has managed to reach greater and greater heights and each of his iconic artworks reflect a rare purity and honesty which are reflective in the works of artists who are answerable only to themselves.

Over the last decade he has charted new territory on the contemporary Malysian art scene with his mastery of printmaking and now his conquering of contemporary painting. He has exhibited widely in the local and international arena and has also garnered multiple awards in a 13-year career laden with solo and group exhibitions. His painting Three Buses received a final bid of HKD120,000 three times the higher estimate from Christie’s Hong Kong Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art auction in May 2008.

Ivan Lam is an innovator, a fearless explorer and an obsessive perfectionist – all qualities of a great artist in the making.

Chronology
Ivan Lam graduated with a BA(Fine art Painting) from the Maine College of Art USA in 1998 and returned to Malaysia to begin his career as a fine artist.
Initially known as a printmaker he used the silkscreen as a means to create works that dealt with colour fields and reflected international issues. Seven years later, and having mastered the silkscreen with the back-breaking CMYK series (which unsurprisingly consists of only 10 pieces) in 2005, Ivan Lam was regarded as the country’s most relevant contemporary printmaker.

At this juncture, Ivan Lam made the bold move of shifting his focus from printing to painting.

The After all these years…series saw Ivan Lam creating a suite of only 12 paintings over a course of 3 years(2005-2007) and in giving himself the task of discovering a new approach through the use of synthetic house paints he was able to open up a whole range of possibilities in his art practice. These highly-acclaimed paintings laid the groundwork of what was to come and allowed Ivan Lam to display his fearless approach in tackling unfamiliar territory.

Panorama created between 2007-2009 were a a series of 9 paintings which saw Ivan Lam more confident with his new medium and giving in fully to the painting process.The works which dealt with everyday scenes allowed the viewer to be the protagonist of the panorama that was unfolding before their eyes. Each and every piece was undeniably fresh and powerfully heartfelt and the Panorama series saw Ivan Lam at the peak of his contemporary relevance.

Together Alone a solo exhibition by Ivan Lam features at
Wei-Ling Gallery from 8th March-28th March 2011 and at
Wei-Ling Contemporary from the 1st April-29th April 2011

Wei-Ling Gallery is located at No.8 Jalan Scott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, 50470, Malaysia.
Pls call 03-22601106, 016-9136252 or email weilinggallery@gmail.com for more information.
Wei-Ling Gallery is open Mon-Sat (Mon-Fri 12-7pm, Sat 10-5pm. Closed Sundays and Public Holidays)

Wei-Ling Contemporary is located at G212&213A Ground Floor,
The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur 59200, Malaysia.
Pls call 017-8877216/016-9136252 or email weilingcontemporary@gmail.com for more information.
Wei-Ling Contemporary is open Daily from 10am-10pm.