{"id":7921,"date":"2015-11-21T17:48:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-21T09:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/?post_type=portfolio&p=7921"},"modified":"2015-11-21T18:03:33","modified_gmt":"2015-11-21T10:03:33","slug":"mind-the-power-by-vivienne-pal","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/portfolio-item\/mind-the-power-by-vivienne-pal\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind the Power by Vivienne Pal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Star, 8 July 2007
\nMind the Power
\nby Vivienne Pal<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Be prepared to journey deep into one man\u2019s psyche in Mind the Gap \u2013 and emerge with reflections about your own mind and soul.<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T look for socio-political commentary in Bayu Utomo Radjikin\u2019s works this time. The artist\u2019s latest solo showcase is, in a nutshell, all about him.
\n\u201cThis is simply a journal of my experiences (from my journey) from Kuala Lumpur to London and back. I\u2019m not commenting on anything; the paintings are open to interpretation,\u201d says Bayu, 38, with an enigmatic smile.
\nI wonder if I should take what he says at face value? Bayu is, after all, a member of Matahati, an artist collective known for emphatic social commentaries in its group exhibitions.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The artist in front of the stunning 11-panel Sand, Skin & Salt (Unfinished) that was painted over a two-year period. Nice to know there\u2019s more to come in this work! \u2013 SAM THAM \/ The Star<\/p><\/div>\n

(The other members of Matahati are Ahmad Fuad Osman, Ahmad Shukri Mohamed, Hamir Soib Mohamed and Masnoor Ramli Mahmud.)
\nBut then, there was Bayu\u2019s Questing for the Warrior ? A Study, a solo exhibition in 2003 that was also a \u201cprobe into the psyche and a journey of self\u201d (as its catalogue put it), so he has done this apolitical \u201clooking into the soul\u201d thing before.
\nIt sounds a tad narcissistic written down in black and white. Yet, when you looked at those works in 2003, they didn\u2019t seem self-absorbed at all. Rather, most triggered self-deliberation and self-reflection in the viewer.
\nAnd so to Mind the Gap. It is, says the artist, a sort of retrospective of a pivotal juncture in his life \u2013 \u201call about him\u201d.
\nComprising works done during and after Bayu\u2019s two-year (2005-2006) sojourn in London, the show documents the changes he experienced within himself and offers evidence of his creative maturity since that last solo show in 2003.<\/p>\n

\"Membayangi\"<\/a>

Membayangi<\/p><\/div>\n

The 29-piece exhibition, currently on at the Wei-Ling Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, offers works loaned by collectors as well as brand new works. They powerfully showcase Bayu\u2019s genius in composition, his superlative understanding of the dimensions of the human figure and his mastery of his medium.
\nAs has been the case since his stint in London, the works feature a fine use of acrylic.
\nWhat of the exhibition\u2019s title?
\n\u201cThere are many allusions to the theme I\u2019ve chosen,\u201d he explains. \u201c\u2018Gap\u2019 could mean the space between the pieces done while in London and those I did when I came back here. Or, in a deeper context, it could mean the changes in my work and my artistic outlook between the time I was in London and in KL.\u201d
\n(Other, more superficial, contextual connections come to mind: London\u2019s subway system, the Tube, is well known for the recorded voice that intones, \u201cMind the gap\u201d when train doors open. And Neil Gaiman fans will recall the celebrated graphic novelist created a monster called the Gap \u2013 hence the warning to mind the gap, supposedly! \u2013 that lives in the space between train and platform in the Tube.)
\nEntering the gallery, my eye is caught immediately by Puisi Jiwa II that features Bayu with arms outstretched and eyes closed, seemingly in welcome, or baring the soul.
\nThis work wasn\u2019t the first in the exhibition\u2019s chronological order, though, I discover. The seeds of the exhibition were actually two seminal pieces, Angel and All Saints (both have since ended up in private collections), that were completed in London and sent back to curator and gallery owner Lim Wei-Ling in 2005.<\/p>\n

\"Bayang\"<\/a>

Bayang<\/p><\/div>\n

Both works were inspired by Bayu\u2019s personal experience of the London subway bombings in July that year.
\nThose two were followed by five others that formed the core of what came to be the London series: Conversation at the Square: Trafalgar (2005), Monologue at Tate Britain (2005), Conversation at Piccadilly Circus (2005) and Conversation by the River Thames (2005).
\nEach piece features an iconic image reflective of the venue alongside selected quotations from William Shakespeare painstakingly painted by hand.
\nWhere the London series displays, to a certain extent, Bayu\u2019s touristy absorption of the locales, the following Europe series \u2013 Words At The Acropolis, Athens (2005), The Parc De Cascada, Barcelona ( 2006), Words At The Louvre, Paris (2006) and Words At The Brandenburger Tor, Berlin (2006) \u2013 shows a rather more adaptive approach to his surroundings.<\/p>\n

The latter series also differs in featuring Malay proverbs instead of quotations from the Bard.
\nThe works that ensued upon his return to Kuala Lumpur earlier this year reveal a fresher aesthetic, a more novel approach to his art and his ideas. Bayu still bares his soul in these works, but does so more subtly.
\nIn these paintings, he offers only partial glimpses of himself \u2013 revealing just enough to be identifiable \u2013 and places more emphasis on the movement of hands and body.
\n\u201cI decided that there should be a greater play on body language rather than facial expressions, unlike the London series,\u201d he agrees.
\nThe dynamic use of colour and stroke gives an impression of space and distance. Through the figurative works, he reveals yet again his mastery in expressing every flexed limb, every nuanced movement.<\/p>\n

\"Stroke<\/a>

Stroke and colour communicate an impression of space and distance in Tanpa Tajuk II.<\/p><\/div>\n

In Membayangi, Dibayangi, Terbayang and Bayang (completed in 2007 upon his return to KL), Bayu speaks of one\u2019s state of mind before, during and after leaving one\u2019s own country for another.
\n\u201cMan is a shadow of his own country; wherever he goes, he is bound to remember his roots,\u201d he explains, referring to himself but, again, making that connection with Everyman.
\nThe pieces show Bayu\u2019s face gradually receding into the background, leaving in the foreground his hands in various contortions, communicating the conflicts of the soul. And, once again, the written word is used to amplify the emotional aspect of each work, this time with the help of the computer, silkscreen and embossing paint.
\nWhile the pieces in Mind the Gap are, in general, astounding in the overall impact they have, perhaps the most impressive is the staggering 11-panel Sand, Skin & Salt (unfinished) 2007, painted over a span of two years, both in London and KL.
\nThe piece is a summary of Bayu\u2019s journey to London and back that speaks to the traveller within us, to our sense of displacement, whether physical, mental or emotional.
\n\u201cIt is about my thoughts and emotions before, during and after my sojourn. It is about me \u2013 us \u2013 being musafir, or \u2018alien\u2019, in a variety of contexts,\u201d he says.
\nIn his quest to reveal what resides in his psyche, Bayu displays an astute use of markers pregnant with universal context. All about him? Yes, but this show is also all about us.<\/p>\n

Bayu Utomo Radjikin\u2019s \u2018Mind the Gap\u2019 is showing until Saturday at Wei-Ling Gallery (No. 8, Jalan Scott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur). Hours: noon to 7pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am to 5pm on Sunday; admission is free.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Star, 8 July 2007 Mind the Power by Vivienne Pal Be prepared to journey deep into one man\u2019s psyche in Mind the Gap \u2013 and emerge with reflections about your own mind and soul. DON\u2019T look for socio-political commentary in Bayu Utomo Radjikin\u2019s works this time. The artist\u2019s latest solo showcase is, in a [...]","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[17],"class_list":["post-7921","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","hentry","portfolio_entries-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/7921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/7921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7921"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=7921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}