CORE contemporary art

Art Expo Malaysia: Art For All 2022

Group Exhibition:-

Ain Rahman
Atiqah Khairul Anuar
Falil Johari
Hannah Nazamil
Nawwar Shukriah Ali (Bonostellar)
Hana Zamri

V.I.P Preview: 7th April 2022

Public Admission: 8th – 10th April 2022

Chics

GMBB, Kuala Lumpur

E- Catalogue

*Click on images to zoom in

There has been a notable increase in local women artists engaging actively in the art scenes. From seminal exhibitions, major regional competitions, and prestigious art residencies — local as well as abroad — these artists are seen developing works ranging from the most conventional to the most contemporary. 

The emergence of varying content following their art practices has set a trend that is due to the challenges caused by the stigmatization and stereotypes of women in art. The revitalization of local women artists to react and respond to the disproportionate involvement between genders in the art scene alone has sparked immediate interest in the art industry. 

There was, and still is, an inherent struggle for overdue recognition for women in art locally speaking, and while we have been seeing a narrowing gap over the years, the imbalance is still striking to this day. Contemporary art scenes inconsequently have shaped society’s perception of how women in art integrate a diverse set of practices, which by extension also encourages new visual dialects. 

The idea of Chics came about to shift the notion of a set of beliefs that are typically associated with women in art. Women as artists are always bombarded with critical evaluation of femininity, bypassing their individualistic interpretations of what it truly entails according to their perspectives and preferences.

In putting it bluntly, Chics is an idea of elevating women artists that conform to current times. There is a delicate sophistication that can be understood and seen in this exhibition — a limitation on the choice of a palette of black and gold serves as a reminder that women are perceived, then and now, as an embodiment of grace and elegance. With it, comes the refined and yet intimate artworks which convey an aura of profound modishness to the overall look.

Core Design Gallery presents a selection of six women artists that showcased insightful thought processes that offer an exploration of the geometric elements, a play with psychedelic patterns, combined with conventional paintings versus unconventional, and masterful sculptural pieces. 

Artists highlights include Ain Rahman, Atiqah Anuar, Falil Johari, Hannah Nazamil, Hana Zamri and Nawwar Shukriah Ali.

Ain Rahman

So many wishes and dreams, but such a long way to go. 

I am portraying my hope and energy through this sculpture, the soft fabrics attached with such a hard metal rod represent how weak myself as a person trying to stretch my all out just to pass through the challenges of life. The golden mirror at the back of the black structure metal rod represents the shooting stars who hold all the wishes and dreams i wish to be fulfilled. 

It is okay to wait and struggle for a while, even the prettiest stars blink alone in the darkest space.

Make a wish.

Atiqah Khairul Anuar

A big mirror means a big reflection of oneself. I have always heard people around me who are self-conscious about themselves. As an artist, I am also struggling with my self-doubt. Doubting of what I should paint next, hence the artwork ‘Ebony’, which is an empty frame. The work ‘Obscure’ is me covering a big mirror that is beautifully framed in gold. Afraid of the image it might reflect, the paper covers it. But the tear is what i see as the courage of acceptance. A metaphor of coming out from the dark or trying to accept all flaws and beauty in oneself.

Falil Johari

Suns is an afterthought. It rouses no visual immediacy besides being a minimal piece of painting — It holds certain importance of value to me as an artist but a mere confrontation on what it should say, upon seeing it, usually ended up being nothing more, nothing less. Sol Lewitt said in his paragraph on conceptual art: to work with a plan that is preset is one way to subjectivity. I wonder myself if a subject should be considered into this work — and frankly, I see none. I derived the idea from the beginning that it could have been the same as my paintings before; about space. About open endedness that these lines brought forth that has felt infinite, yet finite. Eventually, I feel that it has resolved into ‘blocking’ these lines.

The Suns came about unbidden, of course. Suns purposefully acted as life-giver to the interconnecting lines that unearth the mundane sensation of the eye. It is, for some reason, a reclaim of the typical perceptual art to evoke perhaps, if I am allowed, a visual tension and depth to it. 

Hana Zamri

Discovering new folds and textures through manipulating painted canvases, embroidery and ripped paper collage, where the material flows and landscape emerges, and unite into a diamond-like shape; this artwork represents an identity shift where the terms such as ‘contouring’ and ‘re-shaping’ may mould into the expressions of longing, inner-conflict and at the same time, sensation. Could this also be the embodiment of the feminine? 

Hannah Nazamil

I believe that material, like us humans, has its intelligence. Meaning that they can tell you what they can and cannot be as well as behave in ways that as much as we believe we control the medium, it controls its maker too. They control us in how we behave, in how we pay attention, our stance, and our level of control towards the medium. 

With my works, there is a push and pull between the dyes and water as well as how it converses with a more conventional medium like acrylic. The dyes move in ways that you can view water and how it weaves through the strands of raw fibres. It is practically an agent to free the time within the movement of water but it also inhabits it as the space is allowing itself to take over; as I paint a layer of acrylic over it, it reacts to the medium as well. It bleeds through the paint and in turn, gives the medium a level of translucency allowing the two to co-exist where one does not overpower the other. 

It is intriguing to me how one is so organic but has a large presence and looks as if I have less control over it and how it is opaquer and easier to control with its sharp edges but has ways of letting the organic flow along with it.

Nawwar Shukriah Ali

In the process of creating these new works, I reflected a lot on having a balance in life. Between the conscious and subconscious, between the good and the bad and at the same time balancing between the feminine and the masculine within the self. The two sets of artworks come with a pair that balances out the other, a composition that tells you to need the other to learn and understand where the middle is and reflect on how having said balance is important in life.

Top