Malaysia-poland Residency Program Preview Show

c 2009 carimasajalantukar and the artists

Sabri Idrus

Nasir Baharuddin

Keroncong Series (revisited)

Art+Tecture(s)

Since the beginning of his career, for Sabri, art is a way of life, along with all its complexities. His belief in art making, especially paintings as an inherent social process that submerged him in technical and material advancement through experiments. By this, increases his sensitivity in the visual language and other artistic possibilities. Initially trained as a graphic designer, Sabri embarked on a life long search in his creative direction, and had experienced a very significant change in his journey of self-discovery. What he usually regarded as his secondary interests, i.e. graphic design and digital prints, have significantly contributed to his process in mastering his own visual language. The elements of balance and surprises, discovered through the exploration of contrasts, an aesthetic strategy he often used with his digital sketches merged into a kind of extrasensory mechanism that usually works efficiently for his later development of works on canvas. One thing that attracted Sabri were the experiments in basic elements; playing around with lines, space, volumes and colors. These basic elements were always being put into tests in his works; considering the notion that meaning within those elements are complex, slippery, multifaceted and indeterminate. Parallel to this, Sabri also often uses paint as paint, colors as colors and forms as forms. Most revealing about his approach in creating his progressive body of works is the fostering inscrutability for aesthetic reasons. From his vantage point of view on aesthetic obscurantism, missing or indefinable knowledge is seen as simply another aspect of his works’ inherent “incompleteness”; an open-ended approach that allows him to flexibly take them to another level for further development. Sabri’s interests in those obscurantism lies in his details of creating marks and prints of in-between spaces, tension voids, jagged edges, the tension of the transition during the process of making and moments that are frozen and captured within different strategic operations. His anxiety in experiencing surprises during his process holds both excitement and also danger. This risk had cost him a lot in the production of his works, but at the same time making Sabri being more ready and open towards the inevitable consequences. It is a bittersweet comfort in his tendency in liberating painting from cliché narrative and forced meanings. This series of digital prints are sets of revisited works from his previous paintings, captured and manipulated digitally into fragments of repetitive patterns. This series of ‘seductively’ composed patterns are his exploration in making marks through the process of layering, embedding, contrasting and so on in order to produce something that is almost impossible to achieve in conventional paintings. In the process of producing works that are regarded as contemporary, Sabri uses digital technology, combined with skillful photography and painting works to celebrate the existentialism of his development of work through the acts of exploration, research, finding and data recording.

Nasir strongly believes in discovery of living systems theory, which he derived from exploring the world of philosophy, literature and the sciences. His purpose in this journey is to structure the law of natural systems through their scientific decoding into works of art. His previous paintings often try to discover a minimalist form-world of signs as distinct shapes and points, as they are enigmatic in their content. In addition to his ideas are proposals on the advancement of language on visual systems and its content using geometrical rules and methodologies. His studies put forth the idea of natural and living systems, which are constructed based on abstracting calculation and matrix of knowledge as a visual phenomenon or object. Derived from the theory of the occurrence of objects, a psychological approach that includes human anxiety, eccentricity, imagination, reality and between conscious and subconscious phenomenon were constructed. These analyses indicate the process of natural and living systems - the self organizing systems, consisting nature abstraction that transform into basic knowledge and law of existence to all the visual phenomena and human creation. His philosophical attitudes that are inattentive to the values and needs for spirituality have paved alternative scientific approaches to visual interpretation. The intent of all of these acts in the production of his works is actually an act of obedience, purification, improvement and enlightenment to the heart. “Prosperous is he who purifies it” (Quran, 91:9). These acts are to achieve the illumination of faith in what he is doing, which means the shining of the light of knowledge. His mind has always been attracted to the mathematical sciences in accordance with the “abstract” character of the doctrine of Oneness (Tawhid), which lies from the law of natural systems, where uniformity within multiplicity is the characteristic in regard to time and space. Art+Tecture(s) are photographic works that communicate the architectural representation of beauty - holistically and mystically. The dynamism and provocative moment of the architectural pieces are captured in a dynamic perspective convention. Spatial interaction, either visible or not, as Rudolph Arnheim says: “the world of images does not simply imprint itself upon a faithfully sensitive organ”. Rather, in looking at an object, we try to reach out on it. We move through space around us, go out to distant places where things are found, touch them, catch them, scan their surfaces, trace their borders, measure their lines and so on. It is an eminently active occupation. The work of lenses and filters emphasize on angles that create their exterior monologue of the living space and meaning - a visual paradox within the emptiness and natural objects. The architectural structure describes underlying cognitive processes, influencing human perception on natural environment. Though these photographs could not easily have envisaged outside the parameters of images, the parameters of the frozen moments are results of operations that provoke to elucidate his intention on this series of works.

Hafiz Amirrol

Information, orders and enquiries

Measuring Series

Hafiz is an architect working in the field of humanitarian works and academic research. Fascinated by the aesthetics of visual encounters and the personal radiance of human existence, Hafiz has placed the main focus of his works on social and contextual issues and humanity. He also sees design as being sexy, playful and provocative as an effective way to respond to social change and declared that architecture as a very powerful tool for humanity. The Measuring Series are attempts to communicate architectural visual encounters within a certain journey through the process which involve gathering historical, strategic, political or other datasets and redefining the territory through particular terms, expanded upon specific themes based on findings from his earlier investigations. These investigations through his earlier works were testimonies against the conventional techniques of drawings, diagrams, models, collage and photography at differing scales. These representations combined planometric, sectional and three-dimensional drawings as temporal techniques – which are represented in a more innovative and provocative manner.

AnaWorks Sdn Bhd (Norhana Yunos) 51A, Jalan SS 2/30 47300 Petaling Jaya Selangor, Malaysia T +6 (012) 345 8642 E [email protected]

All artworks measures 30” x 30” (76.2cm x 76.2cm) Digitally manipulated photographs, collage, and drawings

Acknowledgement Poland Embassy in Malaysia and Malaysia Poland Business Association

PREVIEW SHOW

Art Residency and Cultural Exchange Program

Keroncong Series (revisited): 01.Masa Satu 02.Masa Dua 03.Masa Tiga 04.Masa Empat 05.Masa Lima 06.Masa Enam 07.Masa Tujuh 08.Masa Lapan 09.Masa Sembilan 10.Masa Sepuluh Art+Tecture(s): 11.Threshold of the Invisible 12.Monastic Odyssey 13.Enfilade Dissolution 14.After Image 15.Ludic Tension 16.Only Halfway Escape Measuring Series: 17.Measures of Control 18.Measures of Cut 19.Measures of in Between 20.Measures of Balance

This Art Residency Program will function as an international laboratory for research, education and development in art, architecture and urbanism. Bridging fine arts and architecture through the academic education and research with professional acuity, it is hoped that this proposed program will help in the production and development of innovative knowledge that is applicable to fine arts and architectural practice as part of a transnational discourse and culture interaction. Participants for this proposed Residency Program in Poland will pursue extensive research into the processes of understanding the social-cultural-economic context of Poland, seen from the eyes of Malaysians. Through investigative, experimental and speculative research process, the aim of this intensive program is to advance research related to arts, architecture and urbanism of Poland and Malaysia by connecting participants to the real conditions of both worlds. These experience and understanding are soon to be shared with public and others through progressive post-residency activities. The participants which consists of two fine artists from various discipline and experience, joined together with one architect and one art manager, who share the same vision towards a progressive art, architecture and urbanism sees this Residency Program in Poland as a platform towards defining what art and architecture can contribute towards the social and cultural advancement of Malaysia. This Residency Program also aspires to initiate a transformative impact on the art and built environment by producing polemical art and architectural research understanding through the production of artworks, research papers, reports and others.