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Egn Going To Japan

So,

I was selected to join this awesome curatorial workshop.
we were given a task.
propose an art project related to curation, theme "future curation now".
three got selected to be given funding.
I was one of the three.
the funding includesd a  weeks study trip to Tokyo Japan.
So, I'll be packing my bags again very soon.

my hope with my art project: to bring Sabah Art Scene to a whole different level. hopefully.

here some clippings from the Japan foundation Website:

The Japan Foundation will be holding “Curators’ Workshops” from this year as part of the cultural-collaboration program for Southeast Asia. Workshops have already been held in February and March of this year in Jakarta and Manila, and one will be held again this June in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

The concept and role of “curators” depend entirely on the institutions, history and environments of the arts of each country. Therefore, what we aim to achieve in and from the workshops is to develop a shared understanding of the similar problematics, and, through extensive discussions, to explore each of the “curatorship” roles in the artistic fields in Japan and Southeast Asian countries. From this, we seek to establish the artistic field’s network of the next-generation.

After this workshop, we will invite a few young curators from four countries to Japan in August and September, and develop a shared awareness of the conditions and situations in Japan. With these processes, we plan to organize exhibitions and art projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand during the year 2014.

here's the link for further info, grants and future projects can be seen here...come see:

http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/culture/exhibit/exchange/1406/06-01.html

Malaysian Contemporary art: project 70 days

Malaysian contemporary art: my first gallery solo

My first solo exhibition was in a community hall in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

My second solo was in a spa treatment Centre,  in Kampung Air, Kota Kinabalu, North Borneo.

I think it was after I won the governor's award that the state art gallery has a reason for me to exhibit in their building.

So this year, its official that I have been offered to do my first gallery solo, in a gallery, hehehe. We are looking at November, so i can think of a kick ass concept..

Stay tune for more news ya...

second solo flyer...frameless

first solo flyer....RIP

Malaysian contemporary art: CAG goes to school!

the picture above is the gang and the students of a local university in Kota Kinabalu ,Sabah, North Borneo. Along with their Lecturer Miss Maznah.

Me and the Cracko art group are now going in to institutions, namely universities, to give talks and sharing on contemporary art.

We guessed its important because in this part of the country, contemporary art is something very foreign and strange matter to people like the ones we met in PTPL College Kota Kinabalu. The idea of conceptual art is very new to them, I wont say this is a bad thing, but rather this is a good place to start experiencing contemporary art, so to speak.

end of the day, both parties, the students and the speakers which is me and the crackos, learn a lot from each other. good and bad infos all round.

Now we sendings more proposals to other institutions in the city to see where we do this kinda exercise again, because its so much fun, plus we get to play with their heads for a bit.

still a long way to go.... Hidup Seni Sabah!!

new years revolution

well ok.

my so called revolution is taking a bit longer than i imagined , but its all good.

oh thanks to Michele all the way from Vancouver, Canada, now I actually know that this blog could impact people from the other side of this world, all this while I thought no one was reading these stuff, thanks Michele!!

so,
is it too late for a new year's resolution?
I dont have anything specific, just that i just want to travel more in the name of art and do art all year long as much as i can and still have fun with art in the process.

I wanna make new friends, near or far

young or old

crazy or sane

u name it.... i dont care that much.

oh, i wanna read more, sing more, probably dance if i could coordinate my body to...

so yeah, 2014 will be a crazy trip ...again. I just hope everyone following this blog will have as much fun as I will this year, perhaps more...yeah... Viva la revolucion! hehe

swim in our babagon, oil on canvas, 2013,sold

The Singapore Biennale 2013

The singapore biennale was cool.

A lot of culture. A lot of new and brave ideas.

At first it got me worried as an artist. Worried because we needed to push ourselves much further in the future to create this healthy competitive atmosphere. I was, at a point, creating images in my head, creating a culture as reference for me. My own culture, a new one.

Then I stopped, and looked back to a reference point in sabah art. The existing culture that we already have for hundreds of years perhaps thousands.  And I realized that perhaps in a place where culture is not remembered as references anymore: you tend to recreate a new one, out of every day imagery, and probably it might be influenced by Western civilization...mtv..Hollywood...these entities are pumping their culture into our minds every single day non stop.

And we believe that is the new culture.

It is not the fault of outsiders if your stand is brittle.

All these while, I might have been looking at the wrong direction.

Medium, execution, presentation yes: use all influences from outside no matter how pop culture or how bizarre there are....but subject matter, let it alway, always, always , always be from the inside of you: your country,  your community, your body,  let it always come from your heart.

Subject matter will always sound cliché in a sence that it might be repeated over and over again, but thats the idea of promoting your culture and beliefs to the world, hollywood has been making remakes after remakes of movies, novels,  comics over and over again and it always seems fresh! I know We can do it too  ...

I dont know if my rambling is making any sense , but I hope u get something good from reading this post. Thank you for reading.