Date: September 22 – October 7, 2016
Venue: The Edge Galerie, G5-G6, Mont’ Kiara Meridin, 19 Jalan Duta Kiara, Mont’ Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur (permanently closed)
Siang & Malam: The Landscape in Mind is contemporary artist, Jai’s, 27th solo exhibition, showcasing 12 landscape paintings charged with meanings associated with Malaysia today.
A contemporary Malaysian artist who is always pushing boundaries in search of new processes, Jalaini Abu Hassan, or Jai as he is better known, presents a new body of work in his first solo exhibition at The Edge Galerie.
Siang & Malam: The Landscape in Mind is Jai’s 27th solo exhibition, showcasing 12 landscape paintings charged with meanings associated with Malaysia today.
Characterised by vibrant hues and monochromatic compositions, Siang & Malam contains “fragmented narratives” — derived from travel notes, postcards and snapshots — in an attempt to recollect, rearrange or retell stories and meanings.
“Siang & Malam is my first attempt to focus on breaking away from the monotony or uniformity of ‘series’ by switching from one mode to another — like the camera mode for day and night,” Jai says.
The main subject is related to the landscape, largely used as a device or tool to make personal statements.
The “Siang” section sees an almost postcard-like snapshot with an intense colour palette suggesting the “beautiful” and idyllic view, with a twist in the new narrative composed by the artist.
“Malam” features a more mysterious approach to the unknown and an almost surreal landscape.
The works feature “subtle clues” that hint at the historical and/or political narrative associated with Malaysia that the 53-year-old artist says, “I cannot fully run away from.”
“And I am more than pleased to allow the viewer to wonder — with their own agenda — in reading my work.”
As a “process painter”, Jai is interested in the exploration of the act of creation that goes into forming a work, the exploration of material and media and the marks that form a drawing.
His works are inspired by current affairs, expressed using local and familiar imagery focused through his personal lens of nostalgia and history.
Jai obtained his bachelor’s degree from MARA Institute of Technology in 1985 and pursued his education with scholarships at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art in London, where he obtained his master’s degree, and the Pratt Institute in New York where he received a master of fine art degree.
With the support of IJM Land, The Edge Galerie presents Jalaini Abu Hassan’s Siang & Malam: The Landscape in Mind in line with its endeavour to promote and cultivate Malaysian art.
ARTWORKS
