Tiffany Chung, 10.75ºN 106.6667ºE 2020, 2008, oil marker on vellum, 70 x 100 cm

Cartographical Lure
VWFA Fine Art
17 June – 4 July 2009

Artistic mapping is a cool idea. It is visually fun and has a point; one that works extremely well for the South Asian art scene as Cartographical Lure, the previous exhibition at Valentine Willie Fine Art, proves. For the community of artists in this region maps are a simple yet extremely potent avenue through which to represent what it is to be both an individual and part of a multicultural whole. Moreover, maps can have personal meaning or be impersonal, and this show that has them interpreted through different materials, including oil markers and digital offset printing, offers them up in glorious variety, from the warm and recognisable to the complicated and distant.

Jason Wee, History of Singapore, 2009, paper and sticker, 59.5 x 84 cm

Gan Siong King, The Loneliest Place in the World, 2009, fiberglass, 306 x 221.5 cm

Jason Wee’s extremely lovable History of Singapore (2009) hits the viewer with an instantaneous and strangely familiar affiliation to the development of local pop culture.  Just next to that, Gan Siong King’s The Loneliest Place in The World (2009), without leaving regional life behind completely somehow, speaks of universal human experience.Get in orbit of this lovely, quiet, black, scratched up, fingerprinted wall hanging and experience the feeling that fiberglass just may be the loneliest material out there. In fact in these two a strange thing is unveiled about maps, a characteristic they share with fine art – that when they make you feel happy it feels good, and when they make you feel unhappy it feels good.

This small group exhibition is a pleasing all-rounder with most works, Tiffany Chung deserves a mention here, well executed. It showcases some extreme talent, such as Nadiah Bamadhaj, who, with 2am and Follow the Road (both 2008), understandably did not separate human interpretation from her, well, interpretation of the map theme.

Nadiah Bamadhaj, Follow the Road, 2008, Charcoal on paper and digital print, 75 x 120 cm

Another highlight, probably the highlight, is Mark Salvatus’s camo-Korea, Comfort Zone (2007) which is accompanied by photographs of the artist showing us that home is where you make it, and where you feel comfortable to create. Chong Kim Chiew’s three works seem like a lot of effort was made for not much of a result, and there is definitely something missing from Bea Camacho’s promising idea of colour coding, but even those that could be considered low-points still hold their own due to the friendly premise of the show.

Mark Salvatus, Comfort Zone, 2007, Found map, ink, acrylic, drawings, photographs

For this gallery, which I like to call The Exhibition Factory, since after a number of visits I have concluded the foundation of an innocent enthusiasm for art is just not there resulting in quite a few minor errors and some vague accompanying essays, the show has hopefully been a success. I hear this is to be a series, and I am definitely looking forward to the next installment of Bangsar based c(art)ography.

(SW)

Bea Camacho, An analysis of relative distance (Family map, January 2006),
2009, Digital offset print, 45 x 30.5 cm

Chong Kim Chiew, Line of Correction (right) and Map of Correction (left), 2009,
Acrylic and marker on canvas, 163 x 122 cm (each)

The exhibition Cartographical Lure was on at Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur from 17 June – 4 July.