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You Make Me, 152 x 182 cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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Spectacle, celebration, kitsch and the abandoning of inhibition ripple throughout hyper real events like rock concerts and carnivals. They are brashly beautiful theatres of decadence with elements of the macabre looming in the shadows. Revellers readily consume all the possibilities of such a stage in an attempt to fulfil escapist fantasies. Such stories reveal many characters, rhythms and textures all seemingly memorable but instantly forgettable the morning after. Aswad Ameir’s recent solo show X at Galeri Chandon evokes such a heady panoply of experiences with a thematic focus on music and politics through a confident sampling of pop culture. Musicians, images of conflict, song lyrics and the artists own image entertain and confuse viewers in this circus of visual art.
We Will Protect You, 182 x 243 cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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Battle of Algiers, 152 x 213 cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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In the current contemporary community of appropriated and reappropriated images meaning is an often purposefully open concept. The potency of meaning is therefore dependent on the type of knowledge viewers bring to the gaze of its origin (history) and then it’s recycling/remixing (pop culture). Aswad’s mix tape of images whether of himself as playful, clock work orange agent provacateur, of Lenny Kravitz, Bollywood, or scenes of conflict form a decadent body of work. Highly entertaining due to thoughtful installation, accessibility of subject matter and rich colour composition there are nevertheless no clearly articulated statements (which is useful and problematic throughout the exhibition), with some works feeling rushed rather than purposeful. I wonder if this is ok or not? Should every piece of artwork in a solo show be completely resolved and articulated or can/should audiences accept that some works don’t quite cut the mustard?
In God We Trust, 182 x 243 cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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I Love Bjork, 106 x 213 cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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Perhaps here, the artist just about gets away with it through the agency of kitsch and graphic playfulness used to weave many (dense and shallow) ideas together. This is a psychedelic trip of stimuli. We can see thoughts on celebrity, adulation, the artist commentator, youthful rebellion, Americana, the role of music in culture and the use of found images and appropriation in contemporary art (think Banksy in works such as We Will Protect You).
Mr. Jones, 106 x 213 cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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Although hardly ground breaking in approach, what makes this exhibition experience notable is the fact that this body of work is a violent departure from the artists previous gestural, abstract painting style. Rather than a distant process of intuitive mark making and colour composition Aswad inserts his own dread locked image in intoxicating realist technicolour. Although, works such as You Make Me (that link references to Kravitz and The Doors) are simply too direct a quote to Chuck Close for my liking others such as Pirates Remix are more ambitious constructs.
Pirates Remix, 182 x 213 cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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Metal Head, 182 x 182cm, Acrylic on Canvas
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The one unifying aspect of this exhibition is the signature of the artist consisting of a wax seal imprinted with the letter x followed by the artist’s name. The letter X, ‘X’ marks the spot or Malcolm X as two examples, is marker of significance that can be rewarding, powerful, self-determining and aggressive. Although one interpretation could be a sort of self-indulgent neo-dandy like gesture another could be a marker of a new direction of practice. And that is this exhibition’s main highlight. Although many in the Malaysian art world criticise artists who explore very different ideas and techniques in their practice (you find a marketable formula and stick to it. Because if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right??) I was simply inspired by the energy, playfulness and sheer confidence of this exhibition. In a landscape of artistic anxiety due to the tastes of collectors and dealers it’s good to know artists still want to take risks, to question their practice and reinvent themselves. Rock on.
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Unfortunately I did not get a chance to see this exhibition, but seeing the images above there is one thing which troubles me. And that is….
It’s all been done before.
I fear that some the images I see here are just a rehash of ‘underground’ art of the 1960s, from You Make Me, which could easily been Mac Bolan, to the International Times rip off in We Will protect You.
Maybe the good stuff was left out, but judging by the above images, there is nothing new here.
Move on, please, try different things, experiment.
WOW!
In times when so much of Malaysian art is tired, derivative, or plain technically/aesthetically/conceptually lazy(all of these words come to mind when going to this exhibition), all you can think of is, “whats the point?” when it comes to art criticism.
But yet Eva seems to be tireless in her critique, am very impressed by her constructive and objective review, the thought she puts into the art makes me wonder if the artist has even matched it while making it.
Thumbs up, Eva! :)
P.S Aswad’s courage in shifting his style so drastically is, i agree, indeed admirable. I just wish it was more well done.
mr. jones…. i like!
what is the point of waving a pirate flag in a commercial gallery?
Thanks Eva for the review and Criticism.
Regards,
Aswad
still no art critism..why he make art while he talk about social critism..what is his believe in art??i’m so curious about it..
‘Pirates remix’ are sick!!cool piece n yeah ‘keep it real’!!
Ah-haarrr me hearties –
I once heard a word
That sounded quite absurd
It ended in ‘ism’
Looked at history through a prism
And stole willy-nilly; it did.
Ah-haarrr!
Did the artist disguise himself as Mohan Sanjay to further his POSTMODERNIST cause by saying that the art critic is more rigorous than the artist about the artist’s own work? Brilliant! Actually, I think someone has done this before.
Oh no, Ah-haarrr, someone has done what I’m doing before! I’m not even me, I’m a reconstruction of some other time, people, places, fashion, art,…I’m a bit tired and bored with myself, maybe I should be someone else? Someone who reflects bits of who I am? I can’t even tell who’s who anymore because everyone looks the same in their different reconstructed ways Arrr, so confusing – however, today I’m feeling a little bit early 70’s, laid back, down on the farm, y’know what I’m sayin’ brothers and sisters? Where’s my straw hat?
If you do know what I’m sayin’, you know what I’m sayin’.
Ah-haarrr!
the bjork painting is fugly and conceptually hollow. who in their right minds would want to own something like that?
bjork’s songs are in fact fugly and conceptually hollow… hence the painting.. duhh!! as for owning works, there’s always nice paddy field landscape paintings at central mreket, cheap too… but if i can afford any of the paintings here, i would own it.
These paintings are BORING.
The pixellated one is unnecessary to be painted on canvas.
Come to think of it, they were all very photoshop driven, and totally unnecessary to be painted on canvas.
What a waste of acrylic
He could’ve printed it and saved time.
They’re so boring, they make Nizam Abdullah’s vain paintings more interesting.
When looked as a whole, I don’t see anything unifying all the paintings but the fact that it looks like a college student’s work.
Like Mohan Sanjay said, the shift in style so rather drastically is admirable. But perhaps Aswad should go back to painting abstract because these new ones are. just. urgh.
but his abstract paintings are third-rate yusof ghani meet de kooning too! he just needs to take art a little more seriously. it’s not a pimpin’ dreadlock lifestyle yo!
Why can’t you say it to my face..i don’t remember seeing or meeting any of ya during the opening of the show or even after. Glen, Jack, Sawah Padi,Mad Sailor whoever you are and whatever your real names are! There is this common scenario with artists or critics wannabe, whether they did come to the show or not their wannabe critical analysis is always after the show when they go for teh tarik. Like i said i don’t remember seeing any of you guys at my show far from saying anything like what you wrote here! All of you should actually take arts or artists seriously and perhaps educate youself with the current contemporary art movement! Sight!
Jack, this is nothing got to do with pimpin dreadlocks..Have some respect!
Ah harrr – with respect Mr. Amier, me sea-spun criticism was not directed at you, me friend, but those who want something ‘new’ but don’t want change – the irony me hearties!
But me Shouldered Parrot says that this is the Postmodernist dilemma (his words – not mine). I applaud your attempts at self re-constructions and that, matey, is sayin’ a lot to me about this world.
And it’s sayin’ a lot too when someone says more about the art criticism than the art itself – and mall-lubbers usin’ words like ‘fugly’ and bein’ what they’re sayin’: that is, conceptually hollow. (And I for one, what’s-your-name, think waving a Pirate flag in a commercial gallery is a very good way to spend time – Ah haarrr! Which flag would you be wavin’ then and what kind of paintings would you like to OWN? Oh, me hearties!)
I’m sorry, Mr. Amier, you had to drag yourself down to our level – we’re not doin’ anythin’ but tappin’ away on our fancy web-machines – it’s not very difficult. But you said what you said. And me and whats-their-names too – and me Shouldered Parrot. Ah haarrr!
Aswad says: “All of you should actually take arts or artists seriously and perhaps educate youself with the current contemporary art movement!”
We would, if you have done the same. To paraphrase Yusuf Martin, tis all regurgitated sixties shit. How can you cling on to this nostalgic one dimensional approach to imagining piracy when the subject itself is so much more complex?
What does the mix tape sculpture serve other than to monumentalise a moment of creative theft (piracy is subterfuge, not polite spectacle for the Tatler-savvy) that is antithetical to this kind of valorisation?
It’s tooth and claw, not a rose-tined artifact of the 70s germination of musical eclecticism and consumer empowerment.
Even if it is, how is it translated into a gallery context? Paintings are just lazy solutions. Bad paintings, with poor technical showing, deserve scolding. Vacuous. Like Damien Hirst.
Piracy is in now??? I thought war images and battle machines are the IN THING in Art in this tiny muddy city right now ( Raja Shariman, Raduan Man and the current show at Chandan ). Maybe I’m not as well informed or trendy as the local artists nowdays.
Well, I think Aswad’s show is a resounding success. No small feat loh, getting such intense reaction and more importantly artistic discussion from our jaded or apathetic art goers!
Well done, me mateys! Well done!
I agree with dawsa, a resounding success my dear. I went to the show a week or two ago and i just loved it!
pirates! ARGGHH!
p.s my facebook language page is set to pirate language! :P
Where are the humble artworks that are modest in scale but are technically, aesthetically, conceptually accomplished and not lazy in Malaysia? like a Merlin James or a Hodgkin? I walk around the galleries here and see large, boring, Low-brow pieces, lazily-painted eye-sores that are conceptually vacuous but are treated on golden pedastels by galleries and ill-informed collectors. I sort of feel empty and sad inside as I leave these exhibtions.
i agree with wizard. esp the last sentence.