Valentine Willie Fine Art is delighted to present Jalaini Abu Hassan’s long anticipated solo exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Dendongeng. Jalaini (also known affectionately as ‘Jai’) has in the past three years busy himself with two successful solo exhibitions in Jakarta and Singapore, which has significantly increased his prominence and reputation within the regional art scene. Dendongeng heralds Jai’s return to Kuala Lumpur by presenting a new series of paintings that mark the development of the artist as one of Malaysia’s foremost proponent of Pop.
Inspired by larger than life characters of Malay literature and folklore, Dendongeng highlights Jai’s skillful employment of the pop vernacular to rearrange, reinterpret and retell new versions of these age-old tales. Through appropriating styles and techniques as broad-reaching as Rennaissance chiaroscuro to Pop art’s treatment of the canvas as a flatbed to new exploration of bitumen medium as paint, Jai invents a new classical dialect to complement his visual narrative.
Dendongeng is a marriage of two Malay words, Dendangan (a graceful style of presentation, commonly in the form of singing) and Dongeng (myth or legend). Jai explains, ‘Besides its unique rhythmic resonance, the word Dendongeng is in my mind reminiscent of the infamous onomatopoetic phrase, Jeng-jeng-jeng!, a stereotypical tune used to evoke suspense in local movies.’
From bearded civet-cat to Mat Jenin the dreamer, to Badang the eater of a demon’s vomit, these stories are given a contemporary spin by highlighting their relevance to our present times. Dendongeng is the fantastical dramatic paradox that tells story of our country.
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Jalaini Abu Hassan or “Jai” was born in Selangor in 1963. With a father in the British army, he spent his childhood moving around army bases in the country. Graduating from ITM in 1985, he went on to gain a scholarship to study at the famous Slade School of Fine Art in London and later the Pratt Institute in New York.
Jai has exhibited in Malaysia, Singapore,Indonesia, China, the USA, the UK and also in Spain and Iraq. Some of the noted exhibitions he has participated in include 12 ASEAN Artists (2002) and Malaysian Art NOW (2004) at the National Art Gallery, and international art fairs such as Art Singapore and Melbourne Art Fair 2006. His works are in the collection of the National Art Gallery in Malaysia, and in private, corporate and gallery collections around the world.