PACE Gallery in Kuala Lumpur is proud to present Curio, a long-planned and exciting new exhibition of new paintings by Ipoh born artist, Rajinder Singh. This is the 3rd major exhibition of paintings by this successful and prolific Malaysian artist who has showed extensively worldwide.
The idea central to the CURIO series was sparked by the artist’s reflections and observations of his beloved home country from the vantage point of one living abroad, and the way in which his country had been depicted in the media by foreign press over the years. Holding this as the underlying theme, the artist started to explore a ‘make believe’ world, dreaming up a time in the past when ‘Malaya’ may have been promoted as a land of living curiosities – foreign, exotic, strange and exciting! – a melting pot of rich and bizarre cultures. Rajinder’s love for textured, weathered surfaces and his penchant for nostalgia, was used to bring this theme to life – in the form of old poster-like images, layered and ‘ripped’ to reflect decades of a country’s cultural evolution.
“I took my time in developing this series because I wanted it to be honest and real, a reflection of whom I am. My last series of paintings emanated from my exploration of aesthetics through the lens of the colliding worlds of maths and art. I wanted to invite my audience to view the paintings through a sieve – a sieve made of mathematical objects that pack a substantial amount of information on the way we might view beauty. In this series, rather than dive deeper into an aesthetic expression of my past as a mathematician, I took a nostalgic trip down a different lane – I sought to reflect artistically my life as a Malaysian living abroad, I tossed about memories of what Malaysia meant to me, the things I took for granted growing up that in adult years could be interpreted as an outsider as somewhat bizarre and quirky. I subsequently combined this central theme with my recent experiences at the print making studio in Paris. The experience I gained there was invaluable in exciting my palate for the aesthetics that you see reflected in this series,’ says Rajinder.
Curio is heavily influenced by Rajinder’s work during his residency at the famous Mourlot studios in Paris in 2008, where he explored and developed his skills in print making. The work was further developed through a practice based research program that Rajinder has been part of since mid 2009 working with 10 international artists located at the postgraduate studios of LaSalle School of arts in Singapore. The work is therefore highly developed conceptually predicated by Rajinder’s strong backgrounds in Philosophy and Mathematics.
PACE Gallery is once again proud to be the first to show his new body of work which will open in Malaysia on the 19th before travelling to Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, Paris and Buenos Aires ( in June 12th 2011). Progressing from his last exhibition, Rajinder’s CURIO series explores his textured aesthetic style to greater depths, reflecting a mature series of works that are personal, humorous and exhilarating.
About the artist:
Rajinder’s extensive background in Mathematics is the driving force behind his successful art practice. He has been painting all his life. His work has seen considerable exposure worldwide. Rajinder was recently selected as one of 20 emerging artists to represent Asia by a juried competition in Hong Kong. He will be showing in London, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Korea, New York and Argentina in 2009/2010. He lives and works in Singapore.
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