National Art Gallery, off Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur (source)

My first experiences and footprints of the ‘official’ art scene in KL this year:

How to visit the National Art Gallery? You really have to do research because for tourists it is hard to find. In the end I was successful. The National Art Gallery is not well known to many people and there is little advertising about it for tourists. It was a great surprise and I enjoyed it even though one part was closed. I have to mention the friendly people at the information counter and the shop: they told me -in my last days- that I should visit the Art Expo 2010! They told me about the shuttle service from KL Sentral and I did manage to make my way there.

The Art Expo was far out at Matrade Center but with the shuttle service it was easy to get there. The event itself, with around 50 different galleries was really interesting: small galleries with challenging pictures or sculptures and bigger galleries with very ‘modern classic’ art. Quite a lot of paintings seemed ‘mainstream’ to me. There were some surprising pure decorative paintings too. Other paintings were a kind of mixture between pop art with Asian comic style, and paintings where you can see the influence of European expressionism. A few big galleries showed traditional and modern interpretations of Chinese landscape drawings.

Art Expo Malaysia 2010 (source)

I think for private collectors the Art Expo in KL is a good opportunity to get into touch what happens in art. There is a big range and differences in styles, quality, and of course in prices. I think in Germany the Art Expo is not well known, but the interest in the Asian art scene is growing more and more. It would be good to hear more about the next art expo in Germany too.

Not to mention the very high standard magazine SentAp!, I bought every number I could get.

This was a short impression and I am looking forward to next year.

~

Dr. Doris Hafner is from Germany. She visited Kuala Lumpur earlier this year. She is interested in art history, intercultural and cultural work, and communication as a way to get together. She contacted Arteri via our Facebook page.