“…collecting is a dialogue between patron, artist, institution, and the public – a dialogue which must deal with greater narratives surrounding under-represented or diasporic artists. Beyond this, collecting is no longer a process by which objects are obtained, it is a practice that stands to foster education.”
— An excerpt from ‘What is Patronage? “Beyond Collecting” at Art Basel Miami Beach Conversations 2017’
In conjunction with the exhibition ‘Against the Day’, we are hosting a panel of art collectors to discuss varied topics. This ranges from technical to personal discussions such as collecting, conserving, and the roles a collector plays in the local art ecosystem. The talk will be moderated by curator and collector, Sharmin Parameswaran.
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WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT COLLECTING: HOW LOCAL COLLECTORS ARE ENERGISING MALAYSIAN CONTEMPORARY ART
Panellists: Bingley Sim, Leong Tek Beng, Ng Sek San, and Sharmin Parameswaran (moderator)
DATE / Saturday, 25th August 2018
TIME / 3:00 – 4:30pm
VENUE / OUR ArtProjects @ The Zhongshan Building
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ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
Bingley Sim is an ex investment banker who was with CIMB Investment Bank Berhad for more than 20 years and is currently with a boutique advisory firm. Bingley began collecting art in 2004. His collection of contemporary Malaysian art focuses especially on emerging local painters and sculptors. Besides being an active Rotarian, Bingley is also a well-known patron of the local art scene. He is one of the founder members of the Malaysian Art Friends group (2009) and has been involved in many fundraising art activities. He has curated numerous art exhibitions and is a frequent speaker on art collecting; he most recently gave a talk about investing in Malaysian contemporary art to the Malaysian Chapter of the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales). Bingley also has a passion for cooking and in 1994, co-wrote a book “How to Run Your Own Restaurant” (Kogan Page, UK).
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Leong Tek Beng is a business coach and is a collector of contemporary art.
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Ng Sek San is a landscape architect who believes in making works that respect the environment and reflect an egalitarian lifestyle. In 1994, he started his own landscape consultancy, Sek San Design in Kuala Lumpur; in tandem with researching and collecting art. Using his research in art to inform his practice, Sek San worked hard towards undressing Malaysian modern architecture — stripping them down to their basics. Since then, he has been progressively cultivating an art collection that focuses on dialogues that address issues and subjects relevant to the Southeast Asian region. Today he can be seen commuting on a bicycle through the busy streets of Kuala Lumpur or zoning out on tai chi.
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Sharmin Parameswaran is an independent curator working in the Malaysian visual arts scene. Her interest is rooted in the potential of collaborative art initiatives to explore, discover, and to engage thought. Her recent projects include The Good Malaysian Woman: Ethnicity, Religion, Politics with All Women’s Action Society; Person(a) with the Obscura Photo Festival; Collective | Individuals with Urbanscapes 2017. Soon after starting her own collection, she started up Interpr8 art space, and works closely with Titikmerah collective with an intention to open up Malaysian visual arts to diverse audiences, as well as to encourage new collectors. She was also part of the “50 Most Exciting Young Art Collectors Under 50” by Blouin ArtInfo in 2012. In addition to immersing in the visual arts, Sharmin works with Astro Malaysia, where she keeps pulse with popular culture and trends to develop content.
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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
How do we write a metahistorical romance for a renewed Malaysia? The recent change in government has opened the floodgates to new creative, dissenting, quarrelling energies into our public sphere. The rakyat after all is constituted by a host of colourful idiosyncratic individuals who have worked collectively and singularly ‘against the day’, to borrow a phrase from Thomas Pynchon’s dizzying postmodern novel, in resisting the old order while concomitantly shaping new realities to come. What insights can drawing offer to this changing social landscape?
We would like to highlight selected works by Malaysian artists whose practice offers new possibilities of drawings. They are often rich in narrative, performative, processual, and sometimes monumental in scale. The artists participating in ‘Against the Day’ are Chong Siew Ying, Gan Sze Hooi, Jalaini Abu Hassan, Kow Leong Kiang, Minstrel Kuik, and Nirmala Dutt.
Drawing was often considered studies and preparatory sketches but today in contemporary art, drawing has become much more than just a means to an end, it has become, for many, an end in itself, for its intrinsic qualities of immediacy and spontaneity. While it is said that drawing is the most personal of all artistic statements, these can also serve as documents of underlying large-scale social processes and forces that are roiling, turning, and churning in the shaping of new experiences and realities. This palpably present moment makes a demand for an artistic form that offers raw, unmediated, and accessible insight into the shifting inner and outer worlds of this imagined community that we call ‘country’. Drawing can be argued to be a timeless medium that could offer new modes of representation and models of perception.
AGAINST THE DAY
A Drawing Exhibition by Chong Siew Ying, Gan Sze Hooi, Jalaini Abu Hassan, Kow Leong Kiang, Minstrel Kuik, and Nirmala Dutt
EXHIBITION DATES / 3rd August – 1st September 2018
OPENING HOURS / Tuesday – Saturday 11:00am – 7:00pm
Sunday by appointment (3 working days advance notice is required)
Closed Mondays and public holidays
ADMISSION IS FREE
For more information, please visit our website www.ourartprojects.com or email us at [email protected]