10 Sep 2022 - 23 Oct 2022
Curated by Annoymous
Assistant Curator: Denise Lai
Participating artists include:
Ahmad Fuad Osman, Alvin Lau, Amanda Gayle, Chan Kok Hooi, Handiwirman Saputra, Hiren Siva, Isola Tong, Izat Arif, Julia Merican, Kentaro Hiroki, Minstrel Kuik, My Land Ltd., Naraphat Sakarthornsap, Ray Langenbach, Ugo Untoro, Wilfredo Prieto, Wiyoga Muhardanto, Yuli Prayitno.
Exhibition Guide: Download Here
Artist Statement: Download Here
This collective exhibition takes its cue from the artwork by Cuban conceptual artist, Wilfredo Prieto, “Tarta de cumpleaños (Birthday Cake)” (2009). An exemplar of Immediate Conception, the piece is constructed with a coin for the base of the cake, chewing gum for frosting and a matchstick for a candle to represent a birthday cake for his beloved.
In this exhibition, participating artists were given 24 hours to curate an artwork piece – an inspired reaction to an issue that preoccupies them and crafted with materials readily available in their workspace.
The nature of this collective exhibition brings the audience through a dynamic experience. Walking through the hallways, one is transported into a mishmash of creativity from various artists and their spontaneity in expressing their thoughts and ideas through art.
Bound by the limit of time and resources, the artists reveal a raw and unfiltered expression into their innermost thoughts.
The inspiration behind this exhibition, this artwork by Wilfredo Prieto is constructed with simple items he had on hand which comprises of a coin for the base of the cake, chewing gum for frosting and a matchstick for a candle.
What inspired this piece was when the artist wanted to get a birthday present for his beloved but was broke at the time. When inspiration struck, he put together a cake from materials he could find at hand.
Upon glancing at a plant, we can determine its gender within the flowers that grow and bloom above the ground. But what if the roots, the organ that is uniform across genders, were brought to blossom above the ground instead? When we cannot see its flowers as easily as we usually do, the plants are deemed to be equal beings. And to be perceived equally without difference in genders, is it not?
Sparked by the exasperation of his inconsiderate neighbours’ behaviours, the artist depicts how intrusive their actions are affecting him and his daily life. With a scale model of an apartment setting he had in his studio, he added legs from an action figure to illustrate how his neighbours have infiltrated and terrorise his private space.
Composition (2022)
During his research for Set Square, the artist accidentally found the relationship between the Silver Ratio and the set square.
Composition plays off the set square, composed on four sheets of black A-sized paper (the ratio of A-sized paper is 1:1.414, known as the Silver Ratio) to elaborate the conceptual value of A-sized paper.
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Set Square (2022), Video
In some situations, it is better to create one’s own tools from daily materials, rather than buying them. This video provides instructions on the different ways to make a set square. A combination of the Right Triangle, the set square has 45, 45, and 90-degree angles, and another has 30, 60, and 90-degree angles. By making your own set square, and applying Origami techniques with an A4-sized paper, the audience is invited to the field of creative vision.
Drawing inspiration from Wilfredo Prieto’s Tarta de cumpleaños (Birthday Cake), the artist turns to the art of writing as a form of immediate conception and an act of giving.
The artwork was curated with ink writings on a handmade Japanese paper, a long-treasured keepsake from the artist’s parents. The artwork encourages the audience to experience the act of gift exchange it by opening the scroll and engaging in the ritual of unwrapping a present. Once you have received the artist’s offering of gift exchange, you are to roll it back up for the next person to experience it. The interactive experience of the artwork is meant as a transcendence towards a feeling of anything but transactional.
During the opening of the exhibition, each participating artist shares their creative concept, thought process and execution approach in the curation of their artwork.
The artists shared a collective musing of how the limitation of time and materials forces them to put aside any self-imposed judgement of their own work and embrace the sense of spontaneity to just relish in the artmaking process.
From different perspectives, the artists offer their unique point of view and depiction of their own version of Immediate Conception.
A+ WORKS of ART is a contemporary art gallery based in Kuala Lumpur, with a geographic focus on Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Founded in 2017 by Joshua Lim, the gallery presents a wide range of contemporary practices, from painting to performance, drawing, sculpture, new media art, photography, video and installation. Its exhibitions have showcased diverse themes and approaches, including material experimentation and global conversations on social issues. Collaboration is key to the ethos of A+ WORKS of ART. Since its opening, the gallery has worked with artists, curators, writers, collectors, galleries and partners from within the region and beyond, and continues to look out for new collaborations. The gallery name is a play on striving for distinction but also on the idea that art is never without context and is always reaching to connect — it is always “plus” something else.
https://www.instagram.com/aplusart.asia/