This month I introduce the Malaysian artist, Kim Ng. He was born in Johor in 1965, and has resided in Ipoh, Perak since 2000 after returning from his studies in the UK. He set up his studio in Kuala Lumpur, where he currently lives and works. Kim Ng holds a position as the Head of Fine Art at Dasein Academy of Art, Kuala Lumpur, where he has been teaching and managing the department since 2002, and successfully mentoring young contemporary artists in the region, in Malaysia.
Last year I was one of the seven artists invited at Pera + Flora + Fauna, an official Collateral Event supported by Port Perak at 59th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia.
As a practising artist and educator, Kim Ng has honed his skills in multidisciplinary art in the past thirty years, and has been heavily involved in the local art scene. Since 2000, he has had eight solo exhibitions with local art galleries and spaces in Malaysia, and numerous previous group exhibitions. His work has been widely collected by private individuals and corporations both within Malaysia and beyond, and he has also been involved in international art workshops and artist residencies in Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia.
Camilla Boemio: Can you introduce your artistic practice?
Kim Ng: My artistic practice involved with different art forms; from two-dimensional work on canvas and paper like mixed media painting and printmaking to three-dimensional work like sculpture, ceramics and installation art work. I do believe that not all artistic ideas can be conveyed through just one particular art form or medium; therefore, select or adopt the right medium and art form to particular concept is crucial in one’s artistic practice.
CB: How did natural materials, and textiles (It’s seems you have use it in your ongoing installation) capture your imagination?
KN: Nature exists before us; human being has been living with nature for many years and it provides us with all kind of natural resources. My artistic inspiration is always to do with the environment we live in, and nature is part of the environment. My artistic practice involves making things from natural resources as well using natural materials to convey and share my experience. Some of the natural materials I use are clay, soil, rain water, plants, dust and many others. Determining which natural materials to use in my project depends very much on the idea, concept and the direction of the project.
The fabric related installation work “Compressed Reality” is a specific project that I made for the Thailand International Symposium and Workshop in 2022. I used painted canvas and wire to construct a compressed and twisted feeling and situation mirroring what the whole world was facing during the Covid19 period.
CB: How has your work developed, and how do you see it evolving?
KN: My work has been changing and developing from figurative/semi-figurative to more abstract and conceptual based. I think this has to do with the state of mind throughout life up to when a person reaches a certain age. Most recent works are very much tactile and material based; looking into the essence of the materials and what the material language could be, and how I can reiterate the material to convey a message of my own, and also to re-examine the nature of the materials and its possibilities.
CB: Tell us about some of your most recent projects.
KN: Currently I am re-exhibit some selected ceramic works from a previous funded ceramic research project. The reason to re-showcase the work is to place the work in a different context in an art institution; therefore, it is more educational based. The title for this solo showcase is called — THE SPARK BEFORE THE FIRE: A look at the ideas behind selected works from the ‘Fire That Burns Again: A Ceramic Exploration by Kim Ng’. (20 March – 15 April 2023).
Apart from the above solo showcase, I am also working on some mixed media paintings, sculpture and print for a two-men show in a private commercial gallery, which will be happens this year.
And again, at the same time, I am preparing and making works for an invitational public sculpture exhibition where the Dutch curator Mirjam Westen who saw my work at the collateral event at Venice Biennale 2023, and invited me to join the exhibition that she curates. It is an open-air sculpture exhibition at Belmonte Arboretum, Wageningen, the Netherlands; this project will be showcased in the period June – September 2024; when I will produce an installation work for that particular location in the Netherlands. The theme for this sculpture exhibited on a mountain is “Decolonize Botany”.
And I am also taking part in a printmaking exhibition by invitation – Ulsan International Woodcut Festival, July – August 2023 – in Ulsan Museum, Korea.
CB: Can you introduce the Malaysian art scene?
KN: The Malaysian art scene is still young compared to some of the developed countries in the West. Although we do not have world class and big-name galleries there are still lots of art activities and exhibitions happening from time to time. Most of the galleries and art spaces are located in the capital Kuala Lumpur. Apart from showcasing artwork from local artists, galleries also bring in foreign artists from Southeast Asia countries to showcase in Malaysia. I will say Malaysia’s art scene is exciting and picking up, galleries are also bringing local artists to the international art arena. Apart from commercial galleries scattered around the Kuala Lumpur area, we also have alternation in art spaces, communication art organizations that hold different art exhibition and activities, provide different platforms for artists and audiences.
CB: Tell us about your experience at Venice Biennale.
KN: The experience at Venice Biennale was excellent, actually. It was an honor to be able to join the Malaysia team to exhibit at the official collateral event in Venice Biennale 2023, and to also have the chance to meet the curators and many visitors from around the world; as well as to see many international exhibition at the same time. And because of the exhibit at Venice Biennale, I was lucky enough to be invited by a Dutch curator who came across my installation work at Venice Biennale to join the 12th edition of public sculpture exhibition in the Netherlands that she curated. Therefore, I would say that taking part in the collateral event in Venice Biennale 2023 opened up another pathway for me in joining international art events.
Camilla Boemio is an art writer and curator who has curated projects around the world, from Los Angeles to Odessa, Ukraine. She is a member of AICA (International Association of Arts Critics) and IKT (International). Her recent curatorial projects include: her role as associate curator at Pera + Flora + Fauna. The Story of Indigenousness and Ownership of History, an official Collateral Event at 59th International Art Exhibition: La Biennale di Venezia (2022); Jérôme Chazeix The coat of hipness (materiali velati) in Altaroma2020 agenda at Label201 (2020); Marina Moreno: Dance as sculpture in space supported by Arts Council England (2019-2020); TheContemplative Edge. Il Mondo Nuovo. a performative Parallel Event with artists Mathew Emmett and Greig Burgoyne at Museo dell’Arte Classica, in Rome (2022). In 2016, she was the curator of Diminished Capacity the first Nigerian Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia; and in 2013 she was the co-associate curator of Portable Nation. Disappearance as work in Progress – Approaches to EcologicalRomanticism, the Maldives Pavilion at 55th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. In 2018, she took part in the VVM at Tate Liverpool.
