START

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N a t e e U t a r i t - C h a n g Y o o n g C h i a - N a d i a h B a m a d h a j

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R i c h a r d K o h F i n e A r t

2 6 – 2 9 J u n e , 2 0 1 4

G a l l e r y S p a c e N o . 1 . 1 ,

S a a t c h i G a l l e r y L o n d o n

N a d i a h B a m a d h a j

C h a n g Y o o n g C h i a

N a t e e U t a r i t

N a d i a h B a m a d h a j

This title for this drawing is documented from a 19thcentury Javanese colloquialism to describe Tan Jin Sing, a Kapitan Cina of Yogyakarta, (Indonesia) from 1803 - 1813.1 From a long-settled Hokkien peranakan2 family from Central Java, Tan Jin Sing went on to be the first person of Chinese descent to hold the title of regent in the Yogyakarta royal court (Kraton). Renowned for his embrace of Javanese tradition and astute political acumen, he was a key figure in mediations between Dutch, British, and the Kraton right up to and after the sacking of the Kraton by Stamford Raffles’ forces in 1812, during the reign of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono II. The building depicted in this drawing stands today in Kampung Ketandan, the same Chinese quarter within which Tan Jin Sing was said to live, and was probably built during his regency in the early 1800s. The building itself reflects the hybridity within which the Chinese community existed. It is a traditional shop house specific to migrant Chinese communities of the time. And because people of Chinese descent were ‘restricted’ by the Dutch administration into specific kampungs or quarters in the 1820s, (to politically and economically separate them from the Javanese), it’s terraced housing demanded a frugality of space. However, in political opposition to their spatial restrictions, some houses had interconnecting doors not visible from the street, which meant a freedom of movement beyond the view of the authorities. With some irony its facade is unmistakably Dutch, using the stepped gables style popular in Europe since the 15thcentury. This Chinese quarter of Ketandan is located amongst the key architectural sites of the Kraton complex of Yogyakarta. So the combination of Chinese, Dutch, and Javanese is evident in its structure, facade, and location. When walking through this quarter looking for the subject matter for this drawing, I had asked the neighbours about this building’s history. Unsettled but generous they has explained that this house had previously been a “rumah ngungsi” — a place of refuge — where Chinese settlers would move between the hidden back doors of the quarter’s shop houses and hide during times of conflict and threat. Drawing a breath I asked politely, ‘when?’ to which they answered reticently, “during the wars”. My questions stopped there. Even with a minimal knowledge of Indonesian Chinese history I knew that wars referred to any series of bloody conflicts where this ethnic community was attacked and scapegoated by Dutch, British, Javanese, or Japanese forces, primarily during times of economic strife, from several hundred years before this building was built, right up until the decline of the Suharto regime in 1998. The popularity of Tan Jin Sing was eventually marred by his to-ing and fro-ing between the British forces and Javanese courts in the sacking of the Kraton in 1812; and his titles, lands and heirs were obliterated after the Java War between the Javanese forces and the Dutch from 1825-30. Once embraced by Javanese courts, peranakan Chinese, and European colonialists; by the time of his death he was distanced by all three as an “outsider”. Despite being one of the oldest community-specific quarters in Yogyakarta, the buildings of Ketandan are slowly being left to ruin and demolition, largely ignored by conservation communities in Yogyakarta. -Nadiah Bamadhaj

1 Peter Carey, Changing Javanese Perceptions of the Chinese Communities in Central Java, 1755 – 1825, Indonesia, Volume 37, 1--48. April, 1984). 2 The term peranakan means “descendant", but is most commonly used for people of Chinese descent who have assimilated into Malay or Javanese culture and society.

Nadiah Bamadhaj Cina Wurung, Londa Durung, Jawa Tanggung (No longer Chinese, not yet a Dutchman, a half-baked Javanese) 2014 Charcoal on paper collage 223 x 170 cm

Nadiah Bamadhaj Poised 2013 Charcoal on paper collage 285.5 x 77 cm

Poised depicts the artist’s mother’s upper body meshed with a bird’s lower half and constructed using paper collage smeared with charcoal. The work explores a number of ideas such as the maintaining of poise practiced elegantly by the artist’s mother, Nadiah Bamadhaj’s developing views of her through the lenses of an adolescent and an adult and personal dynamics within families. Without an excessive display of emotion, the matriarch is depicted standing proudly while maintaining elegance and reservation even from facing a lifetime of challenges and alludes to the mother as an independent individual. Nadiah has carefully selected certain animals and objects to be fused with human figures of people close to her, and her choices depend on the ‘contexts of self and contexts of the present’ as stated by her. Her complex drawings, which are usually deeply personal, depict well-researched subjects from history and cultures and are framed within a set of philosophical ideas.

N ad i a h B a m ad ha j Nadiah Bamadhaj (b. 1968, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) was initially trained as a sculptor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand but now produces drawings, sculptures, installations and digital images. She has worked in non-governmental organizations, lectured in art, and has written on both Malaysia and Indonesia. In 2000, she began her full-time art-practice and was awarded the Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship in 2002, electing to spend her fellowship period in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where she currently lives with her husband and son. Her artwork continues to focus on the social intricacies of Yogyakarta’s society, using myth, architecture, and dwelling to articulate her observations.

E du ca t i on

1992 Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

S o l o E x h i b i t i on s

2014 Poised For Degradation, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore 2012 Keseragaman, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2008 Surveillance, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2004 enamlima sekarang (sixtyfive now), Galeri Lontar, Komunitas Utan Kayu, Jakarta, Indonesia 2003 enamlima sekarang (sixtyfive now), Benteng Vredeburg Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2001 1965 - Rebuilding Its Monuments, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia !S e l e c te d G ro u p Ex h i b i t i o ns 2014 START, with Richard Koh Fine Art, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK Medium at Large, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2013 Parallax: ASEAN, Changing Landscapes, Wandering Stars, ASEAN-Korea Contemporary Media

Art Exhibtion, ASEAN-KOREA Centre, Seoul, South Korea Bersama, Muzium Dan Galeri Seni Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art Museum, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto (CAMK), Kumamoto, Japan Convergence: Cultural Legacy, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2012 Art Stage Singapore 2012, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 2011 Its Now or Never Part II, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Art Stage Singapore 2011, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Beyond the Self, Contemporary Portraiture from Asia, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia Works from Southeast Asia, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2010 Creative Index, The Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship’s 10th Anniversary, Silverlens Gallery, Manila, Philippines Beirut Art Fair 2010 (Menasaart), Beirut, Lebanon Agenda Kebudayaan Gusdurisme, 100-day memorial for Abdurrahman Wahid @ Gus Dur, Langgeng Gallery, Magelang, Indonesia Beacons of Archipelago: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia, Arario Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

2009 Jogja Jamming: Jogja Biennale X, Taman Budaya Yogyayakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Earth and Water: Mapping Art in Southeast Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Photoquai 09: 2nd Biennale Photographic Festival, musée duquai Branly, Paris, France Cartographical Lure, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Jakarta Biennale XII: Fluid Zone, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia Littoral Drift, UTS Gallery, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Code Share: 5 continents, 10 biennales, 20 artists, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

2008 Wonder, Singapore Biennale, Singapore City Hall, Singapore East-South, Out of Sight, South and Southeast Asia Still and Moving Images, Tea Pavilion, Gouangzhou Triennale, China The Scale of Black, Contemporary Drawings from Southeast Asia, HT Contemporary Space, Singapore

2007 Out of the Mould: The Age of Reason, 10 Malaysian Women Artists, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Photofolio, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Fetish: Object Art Project #1, Biasa Artspace, Denpasar, Indonesia Selamat Datang ke (Welcome to) Malaysia: An exhibition of contemporary art from Malaysia, Gallery 4A, Sydney, Australia Processing the City: Art on Architecture, The Annex Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Never Mind, Video Art Exhibition, ViaVia Café, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2006 Fast Futures: Asian Video Art, The Asia Society India Centre, Little Theatre Auditorium, NCPA, Mumbai, India The War Must Go On, Clockshop Billboard Series, Corner of Fairfax and Wilshire, Los Angeles, USA TV-TV, Week 34, Video Art Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark Building Conversations: Nadiah Bamadhaj and Michael Lee, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Signed and Dated, Valentine Willie Fine Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Holding Up Half the Sky by Women Artists, National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Rethinking Nordic Colonialism: A Postcolonial Exhibition Project in Five Acts, Act 3: Faroe Art Museum, Tórshavn, The Faroe Islands, Denmark Biennale Jakarta 2006, Beyond The Limits and its Challenges, Galeri Lontar, Komunitas Utan Kayu, Indonesia Fast Futures: Asian Video Art, Asian Contemporary Art Week, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, USA Home Productions, Video Art Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

2005 Consciousness of the Here and Now, Biennial Yogya VII 05, Kandhang Menjangan Heritage Site, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Home Works II: A Forum on Cultural Practices, Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon 147 Tahun Merdeka (147 Years of Independence), in collaboration with Tian Chua, Reka Art Space, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia Urban Culture, CP Biennale, Museum of the Indonesian National Bank, Jakarta, Indonesia you are here, Valentine Willie Fine Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Media in “f”, The 9th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Ewha Woman’s’ University Campus, Seoul, South Korea

2004 Flying Circus Project: 04, Seeing with Foreign Eyes, Theatreworks, Fort Canning Park, Singapore Batu Bata Tanah Air (Building Blocks of Homeland), a collaborative project with Tian Chua, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Living Art: Regional Artists Respond to HIV/AIDS, Queen’s Gallery, XV International AIDS Conference, Bangkok, Thailand Paradise Found/ Paradise Lost, WWF Art For Nature Fundraising Exhibition, Rimbun Dahan Gallery, Kuang, Malaysia Seriously Beautiful, Reka Art Studio, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Gedebook, Group Fundraising Exhibition, Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2002 Asean Art Awards, Bali International Convention Center, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia Touch, WWF Art For Nature Fundraising Exhibition, Rimbun Dahan Gallery, Kuang, Malaysia Pause, Gwangju Biennale 2002, Exhibition Hall 1, Gwangju, South Korea

2001 Philip Morris Art Awards, National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Exhibit X, Taksu Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Flashpoint, WWF Art For Nature Fundraising Exhibition, Rimbun Dahan Gallery, Kuang, Malaysia Exhibit A, Valentine Willie Fine Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2000 Arang, Taksu Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia A w a rd s 2004 Asian Public Intellectual Follow-Up Grant, funded by the Nippon Foundation 2002-03 Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship, funded by the Nippon Foundation, administered by IKMAS,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia 2001 Juror’s Choice, Philip Morris Malaysia Art Awards 2001 2000-01 Artist-in-Residence, Rimbun Dahan Artist Residency Program, Kuang, Malaysia P u b l i c C ol l e c t i o n s Petronas Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, USM Penang , Penang, Malaysia The National Gallery, Singapore Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

C h a n g Y o o n g C h i a

Stamps in contemporary times are commonly viewed as items drenched with nostalgia, reminders of an almost archaic way of communication, before the prevalence of the Internet, emailing and video calls. In I Dream of Two Birds, Chang Yoong Chia laboriously constructed in an economical method a fictional scene populated by familiar protagonists that have appeared in his previous works using two of the most widely used stamps in Malaysia, the 30sen Ochraceous Bulbul and the 50sen White-Rumped Shama. Both stamps depict the local birds resting on plants against simple white backgrounds. Layering stamps on top of stamps, the work is fully constructed out of the material. The imaginary scene’s narrative is deeply personal and perplexing, similar to a fantasy panorama from a dream. Yoong Chia is interested in the laborious method of making these collages that tested his physical and mental endurance. The measured and careful processes of collecting, preparing, cutting and gluing the stamps are almost like a personal defiance against the high speed and wasteful post-industrialized contemporary reality. As stated by the artist, stamps to him represents ‘a fading era’ and ‘an end of the era of ‘official’ world views’.

Chang Yoong Chia I Dream of Two Birds 2014 Postage stamps and polyvinyl acetate glue (collage) 151 x 147 cm

The Dollar Sign is a massive and intricate collage constructed fully out of stamps without a material backing and depicts the Petronas Twin Towers guarded by two gigantic serpents, a large snake and the mythical Chinese dragon. The monstrous brown snake created out of hundreds of common stamps with the oil palm fruits’ image seems to be cradling the large architectural structure while the green dragon hovers elegantly into the sky. Both snakes in relation to the structure of the twin towers visually echo the dollar sign. The Petronas Twin Towers, with the construction funded by taxpayers and owned by a government-linked oil company was once the tallest building in the world. It symbolizes Malaysia’s growing economic strength in the early 1990s and petroleum oil has been the driving force behind modernization. Another form of oil, palm oil, is cultivated in plantations that “spread like a slithering serpent across natural landscapes and altering them” as described by the artist. Both oils positively and negatively modify the physical and cultural landscapes in the country, thus shaping the collective reality.

Chang Yoong Chia The Dollar Sign 2014 Postage stamps and polyvinyl acetate glue (collage) 211 x 134 cm

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Chang Yoong Chia Dear Vincent 2014 Postage stamps and polyvinyl acetate glue (collage) 90 x 150 cm

Dear Vincent is Chang Yoong Chia’s tribute to Vincent van Gogh, a major artist-archetype in art history and is constructed fully out of hundreds of stamps. Vincent van Gogh’s life and mentality were documented in the roughly 800 letters written by the artist to his brother, Theo and friends. The letters serve as a way for Vincent to communicate with the outside world and now serve as important documents that chronicle his ideas and practice. The work, depicting a field in the night echoes the composition and subject matter of one of Vincent’s final paintings, Wheat Field with Crows (1890), though Yoong Chia’s version directs the viewer’s perspective topsy-turvy with the dark crow-filled sky in the bottom half of the work and the floating protagonist clutching his shirt in the top half.

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C h an g Y oo n g C h i a Chang Yoong Chia (b. 1975, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is fast becoming one of the most recognizable emerging artists in Malaysia. He graduated from the Malaysian Institute of Art in 1996 with a Diploma of Fine Art in painting. Since then, he has participated in numerous exhibitions in Malaysia and overseas including, Art Multiple 2008 at Ke Center for Contemporary Arts (Shanghai) in 2008, Parallel Realities - 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale in 2005, 3 Young Contemporaries at Valentine Willie Fine Art in 2002. In 2004, he held his first solo exhibition at Reka Art Space, where he debuted his Flora & Fauna series. He was awarded the Rimbun Dahan Artist-in-Residency in 2006. He participated in the JENESYS Program 2008, spending two months in Tokyo as part of the Sapporo Artist in Residence program (S-Air). Chia was also a founding member of the artist collective, Spacekraft.

Chia’s works, ranging from Surrealist inspired paintings, laboriously crafted collages, paper sculptures to painted shells explore a wide-ranging topics such as politics, religion and culture. The repeated gestures and complex methods reflect a commitment with craft in which the labor adds another layer of meaning to the work. Placing an importance on the media, he believes that each medium has its own characteristics, malleability and symbolism thus new interpretations are conjured when found or mundane objects such as postage stamps and seashells are transformed in an almost alchemical fashion into intricate artworks.

E du ca t i on

1996 Diploma in Fine Art (Major Painting), Malaysian Institute of Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

S o l o E x h i b i t i on s

2013 Immortal Beloved, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2012 The Botany of Desire, 1 Shanthiroad Studio, Bangalore, India 2011 The World is Flat, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore 2009 The 2nd Seven Years: Quilt of the Dead, Flora & Fauna IV, Narratives,

The Annexe Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, co-organized by Valentine Willie Fine Art & Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2008 Safe House: Flora & Fauna III, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2004 Flora & Fauna, Reka Art Space, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia

S e l e c te d G ro u p Ex h i b i t i o ns 2014 Journeys, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel 2013 Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art

Museum, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto (CAMK), Kumamoto, Japan Beirut Art Fair, ME.NA.SA. Art, Southeast Asia Pavilion, Beirut, Lebanon

2012 Conception In Reconciliation Selasar Sunaryo, Bandung, Indonesia & Taman Budaya, Yogjakarta, Indonesia Art Stage, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore

2011 APB Signature Art Prize Finalist Exhibition 2011, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

2nd Chongqing Youth Biennale, Sichuan Fine Art Institute, Chongqing, China Works From Southeast Asia, Richard Koh Fine Art, Art Stage Singapore

14th Bangladesh Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh Personal Effects, Rogue Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tanah Air: Art for Nature, Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia

2010 Survival: Art for Nature 2010, Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia 2008 Cabinet: Art Around 1 Thousand, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Wanakio 2008, Sakaemachi Market, Okinawa, Japan The German Connection: Art, Pelita Hati House of Art Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Jenesys Artist Open Studio (Two Person Exhibition), NPO SAIR, Sapporo, Japan Out of Line, The Annexe, Central Market Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Art For Nature 2008, Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia Art Multiple 2008, Ke Center for Contemporary Arts Shanghai, China

2007 Between Generations: 50 Years Across Modern Art in Malaysia, Asian Art Museum, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur & Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, University Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia Domestic Bliss, Sculpture Square, Singapore Open Studio, Former Jeollanam-do Provincial Office, Gwangju, South Korea Discovery of May, 5.18 Memorial Foundation, Gwangju, South Korea 12th Rimbun Dahan Residency Exhibition (2 Person Exhibition) Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia

2006 Art Invitational 2006, Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Parallel Realities - Asian Art Now , Blackburn, UK 3 Young Contemporaries: 1997-2006, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Come Closer: Second Annual Miniature Show, Galeri Seni Maya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Yong Ching Sui Fundraising Exhibition, 67 Tempinis Satu, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2005 Parallel Realities - 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan Borders, World Social Forum 2005, Porto Alegre, Brazil Art ± 1000, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3rd Annual Reka Relatively Free Show 2005, Reka Art Space, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia A Closer Look: Miniature Show, Galeri Seni Maya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Copy Move Transform, published in Gallery W/O Walls in February 2005 issue of Off the Edge

2004 2nd Annual Free Show 2004, Reka Art Space, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia SENI – Home front, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Regional Animalities, The Substation, Singapore Seriously Beautiful, Reka Art Space, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia Semangat: Artists for Theatre, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Art Under 1000, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Malaysian Art Now, National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2003 Games People Play, Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia Newton’s Funfair, Reka Art Space, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia Art Around 1000, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Young Contemporaries 2002, National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2002 KHOJ International Artist Workshop, Mysore, India Urbanscapes, Grappa Soho, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Book of the Dead, Performance at Chow Kit Fest, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2001 Open Show, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Climbing the Wall, MIA Art and Design Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Art Under 1000, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Ctrl. Alt. Del., Rumah Air Panas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2000 Art Under 1000, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Love on Paper, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

1999 Aku '99, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

1998 Human Expressions, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1997 3 Young Contemporaries, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1996 Crates Classified, GaleriWan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

FA 1696 Diploma Show, Galeri MIA, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1995 Young Talents, Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia A w a rd s & A r t i s t R e s i d e n ci e s 2012 1 Shanthi Road Artist Residency, Bangalore, India 2011 Finalist, APB Signature Art Prize 2011, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2008 Wanakio 2008, Maejima Art Center,Okinawa, Japan

Jenesys Program, NPO S-Air, Sapporo & Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan 2007 Goethe – Institute scholarship to learn German in Berlin

Art as Environment: A Cultural Action on Tropic of Cancer 2007, Hsing Kang, Chiayi Province, Taiwan Uijae Art Studio Artist Residency, Gwangju, South Korea

2006 C21 Residency, Blackburn, UK Rimbun Dahan Artist Residency, Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia

P u b l i c C ol l e c t i o n s National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Malaysia Gwangju City Art Museum, Gwangju, South Korea Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

N a t e e U t a r i t

W h e n A da m de l ve d, a nd Ev e s pa n , w h o

w a s t h en th e g en tl em an ? From the beginning all

men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude

came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God

would have had any bondmen from the beginning, he would

have appointed who should be bond, and who free. And

therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come,

appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the

yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.

John Ball’s sermon at Blackheath (12 June 1381), quoted in Annals, or a General Chronicle of England. Adapted from a poem by Richard Rolle of Hampole.

Natee Utarit When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman? (detail, left panel) 2014 Oil on canvas 230 x 735 cm

Natee Utarit When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman? 2014 Oil on canvas 230 x 735 cm

Within Southeast Asia, the paintings of Thai artist Natee Utarit maintain a distinctive imagery and tone that is not found among either the social-realist leaning painters of his generation nor those more focused on formalist experiments. While many of the art universities of the region were the brainchild of European colonialists, Natee’s training in Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, founded by an Italian artist of the Florentine academic school has bequeathed a deeply felt empathy and resonance with the visual idioms and allegorical concerns of European painting. Yet a close reading of his work reveals the ambivalence the artist feels towards this powerful, enduring aesthetic tradition, and the hints of darkness and sinister intent that surface in his paintings are signs to that effect. In a departure from his previous Illustration of the Crisis series, which from 2010 brought him immense critical and commercial acclaim, this new series beginning from last year’s Optimism is Ridiculous, sees a darkening of tone, quite literally, in his paintings. Whereas the predominant image in the ‘Crisis’ series was the cheap disposable toy, such as the rubber duck and the plastic toy soldier; the current series often deploys the taxidermy animal as imagery. From a neon-soaked imitation of life to a residue or detritus of a previous life lived elsewhere, the shift from the toy to the stuffed animal or skeleton marks the increasing somberness in his works. Indeed the mood of the current work embodies Natee’s own description of himself as a ‘conservative pessimist’. This work When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman? appropriates the altarpiece format of Christian art. While the monumental size of the piece is obviously meant to overwhelm and seize the viewer’s attention, typically for Natee, decoding the complex imageries in this painting is an even more demanding but also a pleasurable exercise for the viewer. The title of the work derives from the famous opening lines of a sermon delivered by the renegade priest John Ball who instigated the peasant revolt of 1381. His sermon captured the feelings of the disenfranchised lower classes of England at that time chafing against their subjugation and unpaid exploitation by the ruling orders of society. The opening lines of his sermon speak of Adam, the first man digging his fields and Eve, the first woman spinning her fabric. In this original state of ‘purity’, there is no ‘gentleman’ or boss to subjugate others. As a ‘hedge priest’, John Ball was not connected to any formal religious order and in our current sense was a true individualist, a rebel outside the organized religious system. This current work aspires to this position of standing outside the system, though instead of the religious order, the system being ‘revolted’ against here seems to be the art industry and its unequal relationships. Natee peppers this altarpiece with allusions and hints to that effect. The left panels shows a fig-leafed covered Adam with his spade while the right panel depicts Eve with not a spinning wheel but rather suspiciously, Duchamps’ bicycle wheel sculpture- the first readymade from this father of Western conceptualism. In these side panels, Natee aligns the original couple with one of the mythical ‘originals’ of Western art - an art tradition that most art students from Asia and the non-Western world are taught from day one in their careers. The unclothed sparseness of the side panel figures contrasts vividly with the sumptuous and bountiful suite of objects and subjects that cluster the central panel of this work. Recalling the tone of Holbein’s The Ambassadors (1533), the two fully clothed men in the central panels stand commanding and confident, surrounded by models and artifacts used and associated with Western academic painting. To their left a trio of white ferrets, often associated with royal heraldry look on, as if legitimizing the scene. One of the men holds an unfurled map of Southeast Asia. Fair-skinned and Caucasian, the two men are flanked to the side by a dark skinned Asian-looking dwarf playing an accordion. Asia, the painting seems to suggest has been reduced to the status of a court jester, playing for the entertainment of the Occident. Yet satire remains, and a hovering chimpanzee threatens to make a monkey out of us all. In this work, Natee captures the elusiveness of our confused and uncertain times.

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Natee Utarit When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman? (detail, middle panel)

2014 Oil on canvas 230 x 735 cm

Natee Utarit When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman? (detail, right panel)

2014 Oil on canvas 230 x 735 cm

N at e e U t a ri t Natee Utarit (b. 1970, Bangkok, Thailand) studied at the College of Fine Art in 1987 and graduated in Graphic Arts at the Painting and Sculpture Faculty at Silpakorn University, both in Bangkok, Thailand in 1991. Recent solo exhibitions include Illustration of The Crisis at ARNDT Berlin, Germany (2012) and at Art Season Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland (2011), After Painting at the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2010) and The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Perfection at the Art Center of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand (2007). Selected group exhibitions are: Negotiating Home, History and Nation: Two decades of contemporary art in Southeast Asia 1991-2011 at the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2011) and Clouds, Power of Asian Contemporary Art at the Soka Art Center, 798, Beijing, China (2010). His work is part of many renowned collections, such as Bangkok University, Bangkok, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, as well as private collections in Europe and Asia. Initially influenced by German Expressionism and abstract art in his early body of work, Utarit has undergone an exploration on the medium of painting connecting it with photography and classical Western art. Light and perspective are some of the elements the artist chose to work with, focusing on painting as a mean to explore image making. His complex pictures, juggle wide-ranging metaphors usually in the format of the traditional still life, allude to Thailand’s current social and political landscapes. E du ca t i on 1987 College of Fine Art, Bangkok, Thailand 1991 BFA Graphic Art, The Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphical Arts, Silpakorn University,

Bangkok, Thailand S o l o E x h i b i t i on s 2013 Optimism is Ridiculous, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea

Optimism is Ridiculous, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore Optimism is Ridiculous, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Illustration of the Crisis, Bangkok University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

2012 Illustration of the Crisis, ARNDT Berlin, Germany 2011 Bourgeois Dilemma, Finale Art File, Philippines Illustration of The Crisis, Art Season Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland 2010 After Painting, Natee Utarit’s survey exhibition, works from 1992 – 2008, Singapore Art museum,

Singapore 2009 Tales of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2008 Dreams, Hope and Perfection, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Transparency Happiness, Soka Art Center, Beijing, China 2007 The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Perfection, The Art Center , Center of Academic Resources,

Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Perfection, Numthong Gallery , Bangkok, Thailand 2006 The Fragment and the Sublime, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Kyotek Sae-Wu’s 12 Photographs during 1969-1973, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2005 New Works, The Art Gallery of the faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn

University, Bangkok, Thailand Ballad for Khrua Inkong, Chiang Mai University Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand The Last Description of the Old Romantic, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2003 Still Pictures, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Singapore Recent Paintings, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Recent Paintings, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2002 Silent Laughing of Monster, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

Painting with Pure Reason, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Silent Laughing of Monster/Large Scale, The Gallery of Art and Design, Silpakorn University,

Bangkok, Thailand 2001 Equivalence Second Dialectic, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Singapore Views and Transference, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2000 Pictorial Statement, Bangkok University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1999 Homage to Landscape Painting, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Internal Landscape, Art Forum, Singapore Appearance and Reality, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1998 Internal Landscape, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1997 Mother Figure, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1995 Drawing and Watercolors, British Council Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1994 Anthropology, The Bangkok Playhouse, Bangkok, Thailand S e l e c te d G ro u p Ex h i b i t i o ns 2014 START, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK

Medium at Large, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2013 Asian Art Biennale 2013: Everyday Life, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan 2012 South East Asian Contemporary Art, Richard Koh Fine Art, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore THAI TREND from Localism to Internationalism, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok,

Thailand 2011 Asia:Looking South, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany Wonderland, G23 Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand Future Pass – From Asia to the World Collateral Event of the 54th International Art Exhibition, la

Biennale di Venezia, Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, Venice, Italy Negotiating Home, History and Nation: Two decades of contemporary art in Southeast Asia 1991 -

2011, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore South East Asian Contemporary Art, Richard Koh Fine Art, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore 2012 Beacons of Archipelago, Arario Gallery, Cheonan, South Korea Clouds, Power of Asian Contemporary Art, Soka Art Center,798, Beijing, China 2008 Mapping Asia, The Special Project of CIGE 2008, Beijing, China This is not a Fairytale, Contemporary Thai Art Exhibition, Soka Art Center , Taipei, Taiwan Traces of Siamese Smile/Art, Faith, Politics and Love, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok,

Thailand 2007 Diversity in Print, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore Thai Contemporary: Charm and Chasm, Tang Gallery, Beijing, China Southeast Asian Contemporary Art, Soka Art Center, Beijing, China Asian Art Now, Soka Contemporary Space, Taiwan 2006 Signed and Dated, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia 2005 On Paintings, Bangkok University Art Gallery (Rangsit), Bangkok, Thailand Portrait, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2003 Overseas, The Gallery of Art and Design, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Next Move, Earl Lu Gallery, Lasalle-Sia College of the Art, Singapore 2002 Present Perfect, Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art,Bangkok Catalogue, 2002 Fusion Vision, Thai Australian Artistic Connection, The Gallery of Art and Design, Silpakorn

University, Bangkok, Thailand Developing Time, Tadu Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2001 Painted, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ARS 01, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland Thai Contemporary Exhibition, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Root, Open Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand 2000 Snapshot, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Singapore

1999 The Third Asia - Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia Alter Ego, The 1st Thai - EU Art Project, The Art Gallery of The Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and

Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University , Bangkok, Thailand 1998 Portrait, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand The Art Exhibition of Vietnamese - Thai Artist, Fine Art Museum of Ho Chi Minh City Hanoi Fine

Art University, Hanoi, Vietnam Book, Kurusapa Building, Bangkok. - Bangkok Art Project 1998, Public Art in Community lives

across the Rattanakosin Island, Bangkok, Thailand The 3rd International Mini Print Triennial 1998, Lahti, Poland 1997 Conversing Contemporary, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1996 Hidden Agenda, Project 304, Bangkok, Thailand 1995 Man and the Forest, A Fundraising Exhibition Benefit The Northern Development, The Art Center,

The Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand 1993 Life Now, 3 Artists Exhibition, Dialogue Gallery, Bangkok , Thailand Premio Internationzionale Biella Per l’Incisione 1993, Biella, Italy 1992 Small Work, An Art Exhibition by 56 Thai Artists, Silom Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand The Exhibition of Prints, Dialogue Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Art Thesis Exhibition by the Graduating Class of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts,

Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand The Exhibition of Prints, Foyer Gallery, Canberra School of Art, Australia The Contemporary Graphic Arts by New Artists, The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1991 The 19th International Biennial of Graphic Art 1991, Ljubijana, Yugoslavia The Contemporary Art Competition 1991, The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Small Work, Group Show by 3 Artists, The Seven Seas Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Spiritual Sense, 2 Artists Exhibition of Prints, British Council Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand The Small Prints by 10 Artists, River City Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand The 3rd Toshiba Art Competition, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand The 8th Exhibition of Contemporary Art by Young Artists, Silpakorn University Art Gallery,

Bangkok, Thailand The 5th International Biennial Print Exhibition 1991, ROC Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan 1985-90 The Contemporary Art Competition 1990, The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

The 3rd, 5th Exhibition of Contemporary Art by PTT, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

The 3rd, 7th Exhibition of Contemporary Art by Young Artists, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

The 1st, 2nd Toshiba Art Competition, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand The Male Formy Grafiki, Polska-Lodz’89, Poland The 2nd, 3rd Youth Art Exhibition of Thailand, Thailand C o l le c t i o ns Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia Burger Collection, Berlin Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Lasalle SIA College of the Arts, Singapore Fine Art Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Canvas Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands The Metropolitan Hotel, Bangkok Thailand Park Nai Lert Hotel, Bangkok Thailand Silpakorn University, Bangkok Thailand Bangkok University, Bangkok Thailand British Council, Bangkok Thailand

I n s t a l l a t i o n v i e w s

Nadiah Bamadhaj ‘s Poised for Degradation (2014) at Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore!

Chang Yoong Chia‘s Immortal Beloved (2013) at Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur!

Natee Utarit ‘s Optimism is Ridiculous (2013) at Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore!

G a l le r y In f o rm a t i on

Richard Koh Fine Art is an art gallery with spaces in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The gallery has been running since 2005 and regularly hosts exhibitions by Asian and Southeast Asian artists with a commitment to

emerging practices and challenging media. Staunch to the promotion of contemporary art to local, regional and international

audiences, the gallery works with an adventurous roster of emerging and established artists practicing with a diverse range of

materials and concerns.

!!

R IC H A RD K O H F I N E A RT K U A L A L U M P U R Lot No. 2F-3, Level 2, Bangsar Village II, Jalan Telawi 1, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Open daily, 10 am - 10 pm Tel: +60 (03) 2283 3677 Fax: +60 (03) 2283 4677

R IC H A RD K O H F I N E A RT S IN G A P O RE Artspace@Helutrans 39 a Road #01-05 Tanjong Pagar Distripark Singapore 089065 Gallery Opening Hours: Tuesday - Friday: 11.30 am - 7 pm Saturday: 12 noon - 6 pm Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays Mondays by appointment only Tel: +65 6221 1209 Fax: +65 6221 1249

w w w . r k f i n e a r t . c o m