Introduction

Tomio Koyama Gallery Singapore is pleased to present a group exhibition featuring Southeast Asian artists Khvay Samnang (Cambodia), Mohamad ‘Ucup’ Yusuf (Indonesia), Arin Rungjang (Thailand), and Shooshie Sulaiman (Malaysia).
SEA (Social Engagement Artist / Southeast Asia) is a group exhibition involving prominent artists in the region whose work explore culture, history and social engagement, set within the context of Southeast Asia.

Concept

The exhibition will feature digital C-prints by Khvay Samnang, woodblock prints and paintings by Mohamad ‘Ucup’ Yusuf, mix-media paintings by Shooshie Sulaiman and a drawing and a sculpture by Arin Rungjang.

Khvay Samnang’s work engages with concepts of mediation, change and continuity. He offers new interpretations of history, longstanding cultural practices, and contentious current affairs. Khvay observes the urban environment and its growing capitalism in the Cambodian society and beyond, highlighting them through his art.
Similarly, Mohamad ‘Ucup’ Yusuf narrates and comments on the realities of Indonesia through his work. He believes that art is a form of expression, documentation and hence education, through which a better future may be conceived. His unique woodblock prints often illustrate social issues such as corruption, environmental damage, consumerism and social division, while his paintings depict simpler yet rich and symbolic motifs with explorations in colors and textures.
For Shooshie Sulaiman, artistic practice and life are inextricable. Many of her works are based on situation, experience, and process, unique to her identity. Seeking knowledge to educate herself and layering semiotics, contradiction and beauty, her work explores history, cultural and social configurations and human experience and imagination within the context of Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Arin Runjang’s interests lie in the imaginary and symbolic meanings found in everyday spaces, objects and exchanges. His projects trigger the dissolution of conventional barriers such as that between public and private, in the process drawing together disparate histories and contexts. Arin’s work makes manifest a constructed reality that usually remains hidden from us.
The artists Mohamad ‘Ucup’ Yusuf, Arin Rungjang, and Shooshie Sulaiman will also participate in a roundtable discussion at Art Stage Singapore’s ARTnews talks series on Saturday, 24 January 2015, 11:30am – 12:30pm at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Level 4, Room 4111.

Workshop with Artists

＊Friday, 23 January 2015, 18:00 – 20:00
Join Mohamad ‘Ucup’ Yusuf in a printmaking workshop set in the gallery and experience the joy of communicating through art making. The workshop will focus mainly on woodblock printing, the choice of medium of Taring Padi, an artist-activist collective from Yogyakarta which Yusuf is founding member of. Woodblock printing is characteristic of its modest reproduction and distribution, making it an appropriate mode of sharing with the community. Simple carving techniques will also be covered during the workshop. Materials will be provided.