WE often hear the phrase ‘think out of the box’, which encourages one to stretch the creativity level and come up with something that no one has ever thought of. In other words, something original or moving away from the conventional way of thinking.
Being an epitome of creative thinking, art show curator Ivan Gabriel initiated an exhibition, called ‘Boxed In’ recently with the theme ‘One Foot At A Time’, which left many a visitor spell-bound with the artworks displayed.
During an exclusive interview with the Buletin Mutiara team, Gabriel said the artists were given two 12’’ x 12’’ (inch) wooden boxes and were required to showcase their artistic talent using those two boxes.
“A bunch of Penang-based visual artists from various backgrounds and arts practices joined us in this arts exhibition. What I wanted was to portray art from a different perspective, that is using the metaphorical phrase – ‘think out of the box’ as my inspiration.
“They were required to fully utilise the boxes given to them and the only catch was for them to “think outside the box” whilst having the artworks within the box itself.
“I was impressed when I saw their end products. They had proved that art can take form in any object when it is done passionately,’’ said Gabriel at the exhibition held recently for one month in December 2020 at the Penang Hin Bus Depot in Jalan Gurdwara, George Town.
The exhibition, according to him, was slated to be held earlier but was postponed due to the movement control order (MCO) that took place in March last year.
One of the participants, Maizul Affendy, who is a multidisciplinary artist, used comic illustration to portray the political scene of our country.
“This artwork is my new series of the political satire ‘RABAK KERAjaan’, which translated means “torn apart.”
“The word ‘KERAjaan’, when you read the first two syllables (KERA) means ‘chimpanzee’. A chimpanzee possesses domineering characteristics and resembles politicians who love to fight for power and leadership. I love playing around with words that would be thought provoking while adding some humour.
“I am more into politics and I follow closely all the political drama that take place in our midst. So, I wanted to use metaphors to convey my thoughts to the public. It took me a few months to fully construct the artwork, as I had to do it layer by layer,’’ said Affendy, who is also a lecturer at KDU College.
Self-taught artist, Nasir Nadzir said the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic forced him to make last minute changes to his creation.
“I have actually completed working on the first wooden box – the Blueberries Box before the MCO was implemented on March 18, 2020. My initial idea was to pair this box with Blue Rubies Box as a juxtaposition.
“But the lockdown has totally changed my idea for the next box, as I was craving for a warm hearty meal in a nearby cafe, such as a French toast with fresh fruits on top of it with sweet syrup.
‘On top of that, I also witnessed some panic buying that were happening in the grocery shops in my neighbourhood. So, I came up with the second box by illustrating an image of bread stacked up and overloaded with fruits,’’ said Nasir.
For botanical artist Esther Geh, she invented a treasure box while integrating the elements of nature.
Materials such as ink, water colour and acrylic painting were used to beautify the treasure box.
“This treasure box would perhaps reminisce our childhood memories of having collection of treasure boxes and musical boxes that we excitedly used to store things.
“I have decorated the box by painting the images of rainforest to send a message on how treasurable the rainforest is.
“People bring destruction to the rainforest through their activities like littering, cutting down trees and many others which have also led to the extinction of flora and fauna in the forest,’’ said Geh.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Alissala Thian