Rupa Malaysia

The exhibition aims to provide a comprehensive representation of the diversity and complexity of contemporary Malaysian art produced in the last ten years.

This is the third occasion that a large exhibition of this kind has been brought to London; the previous two were held at the Commonwealth Institute in 1965 and in 1978.

Although the Malay word, Rupa, has no dirrect equivalent in the English language, it can mean form, appearence or identity. Its usage and application can assume subtle and multilayered meanings within any given context.

Rupa Malaysia comprises fifty-nine paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, contemporary textiles and experimental photographs by forty-three artists drawn from three generations of Malaysians.

The older generation, who were initially trained in England and the United States during the fifties and sixties; the middle generation, largely trained in local art colleges and universities in the seventies; and the younger generation, trained either locally or in the United States in the eighties.

Participating artists include Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Chong Kam Kow, Eng Hwee Chu, Fatimah Chik, Ismail Hashim, Ismail Zain, Kelvin Chap Kok Leong, Jailani Abu Hassan, Mad Anuar, Mastura Abdul Rahman, Syed Ahmad Jamal, Syed Thajudeen, Tengku Sabree Tengku Ibrahim, Tan Chin Kuan, Wong Hoy Cheong, Teoh Jin Leng and Yusuf Ghani.

Rupa Malaysia aims to explore three interrelated themes: Assertions of the Modern, Defining Nationalism and Discovering Identities.

Contact email: gallery@soas.ac.uk