As curator
and one of the participating artists of this exhibition, I am grateful
to have all parties involved work closely and with full commitment for
the success of this international event. Here, I would like to share the
words, amazing artwork and wonderful moment to all. May happiness be
yours in your way always.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5JavNuJFQy/?igshid=18hplclige69w
As is known widely, art as a form of communication is able to evoke emotions and thoughts that connect people of different social and cultural backgrounds, transcending language barriers.
A firm believer of art in bridging people and cultures together, Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) is pleased joined hands with Malaysia Art Society (PSM) and Artdialogo Asia in working on a project named Art Empowerment Project 2019 to spread the positive acts of contributing and empowering people through the arts. As art has the power for deeper self-understanding, shaping ones temperament and expressing ones feelings.
Art Empowerment Project 2019 consists of three events commencing from February to December 2019 namely Community Development Programme, Hues of Happiness: Exhibition by Southeast Asian Artists and Artdialogo 2019.
This exhibition on Hues of Happiness has gathered Southeast Asian artists with a common practice in contributing to the community through arts, culture and education.
The colourful cultural backgrounds and diverse personal experiences of every single artist has led them in creating poetic and picturesque works brimming with a sense of happiness. They have infused their personal inspirations, perspectives, stories and acts of kindness that embody happiness, vividly in their paintings.
“Hues of Happiness” presents a beautiful selection of 46 artworks by 23 participating artists from seven countries— Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia and Myanmar.
It features a special curation showcasing the output and journey of the artists in defining happiness, together with children who participated in the community development programme that was held from February to August this year.
Art recharges life with positive energy and enhances our inner selves. Believing nothing is more important than pursuing self-development and a contributive life in building a better society. We look forward to see more like-minded communities joining us in the journey to spread positive act to even more people and define happiness in a different level. Creating a better world starts with us!
BY: SOKA GAKKAI MALAYSIA, KUALA LUMPUR
The participating artists of Hues of Happiness: Exhibition by Southeast Asian Artists
Brunei Nazurah Usop Cambodia Sor Sophany Indonesia Emmy Go, Ugy Sugiarto, Wiwik Oratmangun Malaysia Ang Kooi Yong, Honey Khor, Jane Tan, Katy Yu, Khalid Othman, Pady R. Fadzilah, Shireen Lee Myanmar Min Yin Thant The Philippines Anna Karina Jardin, Maxi V. Ramos, Fernando B. Sena, Joemarie Sanclaria Chua, Lhean Storm, Miriam G. Daway, Pancho M. Piano Thailand Jirawat Phirasant, Kanaid Silsat, Wattanachot Tungateja
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| Opening ceremony on 16th November 2019 by Dato Nicole Tan |
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| Cultural Performance by members of Soka Gakkai Malaysia | | |
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| Photography session with VIPs, co-organizers and all the participating artists |
FOREWORD published in exhibition booklet
Curatorial Note by Shireen Lee
As is widely-known, art, as a form of communication, can
evoke emotions and thoughts that connect people of different social and
cultural backgrounds, transcending language barrier. Therefore, it would not be
inappropriate to say that artists, through their artworks and creative process,
are among the best ambassadors to connect with people from all walks of life via
the visual language of art. Community-oriented projects are one of the channels
where artists could contribute their effort and fulfil social responsibility by
organising creativity-based programmes.
With the ultimate aim to empower communities as well as
defining happiness through art, Malaysia Art Society, ArtDialogo Asia and Soka
Gakkai Malaysia have co-organised the “Art Empowerment Project 2019” event
which comprises community projects carried out earlier this year, the “Hues of
Happiness” art exhibition and exchange programmes.
The Tasks commenced with apparent challenges in initial stage
of selection of participating artists. As it is a specially-curated exhibition
with a theme, one of the artists’ criteria is that his or her involvement in
art-oriented community projects is taken as a fulfilment of requirement for
participation. Generally, as creative and intuitive thinkers, artists appreciate
the beauty of Mother Nature and interaction with community since witnessing
others’ experiences and understanding others’ cultures, lives and values will
help broaden their perspective of life. In turn, this will inspires and
stimulate creativity within them to create more masterpieces. However, some
prefer to work individually from studios or in isolated conditions for various reasons
and they rarely connect with the community. Nevertheless, as visual arts are part
of self-expressive activities, nothing can be argued on the way artists work.
With painting styles ranging from photorealism to abstract,
subjects diversified from scenery to figures, genres varied from impressionism
to expressionism, participating artists converse quietly and yet powerfully
their thoughts and perception of life and happiness. A total of 23 artists from
seven Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Brunei, Myanmar and Cambodia have been selected to take part in this
exhibition.
Though art delights souls in general, not all art pieces are
created to please everyone. Art, a form of expression, could either reflect the
states of external world or the inner state of the artists. However, in lines
with the Art Empowerment Project 2019, through hues, forms or conceptual ideas
presented on canvases, the artists express their own definition of the meaning
of happiness. As art influences society by changing opinions, instilling values
and translating experiences across space and time, these artists define the
theme in various perspectives creatively and skillfully. Perhaps, for artists,
painting or the process of creating artwork itself is happiness. Art is where
we have absolute freedom of expression, space for mindfulness and unleashing
ideas beyond reality. Nazurah Usop from Brunei and Maxi V. Ramos from the Philippines
rejoice in moments of happiness by immersing themselves in art.
From the artist statements and experience, happiness could be
as simple as having sufficient staple food for daily survival or as
sophisticated as achieving calmness in spiritual growth. Every art piece is a
dialogue between artist and viewers in search of different interpretations of
happiness.
For Sor Sorphany from Cambodia, bringing happiness to
children living in poverty by inspiring and supporting them in their creative
endeavors make her days blissful. The same goes to Malaysian Honey Khor, who
supports children from underprivileged families in Siem
Reap, Cambodia through art for the past ten years, and derives happiness by
practicing metta (benevolence). Her
paintings on lotus flowers in full bloom reflect her happiness in finding inner
strength and beauty to overcome obstacles.
In parallel, Anna Karina Jardin from the Philippines, who sees
art as an efficient way of transforming next generation, founded ArtDialogo
Asia to provide platform for artists to exchange perspective through engagement
in community development besides uplifting morale of children and persons with
disability through art. Her paintings possess feminine elements which executed
with decorative motifs on segments of flat colours in bright tones.
On the other hand, for Indonesian artists Ugy Sugiarto,
happiness is rather less complicated. For him, happiness is when one can still be
grateful for everything one has. Yet, his photorealistic painting style that
requires no simple effort is contrary to his perception and belief regarding happiness
as it demands perseverance, sharp observation and intense concentration.
Although Ugy Sugiarto and Khalid Othman from Malaysia have the same interest in
painting figures, Khalid tends to capture human forms through physical
expressions of a person reflects his or her life experience and background,
presenting him with the essence that attract him to produce his semi-abstract
artwork with patched colours.
Messages bought out by hues or colours applied on artworks
are pertinent as well. Hues that are either planned consciously or painted
intuitively by artists complement and enhance the theme in different contexts.
For Indonesian Emmy Go, happiness is all about serenity and calming colours of
nature that bring peacefulness to soul and mind. This is obviously noticeable
in her choice of colours.
However, happy colours for every individual may differ
according to one’s cultural inheritance, life experiences and personal
characteristics. Wiwik Oratmangun from Indonesia, for instance, is always
pleased by colourful flora. Colours make her happy and she hopes her brightly-coloured
artworks will give viewers the same kind of happiness. Similarly, Katy Yu who
graduated from a university in Qingdao, China, sees moods and rhythms in
colours. Her expression of happiness through abstract forms contrasts with her
realism style in figures painting - perhaps, happiness is abstract as well. Miriam
G. Daway who was a practicing lawyer in the Philippines retired early to pursue
art, believes that happiness is seen in the eyes of both artist and viewer. Her
subject matters always arouse a moment of closeness.
Artists see the world differently. Every single change in
atmosphere, environment and relationship around them could be the source of
inspiration. For Malaysian Ang Kooi Yong, observing frangipani plants in front
of her apartment brings her peace of mind and she shares this happy dialogue on
canvases. Pady Fadzilah, another Malaysian artist who paints mainly landscapes,
believes that living life to the fullest and passionately appreciating nature could
generate happiness. However, we need to allocate time and be calm in order to
get in touch with nature. It is something hard for city-dwellers to achieve as
they are living in fast-paced life in the current digital age. Life has to slow
down once a while to give ourselves peaceful time to contemplate life and the
things we are passing by. Despite a heavy workload, Assoc Prof Dr Jirawat
Phirasant from Naresuan University in Thailand always gets up early at 3:00AM to
enjoy some coffee and paint for three hours before starting his lectures. It is
in these three-hour periods that his inspiration flows, when his psychological
time slows down and his self-meditation takes over that brings his feeling on
daily life and surroundings to canvases.
As mentioned, relationship with others is another sentiment-evoker
that inspire artists. Jane Tan from Malaysia, who always spends quality time
with family members, expresses her definition of happiness by painting her loved
ones, to whom she shares her joys and sorrows. She wishes, through her figures
in artworks, viewers will be inspired by love and thus spend precious time with
their children.
Meanwhile, established Thai artist Wattanachot Tungateja,
whose artwork have been selected in numerous international exhibitions, believes
that there is a correlation between life and Earth. Creatures live together
within the food chain of nature, either supporting or exploiting ones and
others, contribute to ecological balance. He combines his various eye shapes
with fundamental art principles to create and express personalised concept of
nature and beauty. Differing from others, Lhean Storm from the Philippine,
whose
works are influenced by Psytrance, an electronic dance music genre with unique,
hypnotic and transcendent energy, devises her imagined musical melodies into
intuitive paintings and illustrations.
Sentimental
attachment to one’s homeland and values is another essence that inspires
artists. Maestro Fernando B. Sena, who
is dubbed by the Philippines press as “Father of Philippines Art Workshop”, has
a unique view on one of the staple foods, pandesal (bread roll) that every
Filipino has for daily breakfast. To him, pandesals come in various shapes,
sizes and tones represent the diverse, rich and beautiful culture of the
Philippines which he is truly grateful for.
On the other hand, an artist
of younger generation from the Philippines, Joemarie Sanclaria, loves the old
Philippines setting under Spanish occupation. He explores the play of light and
shadow to create a kind of visually fairy tale atmosphere in his artwork. For
Pancho M. Piano, who is known for his murals and stained glass designs in the Philippines,
Japan, Saipan and Palau, conveys happiness though painting celebrations,
cultures and traditions that he observes locally and aboard. Pancho’s artworks
depict his visual memoirs that he renders like a kaleidoscope of colours to
intimate various emotions.
Thailand pioneer artist Dr Kanaid
Silsat, who was an associate dean at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts in Khon
Kaen University of Thailand in 1995, has attended numerous residency programmes
in various countries and exhibited actively worldwide, sees positive people
living in peaceful Earth without war, a form of happiness. For him, happiness
is all about the needs of humanity. His abstract artwork of pleasant colours
and stylized symbols give viewers sense of simplification and sophistication at
the same time.
As for me, Shireen Lee, landscapes, people,
memories and any single thing that exists either in concrete or abstract form
could be a source of happiness, depending on my beliefs, values and desires. Through
semi abstract concepts and painting styles, my artwork emphasizes a positive
and harmonious relationships between mankind and environment that should be sustained
on Earth. Perhaps, happiness does not exist spontaneously.
For Min Yin Thant, a Myanmar artist
living in Malaysia, happiness has to be made, created and be built from ground
up. Instead of searching endless for what happiness is, we should have
gratitude for what we have. Figures of Burmese ethnics in his artworks reflect
contentment and the state of satisfaction of people living without material comforts.
As a conclusion, art recharges life with positive energy and
enhances our inner selves for a better community. Through collaboration in art activities for
the good of societies and countries, we look forward to strengthen connections
among artists beyond geographical boundaries besides enhancing the value of art
as a catalyst for inspiring and building relationships.
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| Speech by Dato Michael Chong from SGM |
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| Speech by Mr. Michael Yee, President of Malaysia Art Society |
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| Opening ceremony held at Wisma SGM Kuala Lumpur |
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| Part of artowrks exhibited in exhibition venue |
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| Artists and co-organizers posed for photography |
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| Left to right : Cheng PS, Kanaid, Wattanachot, Shireen and Nazurah |
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| Artwork viewing and touring |
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| Art sharing with VIPs |
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| Posed for phtography at the entrance of exhibition hall |
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| Left to right: Datin Mary, artist Long Thien Shi and Pady Fadzilah |
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| Briefing session to participating artists before opening ceremony |
Besides exhibition, there are art talk, workshop, and art activities held in conjunction with the event. Everyone has played their part to make the event a success. Support from public is overwhelming as well.
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| Mural painting by students, artists and public |
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| Mural touched up by artists and volunteers |
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| Drawing Workshop by Maestro Fernando B. Sena |
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| Participants attending workshop |
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| Children visited exhibition after attending 'colours vs personality' workshop with Anna Karina (sitting with red shirt) |
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| participants of children art workshop conducted by Anna Karina and Shireen |
Event reported by local newspaper
Happy ending - Art brings hearts closer and together we generate positive energy to society
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| Closing dinner at Royal Selangor Club Kuala Lumpur hosted by ArtDialogo Asia |
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| Group photo for wonderful memory |
LET'S MEET AGAIN
SOMEWHERE
SOMEDAY
