Image: Propositional Berg by Lena Cobangbang for Rogueish Festive Cards

Very shortly, we will be ushering in a new year. Where did all our time go in 2010?  Between collections consultancy and logistical management work, and our publication and commission projects, it’s been an inspiring year with new challenges and rewards. Here are some of the highlights of our 2010:

Publications

WORKING

Kicking off with the exhibition WORK at 19 Jalan Berangan in January, this artists-initiated project culminated in the launch of our first RogueArt publication in October, in conjunction with the exhibition 10 Malaysian Artists:  Portraits From The Work Project by the book’s lead photographer Tara Sosrowardoyo at Zinc Art Space in KL. WORKING explores studio practice and artistic process through the experiences of Malaysian artists Ahmad Fuad Osman, Ahmad Shukri Mohamed, Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Chong Siew Ying, Hamir Soib, Jalaini Abu Hassan, Kow Leong Kiang, Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin, Ramlan Abdullah and Yee I-Lann.

Yee I-Lann: Boogeyman: Fluid World

In collaboration with Valentine Willie Fine Art, we worked with Yee I-Lann on her landmark exhibition Boogeyman at the Black Box at MAP KL in September and her monograph Fluid World, which was launched at VWFA in November.

2010 also saw the launch of two publications we were involved in as text editors last year – Agus Suwage’s extraordinary monograph Still Crazy After all These Years in Jakarta in May and 30 Art Friends in Singapore in March. We helped the Malaysian Art Friends with an exhibition to coincide with the book’s Kuala Lumpur launch at the National Art Gallery in June.

All the above publications and more books on Southeast Asian art are now available at www.rogueish.asia, and at selected bookshops in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Publications in progress

We are proud to announce that we have raised support for the full budget of RM360,000 for Narratives in Malaysian Art, an ambitious four-volume publication comprising republished texts, commissioned essays, and interviews on the development of visual art in Malaysia to be published by RogueArt through 2011 and 2012. We’d like to thank our sponsors Bangsar Village, Balai Seni Lukis Negara, Kenneth Tan, Gudang Damansara, Rosemary and Steve Wong, Malakoff Corporation Berhad, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Avenue Invest Berhad, Helu-Trans (Singapore) Pte Ltd, and Khazanah Nasional Berhad for their corporate support, and the Krishen Jit-ASTRO Fund for their support, as well as the many Friends and benefactors of the project. The editorial team led by Nur Hanim Khairuddin and Beverly Yong, with Hasnul J Saidon and Eva McGovern are very excited as Volumes I and II begin to shape up. Do visit the NMA website for updates.

RogueArt are also thrilled to be working on an artist’s book for Eko Nugroho, to be published in Indonesia in the second half of 2011. This monograph will a present a number of landmark projects and works produced by this prolific artist over the past decade.

Sime Darby Epic Painting

In 2009, we assisted Sime Darby Berhad in commissioning three artists to work on an epic painting to celebrate its centennial this year. Ahmad Fuad Osman, Anurendra Jegadeva and Chuah Chong Yong are currently completing this 50 ft opus, which offers a dynamic visual interpretation of this company’s history and vision, at Wisma Sime Darby in KL as part of the company’s centennial exhibition.

‘So You Want To Be an Artist’

In June we organized a workshop in collaboration with House of Matahati (HOM) geared towards young artists starting out on a professional career. Artists and industry players offered practical advice and guidance on matters from how to pack an artwork to the ethics of gallery contracts.

Online material

We’ve recently uploaded the notes from Where Art Happens, our 2009 talks series on issues of art infrastructure focusing on the Malaysian scene but also looking to achievements and challenges in the region as a whole, as well as articles we’ve published as RogueArt, for the sadly now defunct Off the Edge magazine (including our “Where Art Happens” map of local art infrastructure), and “Cocktails Will Be Served”, our contribution to IVAA’s publication in progress on the art market boom and bust, Economy Class.

We’d like to wish all our friends and associates a wonderful start to 2011. We hope to see you in the New Year!

The “WORK” exhibition was launched last saturday to a large crowd. Many thanks to all the participating artists who came early and all the guests that came to support this project!

Please visit the WORK exhibition page for more details on the project.

View of Zakii's and Kow's artwork

View of I-Lann's and Fuad's artwork

View of Siew Ying's and Jai's artwork

View of Hamir's, Fuad's artwork and Ramlan's sculpture

View of Ramlan's sculpture

View of I-Lann's and Fuad's artwork

Portraits of the artists by Tara

The participating artists, Tara Sosrowardoyo and RogueArt

The early birds...

Boss #1 & Boss #1 giving speeches

Raja Shahriman's sculpture and Tara's little room of portraits

The peak of the opening with crowds even on the 1st floor

The crowd spilling out of the house to the street...

Asia Art Forum is back ladies and gentlemen! And yes, we are helping our friends plug their gig this coming May. I was a part of last year’s series and can honestly tell you that it is an opportunity not to be missed, if you are the sort who is interested in the ins and outs of Asia’s dynamic art scene told from an insider’s viewpoint.

This year AAF will be focusing on themes and developments in artistic practice relating to the contemporary art of China, Korea and Hong Kong. The Forum will be complimented by a trip to Hong Kong’s Fotan art district, formerly an industrial area characterised by warehouses and now home to the studios of many of Hong Kong’s most prominent artists. AAF will also be devoting a day to the examination of the art market and will be looking at the role of the collector in Asia, where the audience will have the unique opportunity to listen to personal testimonies of prominent collectors building art collections in Asia today.

Fostering direct encounters with leading members of the Asian contemporary art community, the program offers privileged access to first-hand information and invaluable insights into these developing areas of Asian art history.

The exclusivity of the Forum enables and encourages the exchange of ideas between guest lectures and participants providing a singular opportunity for art professionals, collectors and enthusiasts with an interest in these burgeoning regions currently driving a major transformation of the international art world.

The seminar will take place in Hong Kong over a three day period, 21-23 May. Limited places are available.

For more information please email info@asiaartforum.com

Asia Art Forum is an educational initiative founded and produced by Pippa Dennis in association with Asia Art Radar. 15% of all profits will go to Arthub, a non-profit art and cultural organization which promotes contemporary art creation in China and the rest of Asia.

Asia Art Forum is supported by Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong

With special thanks to The Goethe Institute and Ben Brown Fine Arts for hosting the sessions.

Programme will include:

• Bang to Boom: Chinese Art in the 1990s
Curator Karen Smith will trace the events, ideas and theories that unfolded through the 1990s to produce the backbone of China’s new art. Cynical Realism, Political Pop, performance art, photography, video, installation, and extreme conceptual expression all have their roots in this decade of tumultuous advance and experimentation, strung between the socio-political events of 1989–that began with a bang when woman artist Xiao Lu fired a gun into her work in February 1989–and the economic boom that began in 2004. The 1990s was an extraordinary incubator for art reflecting the extraordinary times that characterise the era.

• Centre and Periphery: the Dynamics of Hong Kong Contemporary Art

Eclipsed by the overwhelming attention directed at mainland China, Hong Kong artists have been free from commercial pressure to quietly develop a unique aesthetic. Compounded by the fact that Hong Kong is a place where physical platforms for visual art are curiously limited, many artists have survived by carving out private spaces far from the centres of control. This tendency towards privacy and interiority has become part of the fundamental vocabulary in the expressive content of Hong Kong contemporary art. Against this background, critic and independent curator Valerie Doran examines the quietly vibrant dynamics of Hong Kong art, past, present and future.

• Big Art in China

Philip Tinari explores the mechanisms of artistic production in contemporary China, asking how China’s unique economies of labor affect how work is made. Looking specifically at locales and situations including the studio districts of Beijing, the ceramic workshops of Jingdezhen, and the “copy” painting village of Dafen in Shenzhen, it raises questions of artistic authorship and social relations against the wider background of China’s status as “the world’s factory.”

• Asian Art Market Now

Jeremy Wingfield, Phillips de Pury’s Contemporary Art Specialist, will offer essential background and up to date information on the dynamics of the Asian Art Market today. The shift in global wealth from West to East in 2009/2010 has given rise to a new focus by Western art institutions on Asian and particularly Mainland Chinese art collectors. His candid insights into the current situation will focus on the inside players driving the Asian market forward, with special focus on the fresh opportunities available to collectors, institutions and art professionals.

• A Collectors Journey – From Hobby to Museum

Dr Oei Hong Djien, Indonesia’s foremost private art collector, will be discussing his own journey from initial fascination with his nation’s artistic culture to being the first to systematically collect modern and contemporary Indonesian art. He founded The OHD Museum of Modern and Contemporary Indonesian Art to house this unparalleled collection of 1500 pieces. As well as providing useful tools and methodologies for budding collectors Dr Oei will be looking at the role of the private collector in Asia, analysing how fundamental this position is as a preserver and promoter a nation’s artistic practise and culture in a region where governments do not necessarily support such activity.

Course
21-23 May 2010
3 day course, daily, 10-12.30am and 2-5pm

Price
5,200 Hong Kong Dollars (due on registration)
15% of all profits donated to Arthub, a non profit art and cultural organisation that promotes contemporary art creation in China and Asia.

For more information please contact:

Pippa Dennis
M (UK) +44 7786 110 561

Kate Cary Evans
M (Hong Kong) + 852 6103 0470

info@asiaartforum.com

www.asiaartforum.com

http://artradarasia.wordpress.com

(AO)

Hello All!

This has been circulating in Facebook for a couple of weeks now and we thought we’d share this with you. Our dear friends at Cemeti Art House is making an open call to artists from Southeast Asia who may be interested in participating in the following programmes:

– working on project/workshop & exhibition with artists from Myanmar
– 3 month residency at Cemeti Art House
– holding Master Class programme

If you are interested please mail them:

– latest updated CV with links to websites/blogs etc
– a portfolio with minimum 5 works
– a short write up about the theme and concepts you’d like to explore

CAH only accepts proposals in the form of CD, DVD or hardcopy print outs.

There is no age limit to this call. Students are encouraged to apply if interested. Please note however that non-Indonesian artists will have to work out funding possibilities individually as this is a rather modest programme and funding is very limited.

DEADLINE is APRIL 15th but CAH is willing to make exceptions for late-applicants so do email ahead to let them know if you are interested in applying! Apparently there haven’t been many takers so we thought we’d help spread the word from our end.

email:cemetiah@indosat.net.id

GOOD LUCK!

***

Lamaran Terbuka Untuk Seniman/Seniwati
Dengan pergantian fokus Rumah Seni Cemeti di tahun 2010 yang tidak lagi kepada penyelenggaraan pameran rutin, tetapi lebih kepada mendorong praktek seni dan wacana dengan mengembangkan proyek-proyek khusus dan program residensi, maka kami membuka penerimaan lamaran dari seniman/seniwati yang memiliki antusiasme untuk memperdalam wacana & merealisasikan proyek/ide kreatifnya bersama Rumah Seni Cemeti.

KAMI MENCARI SENIMAN/SENIWATI YANG TERTARIK
UNTUK MENGIKUTI:
– Proyek/workshop & pameran bersama seniman dari Myanmar
- Residensi di Rumah Seni Cemeti selama 3 [tiga] bulan
- Master Class Program

SEGERA KIRIMKAN:
– CV terbaru [dilengkapi dengan link ke website atau blog Anda jika ada]
- Portfolio dengan minimal 5 [lima] karya Anda
- Tulisan singkat tentang tema & konsep karya

Kami hanya menerima lamaran & portfolio dalam format cd, dvd dan hard copy.
Tidak ada batas usia pelamar & lamaran juga terbuka untuk mahasiswa.

Tenggat waktu pengiriman:
15 April 2010

Aplikasi dikirimkan ke:
Jl. D.I. Panjaitan 41 / Yogyakarta 55143
Open : 09.00 a.m. – 05.00 p.m. , Sunday, Monday closed.
t / f : +62 (0) 274 371015 / SMS : 08122733564
e-mail : cemetiah@indosat.net.id
http://www.facebook.com/l/10ce8;www.cemetiarthouse.com

Harimau Malaya by Jalaini Abu Hassan

We wish you and yours Gong Hei Fatt Choy and a magnificent year of the Tiger! We are closed from 11 until 18 February 2010 but we are still reachable via our emails and mobile phones.

FINALLY. The fruit of our labour is finally having its long awaited coming out party! This is RogueArt’s first major publication project so you can imagine our excitement. Can’t wait to see the final product! We hear the 100 limited edition copies contain a special surprise. See you there?

Still Crazy After All These Years
Book Launching and Signing
Monday, May 17 at 5:00pm
Nadi Gallery, Grand Indonesia, Jakarta

Please email us contact@rogueart.asia for further information about the book or if you would like us to help you find a copy.

We were recently in Taipei and have concluded that despite the four-and-half hour flight time, grim weather and so-so food, the trip to Taiwan was definitely worth the time (and money) in order to catch Cai Guo-Qiang’s solo ‘Hanging Out in the Museum’ at the Taipei Fine Art Museum. As photography was strictly not allowed, it is quite impossible to describe the power and epic scale of the artist’s elaborate installations and gunpowder projects presented in this retrospective exhibition. Nevertheless, Rachel managed to sneak a few shots when the guard was not looking. (Please see below for scenes from the show, and apologies to TFAM for breaking rules!) The artist’s attention to detail, precision and the power of his underlying messages are literally mind blowing! The exhibition was divided into two parts: “Dramatic Time Condensed” on the first floor explores Mr. Cai’s tendency to “counteract time, so that movement and dramatic movement –which are only possible in time– are condensed into still objects”, while the second floor, titled “Contradictory, Changeable Gunpowder”, traces the development of Mr. Cai’s gunpowder exploits from early paintings with gunpowder to the blowing up of his ‘sketches’. A comprehensive collection of video documentation also provide further understanding to Mr. Cai’s pyromaniacal ‘drawing’ process and gunpowder performances , and these range from earlier works such as the “Project for Extraterrestials” series (made during the 1990s) to the recent opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Head On“, an installation with 99 life-sized wolves, fabricated from sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, barreling in a continuous stream towards (and into) a glass wall, is definitely a Rogue favourite. Loaned from Deutsche Bank’s collection, this work is a critique of the German reunification. We found the artist’s statement “invisible walls are the hardest to dismantle” –describing the German condition – very apt for Malaysia too. All in all, we spent between three to five hours at the museum (twice!) and found ourselves quite reluctant to leave. To quote our travel companion Mr. Lau,  “Cai Guo-Qiang has single-handedly beat 5000 years of Chinese history” as he held our attention far longer than the National Palace Museum exhibition –5 hours as compared to 1 hour– displaying treasures from the Chinese world. We heart Cai Guo-Qiang : )

Please don’t miss out on this show if you are in Taipei, the show closes on 21 February 2010 (closed on Mondays and CNY).

The Taipei Fine Art Museum

Cultural Melting Bath : Project for the 20th Century

Rent Collection Courtyard

Rent Collection Courtyard

Head On

Inopportune : Stage One

Reflection - A Gift from Iwaki

Lucky Draw Prizes

Rachel was particularly excited about the Lucky Draw at TFAM. The prizes are: (Week #1) A pair of return tickets to Hong Kong; ( Week #2) Tea with Cai Guo-Qiang and a signed exhibition catalogue; (Week #3) TWD $ 20,000 (approx RM 2,200) Voucher from Eslite Bookshop; (Week #4) 1 iphone 3GS; (Week #5) A pair of return tickets to New York to visit Cai Guo-Qiang’s Studio and tea with the artist at the Empire State Building. WOW!!!

To make the trip even more worthwhile, we also caught Takashi Murakami’s print show at Arki Gallery near the Taipei Main Station, which will run until April 2010. We were impressed by the Taiwanese audience’s enthusiasm for art! There were at least 3 rows of people in front of any artwork at any one time when we visited Van Gogh’s exhibition at The National Museum of History. We also had to return to MOCA Taipei twice before we had the opportunity to enter the museum as we could not bear the 2-hour ticket queue outside the museum on our first visit. Rachel managed to squeeze in time to catch the ‘Visual Attract and Attack’ at MOCA Taipei (after the 2nd attempt) and here are pictures of some of the works on show.

The 2-hour queue outside MOCA

The Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Yang Moa-lin

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Yang Moa-lin

PixCell-Elk by Japanese artist Kohei Nawa

A sculpture by Takashi Murakami

Movement Age by Chen Zhiguang

Superheroes in fetus stage by Alexandre Nicolas

Baby Hulk

Baby Wonderwoman

Malaysia Boleh! It was a lovely surprise to see Chan Kok Hooi artworks here too!

(RN & AO)

RogueArt is proud to host 23 Reasons We Still Need Superman, a traveling video art festival devised and curated by Tim Crowley. This presentation is an extensive overview of video work from the last 15 years. In true Myspace/ Facebook fashion, the selection is both personalized and intentionally un-private, customized and compartmentalized yet available to all. It targets the interest of artists in investigating how images operate and construct our understanding of the world. They explore aesthetic concepts, everyday narratives, and sociopolitical realities and utopias. While some artists use the video to challenge our assumptions about the mimetic nature of the medium, the curatorial focus of 23 Reasons We Still Need Superman will be the relationship between performance and video, what reaction the works create in the audience and the subject matter as a catalyst for dialogue. Contemporary reality is an assemblage of whatever grabs our attention and we want these works to play part of the contemporary reality collage of the viewers, to form an alternative kind of map.

The opening of the video art festival is this Friday, 15 January 2010 from 7-10pm at 19 Jalan Berangan. The screening will also continue on Saturday, 16 January 2010.

Supported by Timeout KL and 19 Jalan Berangan.
The video art festival will continue its travel to Beijing, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

As of 10 March 2010, RogueArt will be moving our office premises to:

I7 Taman Tunku Apartments
Bukit Tunku
50480 Kuala Lumpur

We’ve had a great stay at No. 19 Jalan Berangan, and we hope you have enjoyed the exhibitions and events we’ve organised and hosted there. Thank you for your support over the past year.

You can still call us at 016 266 7413 and email us at contact@rogueart.asia. Do also visit our website at www.rogueart.asia for our latest news.

We will be in touch soon with announcements of a number of our upcoming projects for 2010!

If in Singapore this week, we strongly recommend you try to catch the last few days of FX Harsono: Testimonies at Singapore Art Museum, which ends 9 May.  If you can’t, download the exhibition catalogue from the SAM website.

While at SAM do also go see Ming Wong, Life of Imitation, which runs to 22 August – well worth the price of the tickets!

.