The Back Room proudly presents 排一排 Side by Side 排一排 (pai yi pai), a solo exhibition by Liew Kwai Fei, in collaboration with HARTA at their gallery in Ampang. The exhibition presents over 30 paintings, including triptychs, of previously unexhibited paintings created at different times in the artist’s practice. The paintings will be exhibited side by side, non-chronologically, in a dynamic exhibition that encourages viewers towards a deeper and broader contemplation of painting and its traditions.
Liew Kwai Fei (b. 1979, Kuantan, Pahang) is one of the nation’s most prolific contemporary painters, having had 13 solo exhibitions prior to Side by Side. Since around 2018, Liew has devoted most of his practice to making paintings that, for the sake of convenience, can be categorised within the genre of “abstraction”—although if there is anything to be learned from Liew’s practice, it is that the final work of art often evades and transcends preconceived rules of categorisation. The works in Side by Side have been selected largely from his series “The Art of Painting 2.0” (created between 2017–2019) and “Gesture. Abstraction. Painting. 1.0” and “Gesture. Abstraction. Painting. 2.0” (created between 2019–2024).
The numerals that accompany each series’ name suggest how difficult it is to categorise or articulate the artist’s practice in words, but they also suggest that perhaps the more appropriate way to approach painting is not through titles, words, numbers, and other clerical detail, but rather through encountering a painting face to face, with full openness of the senses. Even the titles of the series remain ambiguous and broad, created more for the sake of convenience rather than as a necessary supplement to the painting. In the final analysis, each painting stands on its own. The titles of the series can help to compile certain concerns that the artist was occupied with at a specific time, but a final appreciation of them has to be reached by the viewer on their own in direct contact with the painting.
The paintings of “The Art of Painting (TAP) 2.0”, created between 2017–2019, are distinguished by the appearance of thicker brushstrokes and block-like structures, as if elements in the painting were built or stacked atop each other. The pleasures that the paintings inspire are likely due to their strategies of juxtaposition, whether it’s the way certain colours associate with each other upon the canvas or the way organic strokes disrupt coloured geometries. Selections from its elder sibling, “The Art of Painting 1.0”, were previously exhibited in This Is Where We Meet at OUR ArtProjects gallery in 2017.
On the other hand, “Gesture. Abstraction. Painting. (GAP) 1.0” and “GAP 2.0” are distinguished by their intensity and depth. The paintings are worked on more convolutedly, and it’s more difficult to distinguish strokes and colours from each other due to a greater use of blending and a wider array of brush sizes. Even between the paintings of “GAP 1.0” (selections of which were previously exhibited in Nothing Personal at Rissim Contemporary, Bangsar, in 2022) and “GAP 2.0”, there are divergences, with the paintings of the latter displaying more unusual composition and experimental, non-painterly elements such as the use of flicking, dripping, and the distillation of paint with water or ink to create a bleeding effect.
Such puzzles have long characterised Liew’s paintings which, despite being rather taciturn in offering supplementary detail, are nevertheless crafted with the idea of a Viewer, for it is only with the presence of a viewer—and that viewer’s preconceived notions—that the paintings’ playful and mischievous qualities can be fully activated.
Exhibition dates: 23 October – 17 November 2024
Opening reception: 2 November 2024 from 2pm – 5pm
Artist tours: 9 November and 16 November, 3pm
HARTA
Level 1, Lot 93-95 Lorong Memanda 2,
68000 Ampang, Selangor
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Sunday
10am – 5pm
(Closed on Monday)
Exhibition Essay
Artwork details and prices
Installation shots
