Budiey
Samsung Malaysia Electronics today announced the launch of Masterpieces at Galeri PETRONAS. A digital art gallery, Masterpieces is an application that showcases a collection of curated contemporary visual artworks by established and emerging artists based in Malaysia.
Available exclusively on Samsung Apps and Google Play, Masterpieces is optimised for a range of Samsung GALAXY Note series. Audiences can also access Masterpieces via the website (www.masterpiecesart.com).
[pullquote]Samsung Launches Masterpieces, a Digital Art Gallery to Showcase Works by Malaysia-based Artist. Part of Samsung’s long-term commitment to enable the growth of Asia’s digital art scene. Mobile and online gallery, curated by Iola Lenzi, showcases digital artworks by established and emerging artists based in Malaysia.[/pullquote]
Curated by Masterpieces curator, Iola Lenzi, a leading regional contemporary art curator, critic and writer, Masterpieces will feature contributed artworks by established and emerging artists, and selected student works in digital forms such as graphics, photos and videos, created with the Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 LTE.
“At Samsung, we want to provide a channel for designers and art lovers to share their artwork but in digital form. Through Masterpieces, we hope to help increase the appreciation of digital artworks and, at the same time, contribute towards the arts community in Malaysia. We are honoured to have a pool of Malaysia’s very best artists on-board to create unique and beautiful works of art exclusively for Masterpieces,” said Lee Dong Yong, President of Samsung Malaysia Electronics.
Masterpieces allows established and emerging artists to collectively build a library of works representative of this part of the world, as they collaborate and exchange ideas with renowned industry veterans such as Iola Lenzi. As an online platform, Masterpieces also allows artists to present their works to a broader audience, and help cultivate public interest in digital art by artists based in Malaysia.
No stranger to the art scene, Galeri PETRONAS, who is also the venue sponsor, has long hosted many art showcases in Kuala Lumpur. “PETRONAS has always prided itself as an innovative company as well as being a strong supporter of the development of Malaysian arts. Today we’re happy to be playing a small part towards acknowledging digital art as a new medium in Malaysia. This is another testament of PETRONAS’ focus on innovation and our effort in promoting the 11 Malaysian artists with their digital masterpieces at Galeri PETRONAS,” said Liz Kamaruddin, Senior General Manager of Strategic Communications Division, PETRONAS.
Through Masterpieces, audiences can now look forward to gaining easy access to a plethora of quality artworks, enhancing their appreciation of visual arts in varied forms and getting to know the works of various Malaysia-based artists. They can also take the opportunity to share and dedicate their favourite artworks to their loved ones.
Enabling Audience Appreciation of Works by Established Malaysia-based Visual Artists
Samsung is working with 11 prominent and up-and-coming Malaysia-based contemporary artists to contribute to the Masterpieces gallery. The artists include Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Al-Khuzairie Ali, Chi Too, Chris Chong, Jalaini Abu Hassan (Jai), Phuan Thai Meng, Poodien, Roslisham Ismail (Ise), Sherman Ong, Umibaizurah Mahir Ismail and Chang Yoong Chia.
“I see this as a potential platform for the burgeoning of artists in Malaysia and in the region, facilitating the growth of a visual arts canon in Southeast Asia. The big virtue of this project is that it does not limit art and offers a new experience for artists in the creation process. I’m pleasantly surprised by the capabilities of the GALAXY Note 10.1 LTE and how artists have been able to think outside the box to create wonderful pieces with the help of technology,” said Iola Lenzi, curator of Masterpieces.
Samsung’s Continued Commitment to the Arts
Samsung has already spearheaded the formation of this digital art gallery by expanding Masterpieces to include Southeast Asian art contributed by more established and emerging artists in the region. Artists and arts enthusiasts are invited to continue sharing their artworks on Masterpieces, and to engage in artistic exchange with the arts community, helmed by curator Iola Lenzi.
Samsung is committed to helping to grow the digital art scene in Asia and will continue to engage in meaningful dialogues with the arts community and relevant stakeholders.
The Masterpieces app is also available on Samsung Smart TVs and will be available on Smart TV Version 2.0 by the first quarter of 2015 for an optimal viewing experience.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of televisions, smartphones, personal computers, printers, cameras, home appliances, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 236,000 people across 79 countries with annual sales of US$187.8 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.
Iola Lenzi is a Singapore curator, critic and researcher of Southeast Asian contemporary art. She has curated numerous institutional exhibitions in Singapore and Southeast Asia and is a lecturer at the Asian Art Histories MA programme of Singapore’s Lasalle-Goldsmiths College of the Arts. She is a contributor to international art journals and anthologies, and a regular participant in symposia on Asian art and culture. She is the author of Museums of Southeast Asia (Thames & Hudson 2005), a regional correspondent for Asian Art, London, and a founding member of AICA Singapore.
Iola Lenzi
Curator, critic and researcher
Ahmad Zakii Anwar was born in 1955 in Johor Bahru. He is a graduate of the School of Art and Design, MARA Institute of Technology. He is lauded for capturing not just city motifs and urban features, but also a distinctive psychological dimension and cinematic quality in these scenarios. Zakii’s preoccupation with the spiritual or metaphysical aspects of urban life is seen through his use of icons, symbols and allegories. Metaphors of theatre, performance and masks have also marked his practice.
Mohd. Al-Khuzairie Ali, 30 years old, graduated with a B.A (Hons) Art and Design (Ceramic) from Universiti Teknologi MARA in 2008. Khuzairie is one of the country’s youngest generation of ceramicists who consistently pushes beyond conventional boundaries of ceramics within a contemporary framework. His works previously exhibited in South Korea, The Netherlands, Thailand and Singapore.
He represented Malaysia in the 2011 Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale 2011, Incheon World Ceramic Centre, Republic of Korea and was awarded with an Honorable Mention.
Khuzairie was one of the winners of the Malaysian Emerging Artist Award (MEAA) in 2009. His works are collected by various institutions and private collectors including the National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia.
Chi Too is a filmmaker and conceptual arts practitioner who uses humour, satire and visual poetics to create a diverse system of objects that include videos, installations, performances, sculptures and photography to reveal his own never-ending emotional struggles and personal reflections.
His experimental music, performances and playful self-organised public art projects such as Main Dengan Rakyat, Everything’s Gonna Be All Right, and Lepark display a multifaceted approach to practise. Since then, as a self-taught artist outsider, he is developing his fine art practice and has participated in various exhibitions and performance events in Malaysia and abroad.
Chris Chong Chan Fui is an artist who experiments with the moving image and the process of documentation. His previous works have been exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian Institute), Eye Film Museum Netherlands, Festival de Cannes, Singapore Art Museum, Centre Pompidou, and the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art.
Jalaini Abu Hassan is best known as Jai. His works draw upon and are inspired by the events of today, expressed using imagery of the local and the familiar, focused through his personal lens of nostalgia and history. Educated at MARA Institute of Technology (now UiTM), where he obtained his BA, Jai continued his further education — under scholarship awards — at the prestigious institutions of the Slade School of Fine Art in London and the Pratt Institute in New York, where he obtained his MA and MFA respectively.
A process painter, Jai is interested in the exploration of the act of creation that goes into forming a work, the exploration of materials and media, and the marks that form a drawing, always pushing his own boundaries in search for new processes; working towards presenting a Malaysian visual vernacular, one whose meaning would undoubtedly speak of his identity and culture.
As well as his solo exhibitions, he has been shown in group exhibitions in Melbourne, Bath, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Beijing, Fukuoka, Bandung, Manila and Singapore.
Phuan Thai Meng is a full-time artist, arts educator and founding member of the artist collective Rumah Air Panas (RAP). He received his Diploma in Fine Art majoring in painting from the Malaysian Institute of Art in 1996.
His solo exhibitions include: The WE Project; Richard Koh Fine Art in Kuala Lumpur; Made in Malaysia at Valentine Willie
Fine Art Kuala Lumpur 2009; the 7th Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, Australia; Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art Musuem at Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan; and Mapping the Homeland: We are proud of you at Valentine Willie Fine Art Singapore 2011.
Poodien derives his influence from various art practices and schools of thought as well as ordinary everyday life around him. His work includes painting, digital graphics, installation and performance. Methodologically, he crosses over between direction action, social experiment, collective work and individual creation, focusing on confrontation and force in the individual and in society. Poodien identifies, applies and tests his open-ended experimental works against the responses of the public and the realities of his social context.
He holds a Diploma in Fine Art from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Seri Iskandar, Perak.
Roslisham Ismail, also known as Ise, was born in 1972 in Kota Bharu, Malaysia. He is based in both Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bharu, and currently resides in ZK/U, Berlin. Ise is the co-founder of Sentap, a quarterly art publication in Malaysia.
Ise’s work is always participatory, embedded in conversation, friendship and the experiences of simply living life amongst a multitude of communities internationally, including installations, publications, animations, collages, participatory events, and the artist space Parking Project (at his apartment in Kuala Lumpur).
He graduated from Universiti Teknologi MARA in Shah Alam. He has participated in a number of exhibitions internationally, namely the 9th Istanbul Biennale 2005, 2009 Jakarta Biennale with Indonesian collaborative Ruangrupa, 2011 Singapore Biennale, 2011 Asia Triennale Manchester, 2012 Asia Pacific Triennale APT, 2013 Asian Art Biennale in Taiwan and Scape 7- 2013 Public Art Biennale at Christchurch, New Zealand.
In 2006, Ise was the residency artist at Artspace Visual Arts Centre in Sydney. The following year, he held his first solo exhibition at Sydney 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. In 2008, he held an exhibition — Super Fiction — at JFKL Gallery, Kuala Lumpur under the grant from The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur. In 2014, he exhibited solo — Operation Bangkok — in Bangkok University Gallery.
Sherman Ong is a filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. His practice has always been centred on the human condition and our relationships with others within the larger milieu.
Winner of the 2010 ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu Photography Award, Sherman has premiered works in art biennales, film festivals and museums around the world, including the Venice, Singapore and Jakarta Biennales, Mori Art Museum Tokyo, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, The Tate Modern, Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin, Musee du Quai Branly Paris, Centre Pompidou Paris, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, VideoBrasil Contemporary Art Festival, Singapore Art Museum, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Queensland Art Gallery, South Australia Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre, Lithuania and MART Museum of Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Italy.
In 2009, Sherman was invited to participate in the Singapore Pavilion, Venice Biennale which garnered a Special Mention. He is nominated for the APB-Singapore Art Museum Signature Art Prize for 2011. He collaborated on the Little Sun project headed by Olafur Eliasson which premiered at the Tate Modern London in 2012. His works are in the collections of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum and the Seoul Art Centre Korea.
He is currently working on a Norwegian-Danish-Singapore film — Lucy & I — and exhibiting at the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2014 and the Daegu Photography Biennale, Korea. He has been nominated for the Prudential Eye Awards 2015.
Umibaizurah Mahir Ismail was born in 1975 in Johor. She obtained her Bachelor of Art and Design Hons (Ceramics) from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam in 2000.
Since 1997, she has exhibited extensively over the decade, including group shows in China, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Pakistan and several countries in Europe.
Umibaizurah represented Malaysia in the 2009 Jakarta Ceramics Biennale. She was among the top 10 winners of The Young Contemporaries 2006 organised by The National Art Gallery Malaysia, the Asia Ceramics Network 08 (Seoul) and Out of The Mould — The Age of Statement, presented by Galeri PETRONAS and toured to Malmo Art Museum, Sweden (2008).
In 2007, she founded Patisatustudio with Ahmad Shukri Mohamed, a residency and studio that nurtures the development of contemporary art practice.
Chang Yoong Chia was born in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur. He obtained his Diploma in Fine Art (Major in Painting) from the Malaysian Institute of Art.
His style can be described as a boy-meets-world sense of wonder and exploration. The rich imagery of this work is drawn from a fascination with both nature and man-made world, and Yoong Chia’s place within them. The concept of metamorphosis is key to his choice of material, subject matter and process.
Some of Yoong Chia’s group exhibitions include the 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Japan in 2005; Rimbun Dahan Malaysia-Australia Visual Artist Residency, Kuang, Selangor in 2006; and Finalist Exhibition, Signature Art Prize, Singapore Art Museum in 2012. Meanwhile, his solo exhibitions include the 2nd Seven Years: Quilt of the Dead, Flora & Fauna IV, Narratives at The Annexe Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 2009; The World is Flat at Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore in 2011; and Immortal Beloved, Richard Koh Fine Art, Malaysia in 2013.
