Sunday December 19, 2010

Fascinating work of art

By VIVIENNE PAL

A festive bottle collection, or a fabulous marketing strategy? You decide.

HERE’S a fascinating way to recycle empty liquor bottles: turn them into art.

Cultures around the world have found ways to connect functionality with form, but nothing makes art edgier and more accessible to the consumer than when it is applied directly to familiar products.

This is particularly so in Malaysia, where visual art is still perceived to be an elitist preoccupation. Which is, perhaps, why Wei-Ling Gallery’s 18@8 exhibition may cause a little more than the usual ripple among the masses.

The gallery has collaborated with Absolut Vodka and The Gardens mall in Kuala Lumpur in its annual year-ender. The result is a two-part show: an exhibition proper featuring works by 18 artists in their medium of choice in relation to the theme, and the Absolut 18@8 Bottles featuring art done on Absolut Vodka bottles.

The projects are hanging in the gallery in Brickfields and The Gardens’ concourse, respectively – an ingenious idea to take art out of its confines and into the public sphere.

The Absolut 18@8 exhibition has been synonymous with Wei-Ling Gallery since its inaugural show in 2005. Selected artists are challenged to explore ideas, experiment and think out of the box, albeit within the perimeters of a selected theme.

“We’re looking for artists who have done interesting work in the preceding year, who are heading in a new direction with their art practice and will be participating in interesting projects in the coming year,” says gallery director Lim Wei-Ling.

Perhaps the most critical issue here is whether the artists’ freedom of expression would be curtailed by sponsorship obligations.

On this, Lim adds: “We are very clear that the artists’ creativity should not be compromised in any way. When we were looking at whom to work with, we deliberately chose a brand that is sympathetic to art and understands the artistic process.”

Absolut’s involvement with art dates back to the mid-1980s when pop artist Andy Warhol painted Absolut Warhol, the piece that became the brand’s first art advertisement. Since then, the company has commissioned hundreds of artists, photographers and designers – including Keith Haring, Helmut Newton, Damien Hirst and Hung Tung-Lu – to produce Absolut-themed pieces resulting in an art collection comprising more than 800 works in various media.

The brand is still new to the Malaysian artistic community, however. Its first effort last year saw Absolut Malaysia collaborating with RogueArt in a public mural project as part of the “Absolut Love” campaign to promote acts of kindness through art. Malaysian artists Liew Kwai Fei and Ise from parkingproject (sic) were commissioned to complete the mural in Frangipani Restaurant & Bar in KL.

Absolut 18@8 marks the company’s continuing effort to promote art in the country. And the Absolut 18@8 Bottles would be familiar to the general public, due to its shape and brand name.

This year’s artists comprise a mix of established and upcoming names, including Annabelle Ng, Anurendra Jegadeva, Cheng Yen Pheng, Ivan Lam, Yim Yen Sum and Yau Bee Ling. What stands out, for me, is the effort put in by the newer artists both in their preferred medium and on the bottle.

In Absolut 18@8 Bottles, Wong Chee Meng takes a kitschy approach by encasing his bottle, hand-painted with birds, inside a glass jar surrounded by more colourful birds and plants. This is a remarkably detailed piece and credit must be given to Wong, who paints with only one eye because of misaligned eyes.

In an attempt to address the extinction of animals, young mixed-media artist Chee Way makes his point by having three handmade and hand-painted papier-mâché deer “sucked” into the Absolut bottle.

Yim Yen Sum, another young artist, expresses her concern over the destruction of heritage buildings by skilfully sewing gauze and fabric around the Absolut bottle. Look a little closer and you will see textures of stressed walls from an old building in Malacca painstakingly silkscreened onto the fabric.

Mohd Al-Khuzairie Ali falls back on his training as a ceramic artist by casting his bottles and handgun grips entirely in clay. The effect is nothing short of spectacular.

For the main exhibition, each artist has come up with a piece displaying his/her interpretation of the term “Absolut(e)” – a broad, fluid theme that allows them to stay true to their style and preferred medium.

Ivan Lam remains faithful to his current interest in exploring colour and, in his usual thought-provoking style, draws attention to paradox and contrast by pinning the term to something absolutely intangible: a rainbow.

Instead of the usual painting, however, Lam throws caution to the wind by creating an installation of Perspex, resin and a fluorescent tube. He also cleverly puns on the number seven (the number of letters in “rainbow” and Absolut) by ensuring that the work measures precisely 7cm by 7ft and is made up of the seven colours of the rainbow. Within the backlit box are seven words: “You can absolutely hold onto a rainbow.”

Choy Chun Wei’s Shopping Ghettos and Letter to Yang are pleasant surprises. They explore new territory and are a marked difference from his deconstructed collage paintings. Choy has moved from his usual slap-on, 2D collage into the realm of 3D. Much care has been put into this series of works; the finished products are intriguing and an indication of possibly more exciting things to come.

In Metamorphosis II, young artist Anabelle Ng, a trained concert pianist, weaves her love for music into her art to create an installation. Parts from a deconstructed radio, CD player, glass, wood, Perspex and paint form a crude contraption – an “absolut(e) record” which actually plays music! – to illustrate her view that the ultimate experience of realising the absolute is through music, which appeals to the senses.

Cynics may dismiss this exhibition as a marketing gimmick – and yes, Absolut is absolutely benefiting from it. But, love it or hate it, one cannot help but admire its brilliance and the power of its reach.

Case in point: All 20 Absolut bottles were auctioned off at a charity Christmas celebration on Dec 8 at Sage Restaurant, The Gardens, raising over RM53,000 for the SPCA Selangor.

‘Absolut 18@8’ is on at Wei-Ling Gallery (No. 8, Jalan Scott, KL) while the ‘Absolut 18@8 Bottles’ are hanging at The Gardens, Mid Valley City, KL. The exhibition ends on Jan 2, 2011. For details, call 03-2260 1106.