CURRENT EXHIBITION
Chia Yu Chian: Private Lives
17 FEB - 23 JUNE 2019
This exhibition focuses on the last decade of artist Chia Yu Chian’s practice by showcasing his paintings from the late 1960s until his passing in 1990. In 1963, the very year that Malaysia was formed, Chia Yu Chian handed the management of his Penang gallery and art supplies store to his younger brother. He packed up his belongings and moved down to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of this new country, ready for a new adventure. The exhibition features over 180 artworks and archival materials, drawn principally from the Chia Yu Chian family collection as well as other private and national collections.
Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters of Photography
18 May - 25 August 2019
Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters of Photography gathers images taken in Thailand during the 1950s to 1970s by seven photographers Buddhadasa Bhiku, Liang Ewe, S.H. Lim, Saengjun Limlohakul, Pornsak Sakdaenprai, ’Rong Wong-Savun and M.L. Toy Xoomsai. By assembling these bodies of works, the project offers conjectures on film photography and ethnographic lines of inquiry. Over 200 photographs were found and remastered, potentially surveying photographic traditions at the onset of Modern Thailand, suggesting views such as celebrity and cosmopolitan life alongside inland societies and the periods antecedent to Thailand’s tourism in the 60s. Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters of Photography is a project by Manit Sriwanichpoom and the exhibition in Kuala Lumpur is held in collaboration with NUS Museum, Singapore.
BFM: 21 FEBRUARY 2019
The Private Lives Of Kl City
BFM: The Business Radio Station speak with the exhibition’s curators, Rahel Joseph and Simon Soon, about the significance of the works of late Malaysian artist Chia Yu Chian and how they fit within his larger art legacy.