About the artist
Lim Siang Jin, 71, is a self-taught artist who has been painting since the mid-1970s. Until recently, all his works were shown only to family and a few close friends. In 2018, he began to distribute them to a wider audience — via four limited-circulation PDFs that included writings on matters close to his heart. In tandem with this, he began to post his pieces on social media. From 2018-2020, he continued to put together his older works, resulting in four more sets of PDFs.
Siang Jin has had three excursions into art – years at university in Britain as a student and The Malay Mail as a sub-editor (1973-1982); time he spent at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia as Head of Publications (1985-1991); and during the recent Covid lockdown and a bit after (2020-2022). There was a gap of 30 years (1989-2020) when he hardly produced anything new.
During much of the three decades, he was deeply involved in work, mainly in publishing, communications and, branding and marketing. He was, for example, a founder director of The Edge Malaysia, the most influential weekly publication in the country. Read here too. He went on to head the media business of Nexnews Bhd that owned The Edge and theSun, which was then Malaysia’s largest circulation national free paper.
In all these endeavours, he continued to take an active interest in the “backroom”, in the production and creative processes of the business. Like his art, his work, from publishing to management, is girded by the ideas of Quality, Timing and Aufhebung (the idea that every new development is an inextricable combination of the old and new).
Siang Jin held his first solo exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in October 2022 where he exhibited some 70 pieces; all these were created during the Covid years (2020-2022). While his favourite artists, and therefore his main influences, are mainly Western-modern (notably Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, Matisse, Miro, Klee and Kandinsky), he continues to innovate. This is especially apparent in the digital-analog creative space where he combines his experience in painting, photography and media production.
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Solo exhibitions
2023
Our Legacy: Landmark Memories of Penang Free School at The Old Frees’ Association, 41 Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 George Town, Penang, Sept 28-Oct 3, 2023. The exhibition consists of 31 black-and-white prints, each with a write-up by Lim. Read here and here for more details.
Media reviews were undertaken by the following: The Star, Malay Mail, BASKL (Bandar Aktiviti Seni Kuala Lumpur) and Postcode Georgetown.
2022
Restart 2020: Continuation & Change at A Place Where by APW, 29 Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Oct 21-30, 2022. Read about the nine parts (1) Restart 2020: Continuation & Change. Read here. (2) Exaggerated Stills. Read here. (3) Excerpts from a Doodle. Read here. (4) Schticks. Read here. (5) Adventures with Acrylics. Read here. (6) Fear & Hope in Covid Times. Read here. (7) Unconnected. Read here. (8) Colours Again in the Digital-Analog Realm. Read here and (9) Evocative Durian, Mystifying Durian. Read here.
Several articles were written on the solo. It was reviewed, for example, in The Edge, Malay Mail, The Malaysian Reserve, BASKL (Bandar Aktiviti Seni Kuala Lumpur), New Straits Times and theSun, among others. Online portals like Mashable and JuiceOnline also carried reviews. Click on the titles to read.
Group exhibitions
2025
Mastry, Indonesia-Malaysia Joint Exhibition, TonyRaka Art Gallery, Jl. Raya Mas No. 86 Mas, Ubud, Bali. Feb 8 to March 15, 2025. Read here, here and here.
No Way Out, Online Exhibition by Art Voice Gallery, Jan 15-31, 2025. Read here.
The Time is Right: An Exhibition of Contemporary Photography, Art Voice Gallery, 28, Jalan Kovil Hilir, Sentul, 51100 Kuala Lumpur, Dec 29, 2024 — Jan 16, 2025. Read here.
2024
Untold Stories, International (Malaysian-Iranian) Visual Art Exhibition, December 9-31, 2024. Read here.
Black + White, Art Voice Gallery, September 18-30, 2024. Read here.
Works on Paper, Art Voice Online Exhibition, May 10-25, 2024. Read here.
Reframing the Wild: Animals in Contemporary Art, April 21 - May 5, 2024. Submitted four pieces from my “Unconnected?” series. Read here.
Art + Education, Universiti Malaya & Art Voice Gallery, Galeri Seni Universiti Malaya. Feb 15 - May 15, 2024. Read here.
2023
The Truth Untold, Art Voice Gallery, 28 Jalan Kovil Hilir, Sentul, 51100, Kuala Lumpur, November 11-30, 2023. Read here
MyVoice, Art Voice Gallery, 28 Jalan Kovil Hilir, Sentul, 51100, Kuala Lumpur, December 8-14, 2023. Read here.
Tjetak, Art Voice Gallery, 28 Jalan Kovil Hilir, Sentul, 51100, Kuala Lumpur, June 1-21, 2023. Read here
The Naked Face, online exhibition via Art Voice Gallery, 28 Jalan Kovil Hilir, Sentul, 51100, Kuala Lumpur, May 12-25, 2023. Read here.
The Emperor’s New Clothes at Numaish Gah, 31F Main Market, Gulberg 2, Lahore, Pakistan. May 21-28, 2023. Read here
Shows curated by Jin
2024
Off Stone: Works of journos & ex-journos made after hours or post-career, Jin’s Art Gallery, October 5-27, 2024. Malaysiakini carried a story, read here. For works by Eric Peris, KC Boey, SC Shekar and William de Cruz, read here. Kee Thuan Chye, Lam Seng Fatt, Choong Tet Sieu, Angeline Lim & Susan Chan, here. Lim Yin Foong, Jenny Ng, Sreerema Banoo & Khoo Hsu Chuang, here, and Sheila Singam, Opalyn Mok, Marina Emmanuel, Jahabar Sadiq & Lim Siang Jin, here.
Off Stone was sponsored by the SCP Group and was in aid of the Penang Hospice Society.
KF Choy: Beyond the Enigma, Jin’s Art Gallery, August 10-September 8, 2024. Read here on Choy’s artist profile and here on his method. Datuk Ramli Ibrahim, SC Shekar and Ooi Kok Chuen commented on Choy and the exhibition. Click here to download the PDF of the exhibition catalogue.
Southern Xinjiang: Allure of Harmony in Diversity, Jin’s Art Gallery, April 20-May 13, 2024. Read here. It was reviewed in The Edge, China Press and BASKL (Bandar Aktiviti Seni Kuala Lumpur). The exhibitors also produced a bilingual website. View here.
Updated: February 2025