Fun with acrylic plus

This series attracted the most attention, partly because of its colours and the varied subject matter

DURING Covid, my work was largely confined to acrylic painting, with some pencil work to add sophistication. After a break from my brushes to focus on photography and digital-analogue pieces, I returned, adding other media, such as graphite, pigments, and oil bars, for finesse. Instead of plunging into large pieces, I limited myself to 12-inch-by-12-inch works so I could get a wider and deeper feel for the medium and experiment with more icons. The sixteen pieces in this exhibition are the result.

Because they weren’t themed or planned as a content-driven suite, they let me explore a wide range of styles. Terms such as “mid-century Surrealism” and “folk craft” have been used to describe them. They were also placed between “naïve figuration and biomorphic abstraction”. Another writer calls some of my works “a new world iconography in pseudo-Cubistic organic forms”. Be that as it may, I have treated these works like drafts, possibly of components of larger pieces to come.

They represent evolutions of some of my earlier works, but retain their essence—of an artist having fun, bringing subtle humour, telling the audience, caught in a tumultuous world, to appreciate the little things and imagine. They are playful yet thoughtful conversations about art history and culture.

Fun with Acrylic Plus was part of Lim Siang Jin’s solo exhibition, Evolution: A Conversations series, at Art Voice Gallery, 28 Jalan Kovil Hilir, Sentul, 51100 Kuala Lumpur, June 28 to July 28, 2026. It was curated by Stephen Menon. Read here, here, here and here.