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My memories of the 1950s

BORN in 1953, I consider myself fortunate to have access to images and publications from the 1950s that help me recall my early years. I owe this to my parents, who not only took photographs but also collected books and other printed materials, carefully storing them for the future. These

73 to 83: Autobiography in Fragments

I HAVE long wanted to talk about my life experiences—not so much out of ego, but as someone who lived through unusual and formative times. That’s why Behind the Stories, the book by The Edge—aptly subtitled “The making of The Edge—The people, the elations + heartbreaks of

The Male Odyssey: Inward journey, outward quest

STORYTELLING enriches fine art—a belief that has guided me since I rekindled my passion for the visual. Not many works demonstrate this more clearly than Sanker Ganesh’s The Male Odyssey. His second solo exhibition cannot be fully appreciated without reading The Wanderer’s Journey: A Tale of Dust,

‘Lanna’ opens officially with the launch of 134-page e-Catalogue

Lahore, 3.30pm, May 24, 2025: O Art Space officially launched the online exhibition, Lanna, a striking body of contemporary photographic work. To mark the occasion, a 134-page e-Catalogue was released and shared with the exhibition’s community along with the following statement: WE ARE thrilled to present Lanna, the

‘Lanna’ the online show: View and read all the 20 parts

THE FOLLOWING provide viewers with all the background information on the exhibition. It will be updated throughout the show to bring you the latest posts. There are 20 parts in all: Introduction: Land of contrasts and connections (click here to read) Foreword by Wattana Wattanapun (click here) My journeys to

Concept and programme for ‘Lanna’, my third solo: An international online exhibition on contemporary photography

THIS “LANNA” show is another completely different experience for me. It was created in close consultation with my curator Stephen Menon who has a wealth of experience in putting together exhibitions — in Malaysia and abroad. On my part, in addition to my art, I threw in my experience as a

Miroesque?

SOMEONE asked me if I was influenced by Joan Miró. I said he was one of my favourite artists: Many of his forms are abstract and playful; he used bold, primary colours; there are surreal, dreamlike elements in his pieces; and whimsical lines and organic shapes form a major part

The Stoic, the Absurd and the Whimsy

AS I HAVE mentioned, I enjoy the whimsical (read here on “Whimsical Why Not” and here). In art, it manifests as forms like the surrealist portraits in this project. There was no grand intent at the start—just a quick sketch of abstract facial features within a 1:3 rectangle

Sharini's 'We need to Talk' underscores art as language

SHARINI YOGI’S “We need to talk” is a powerful exhibition. Its catalogue captures its essence beautifully, through both images and words—an artist reaching out to us, speaking at a profound emotional level through her work. Sharini’s art can be explored through four key dimensions: (1) It confronts

ArtVoice opens another international corridor

STEPHEN MENON is a dreamer. He is also a pragmatic and committed visionary, turning aspirations into reality with steadfastness. Not satisfied with being an artist, curator and mentor of note in Malaysia, he aspired to go international too. As an individual artist, he is being invited every year to showcase

Mastry: Breaking boundaries and building bridges for Indonesia-Malaysia art

IT BEGAN MONTHS ago, when Stephen Menon confirmed that Mastry, an exhibition showcasing Indonesian and Malaysian artists will take place at the famous TonyRaka Art Gallery in Ubud, Bali. It is a ground-breaking cooperative effort among the ArtVoice Collective of Malaysia headed by Stephen, gallery owner Tony Hartawan Anak Agung

Claustrophobia

CONCEPTUALLY, this is a very old painting – 50 years, from 1975. I was thinking then about solipsism. In a way, the phenomenon traps the mind like a pickle in a bottle, an “achar”, fermenting, transforming within its confined limitations but remaining essentially the same. Claustrophobia mirrors this mental incarceration, in

Three Passages to Lanna

MY RECENT nine-day trip to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in early January has been most fruitful. In Chiang Mai, I was hosted by renowned artist Wattana Wattanapun. I made a presentation on “Art & Storytelling” at his gallery and we went to the galleries of (1) Inson Wongsam and

Self-portrait in Fragments: Kent at Canterbury, 1973-76

SOME 50 YEARS after I left formal studies in sociology and anthropology, I am finding the lectures and readings of those days useful in guiding my art. For example, I derived ideas on self-portraits in fragments from Zygmunt Bauman. Now I am exploring Claude Levi-Strauss’s discourse on totemism, part