THE NEW NOW IV: TENSION/CREATION

Gajah Gallery proudly presents The New Now IV: TENSION/CREATION, the latest edition of our annual New Now series, featuring fresh, innovative works by promising upcoming artists from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

The New Now IV: Tension/Creation explores how each handpicked artist grapples with forms of tension and tribulations in their burgeoning artistic practice. Marked with trials and uncomfortable transitions, these works serve as an insight into the reality of ‘emerging artists’ – one marked with organic experimentation, mutation and change.

The curatorial premise was chosen due to the connection between these artists’ works of a shared tendency to investigate unease in different shades and degrees, pondering the questions: What are the various forms of pressures and tensions that they are wrestling with today, and what have they yet to face? And ultimately, as young artists, why is it necessary to confront the difficult, the uncertain and the unspoken?

The four artists in the show portray this tension through varying subliminal and explicit ways. Luh Gede Gita Sangita Yasa struggles to create a perfect cohesive whole, an ‘ideal reality’ out of fragments from memories, dreams and mundane routines, a sensible narrative out of these divergent parts. Likewise, Noreen Loh creates a new reality – new fantastical species of flora, capturing the enigmatic, whimsical appeal of objects of nature through unconventional synthetic mediums.

Kass Koh draws inspiration from science fiction and video games to create alternative imaginative realms that expand upon mythology, portraying worlds within worlds. Koh Kai Ting renders animals and creatures in distress, harshly removed from their natural environment, capturing a peculiar tension between beauty and mortality.

For these artists, this exhibition is only just the beginning, as they step out onto their unique paths in embracing these discomforts. Marking the launch of their artistic careers, the show fosters a space for the participating artists to see these challenges no longer a burden, but as a vital tool for growth.