Jin's Art & Other Expressions

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Lim Siang Jin

Lim Siang Jin

The Stoic, the Absurd and the Whimsy

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'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

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

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

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

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

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