UiTM’s art gallery is a space for students and more. Rachel Jenagaratnam visits a simple exhibition, but leaves with big thoughts
SOMETIMES, it’s nice to be taken back to the basics. And I had the pleasure of that experience recently at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam’s Galeri Seni Tuanku Nur Zahirah — or ‘gesturz’ as it’s been abbreviated to — where 177 artworks by the university’s students were on display.
The exhibition, Color Theory, which ended recently, featured artworks that centred on batik and arabesque patterns, and the pieces were part of the foundation year students’ preliminary studies in art. Canvases both large and small were arranged on the walls in a uniformed fashion, and what bound all of them together was their exploration of colour ranging from a gathering of warm hues to arrangements of cool colours.
Only in their second semester will all the participating students be eventually streamed into various disciplines. These include graphic design, photography, print, textile, fashion, industrial design, metalwork, and fine art.
The exhibition’s theme basically carried through the argument that the students all need a firm grasp of colour theory before they can proceed with their respective disciplines. But before I go on, an admission: it did seem odd to be viewing artworks by foundation year students, when in the city centre, artworks by veteran artists were on display and artworks by regional artists were in shipping containers waiting to make their way to the various exhibition spots in town. Needless to say, I didn’t exactly leave with profound thoughts about arabesque patterns, batik motifs or the dynamics of colours. However, I did leave thinking about the state of the arts today and what kind of future Malaysia’s young artistes faced.
Catering to today’s audience is a tough task. We’re been widely described as living in times where information whizzes through our sieve-like brains at lightning speed. And with the Internet within most urban dwellers’ reach and with the flood of new products and messages pouring in daily, it’s safe to deduce that we’re simply inundated with information.
Sadly, artworks — which generally demand time to contemplate and analyse — don’t stand a fair shot in this day and age.
Access to seemingly endless information now means that today’s audience are tough critics. Worse, tough critics with tremendously short attention spans. What type of artworks would have been marvelled at in the 1960s but wouldn’t stand out today?
What kind of designs will we remember in decades to come? And what type of clothes will inspire fashion designers of the future or earn a spot in museums?
I think we often forget to ask these questions when we look at art or designs. And we don’t stop long enough to remember that all our paintings and designs have a nascent point or a place of birth.
That very spot is often the art institution, and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam remains one of the country’s biggest incubators for local artists and creatives.
Indeed, UiTM’s alumni makes up a generous percentage of Malaysian artists. The Matahati group was founded in its hallowed halls, and one of its students has gone on to exhibit at the famed Documenta in Kassel, Germany. In Color
Theory, you have the exact flipside to this genealogy. All the participating students (and there were a lot of them) are the fledglings, the youngest hatchlings in the creative coop, so to speak. But like anything art or design related, you wonder whom among them will stand the test of time.
Color Theory doesn’t offer any clues. It’s an exhibition that tests the exhibitors’ early skills and the paintings and accompanying coursework folios aren’t indicators of the “next big thing”.
Visiting an exhibition like this with the intention of uncovering our art scene’s future stars is fruitless. (You’re better off hunting at the students’ graduate shows.)
But that’s not to say that the exhibition was a pointless visit — quite the contrary; I may not have left thinking about colour theory, but I did find myself thinking strongly about the condition of our art education today. What exactly do students learn to become creative professionals? And just how much is skill balanced with conceptual explorations?
The latter is another debate on its own, but it’s interesting to note how ‘gesturz’ is offering UiTM’s students a space to showcase their works. An exhibition will elevate their status and give them something to start their CVs off with, making it an encouraging boost. But would you have guessed that the artworks are for sale too?
A selling exhibition at such an early stage in a students’ career is poignant. Color Theory offers its exhibiting students a taste of the commercial side of things, with the smaller batik canvases going for RM100 and the larger arabesque-patterned ones priced at RM300.
It’s debatable whether this is a good move. For audiences, it is a solid chance to leave with something fairly affordable for the home or art collection, but a price tag for what is essentially coursework does send mixed messages to the students; it inculcates the positive message that art can be a veritable source of income and that these young creatives have a glossy future ahead of them that isn’t as risky as their parents had warned them about. But it also clouds their minds with the false promise that painting can lead to big bucks. Unfortunately, you can’t help but lament the fact that the creative industry is fast becoming a rat race, and students need to understand that it will take more than skill for them to forge a long and lasting career in the arts — whatever their discipline down the line may be.
It’s certainly interesting times in the local art industry. Many a chat with enthusiasts and older practitioners has revealed a common fear that young artists are lacking substance in their artwork. Plus, prices aren’t exactly low, despite an artist carrying barely a decade’s worth of experience under their belt. And simple though “gesturz’s” Color Theory exhibition was, it sets the cogwheels of the mind in motion. And, I hope my words set yours spinning too.
About Galeri Seni Tuanku Nur Zahirah
UiTM’s art gallery has a long history. Founded in 1983, its original role was to be the art gallery for the university’s School of Art and Design. But by the late 1980s its role began to expand and it now occupies an esteemed spot on the university grounds - the old Chancellery building.
The gallery received its current name in 2007, when the gallery was opened by Her Majesty the Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah.
Few know that the gallery houses an impressive permanent collection of over 6,000 works, comprising paintings, sculptures and ceramics. The gallery hosts an average of nine exhibitions a year.
Galeri Seni Tuanku Nur Zahirah
Universiti Teknologi Mara
Shah Alam Selangor
Call 03 5521 1402/www.artgallery.uitm.edu.my