1st part

Fascinating Melaka - the review


The numbers were staggering, some 60 individual paintings of varying qualities, all denotes some sense of contribution to Malacca. The idea was simple, come up with a thematic artwork that would reflect on Malacca as a fascinating state. Let's talk about several things before we swim deep into the core subject.

The venue:

Bastion House, the space offers great possibilities, high ceiling and all but the display panels were much to be desired for and the overall design of the exhibition seems placid and very homely. Clearly style and flair was never on the exhibitor's mind. The space was not utilised as creatively as one should. It seems like the exhibition was not intended for good curatorial treatment. One would be forgiven if associating this kind of exhibition with the one in Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC) where yet another Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) exhibition thrive.

The paintings:

Undeniably, there are some exceptional paintings, like Sham Ahmad's narrative piece (the most bottom pix) on Malacca river reminiscing of Zulkifli Dahalan's style and approach but with a more colourful tongue in cheek presentation. The iconic river and its significance in mapping out most of the adult Malaysians state of mind whenever the subject of Malacca came to question. Inspect it closely and you would be suprised to the detailings via humour that he had manifest through this piece. Another good one was from the veteran Abd Rafiee Abd Rahman (red river) who boldly painted Malacca all over with red, some would say that it was already too late for him to adopt such style at his current bearings but to me, I somehow could feel the rush and excitement from the bloody river.

Where as for the rest, such mediocre outings, it's sad that most of you were pretty occupied to interpret Malacca as JUST some pretty pictures with no soul and lust within it. What you guys were offering can be surmised into one word : FARCICAL. I could not feel anything and also could not cope with the plain insensitive mind who execute their work just for the sake of it.