5 days ago
Galeri PETRONAS returns - youthful, sharp, and recharged
In a quiet corner of Suria KLCC's level three, a renewed stream of art enthusiasts, gallery visitors and tourists has been making its way to the recently reopened Galeri PETRONAS.
After a four-year hiatus, the gallery has made a bold return with Old School X New Rules , a group exhibition showcasing 15 emerging artists working across diverse mediums, from installations and videos to paintings and found objects.
The exhibition, devoid of grand launch gestures, signals Galeri PETRONAS' re-entry into Kuala Lumpur's cultural sphere – while offering a platform for emerging voices, it also invites reflection on the gallery's role and direction within Malaysia's evolving contemporary art landscape.
Downtown KL offers no shortage of contemporary art spaces, from GMBB's creative hub to UR-MU's private museums and Ilham Gallery's annual Art Show series.
A time to connect
Galeri PETRONAS has taken a considered step towards regaining the art public's trust with a thoughtfully curated exhibition of youth and substance.
A view of Zulkefli Jais' installation 'Anything But Prison', which reflects on the trauma of forced displacement and is accompanied by a five-minute video. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
Featuring names such as Zulkefli Jais, Aimman Hafizal, Azim Rodi, Yong Hui Lin, Chong Yan Chuah, Yuki Mun, Burhanuddin Bakri, Foong Yeng Yeng (with Lim Soon Hock), Afiq Romi, Haziq Syawal, Husni Osman, Syazwan Jehan, Syuhada Yaacob, and Akif Azmi, the exhibition offers a multi-perspective approach to what Malaysian art can look like in the years to come.
According to Fairuz Karim, art collection and corporate memorabilia management head and curator, the show's conceptual core lies in bridging generations (with artists as young as 26), inviting reinterpretations of the gallery's historical collection.
'The 'X' in the title of the exhibition can be interpreted in a lot of different ways – either to mean 'and' or a collaboration, there are some who see it as 'versus', like a comparison between old and new. The idea is to connect different generations through art, and see what fresh perspectives emerge,' says Fairuz in a recent exhibition walk-through.
He adds that this encourages experimentation over market- driven work, allowing the young artists to explore unfamiliar ideas and techniques without restriction.
Visitors tune into Chong Yan Chua's 'Apa-Cita?', a CGI-driven video work that probes the intersections of technology and ritual in the age of digital shamanism. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
'In contemporary art, there are always new ways for artists to project their creativity. We give each artist the freedom to respond to the works of the past, but in ways that are entirely their own,' he says.
To help viewers better understand the range of expressions on display, the exhibition is loosely grouped into four thematic zones – Identity in Transition, Resonating Shadow, Language of Form, and Memory of Nature – that showcase different approaches to form, content, and conceptual development.
Barbed wires, windshields
One of the more familiar names in the show, Zulkefli Jais – winner of the National Art Gallery's Bakat Muda Sezaman 2023 award – presents an installation titled Anything Other Than Prison, which reflects on the trauma of forced displacement. Inspired by a quote from the late Nirmala Dutt (1941–2016), who described artists as 'active witnesses' to their surroundings, Zulkefli constructs a skeletal fence of galvanised pipes and barbed wire, paired with a haunting looped video.
'In this piece, I delved into the subject of migration and displacement, where war, political failure and overdevelopment forces individuals to these uncomfortable spaces. This subject dances around a memory and survival of the fittest, the human flow between one place and another, and their views of the world are often obstructed,' says Zulkefli, who showcased his award-winning Temporary Marking, an installation and short film project, at the National Art Gallery in KL in early 2024.
'This piece was inspired by moments of silent observation – watching life unfold from inside my vehicle, separated by glass,' says Azim Rodi about his series at Galeri Petronas. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
'Using iron fencing as a medium to depict transition and liminal space, forcing the audience to go through this empty space, it evokes an eerie sense of fear, as it replicates a prison yard. This, coupled with the haunting rhythm of the looping video of different voices saying 'Pagar', acts like a reminder to us (citizens) about the boundaries and perspectives of the people who move from country to country,' he adds.
Meanwhile, Azim Rodi – known for his pop culture art and murals – uses car windshields to explore isolation and survival in fast-paced urban life. In Langkah Terasing, five windshields, arranged like comic book panels, reflect his view of the world from behind glass during traffic stops.
'This piece was inspired by moments of silent observation – watching life unfold from inside my vehicle, separated by glass,' says Azim.
'The windshield symbolises movement and fleeting encounters. It creates a quiet barrier between the viewer and the world, reflecting how we often experience life: hurried, detached, and in passing.
'I painted only the main object, with surrounding images as line drawings – just as, when driving, we focus on one thing while everything else fades into the periphery,' he adds.
New storytelling ways
On a more introspective note, Yuki Mun explores the poetic possibilities of aluminium. Her works – that welcome visitors to the gallery – revolve around sanding marks left on the metal surface, which she likens to mist and fog – frequent motifs in her earlier paintings.
In Aimman Hafizal's 'The 32nd Silence', viewers are invited not to sit, but to engage through observation - searching for the one stool that quietly breaks formation. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
'A recent commission project exposed me to aluminium material. I was thinking, what's new can be related to my identity work to bridging the theme in this exhibition. I started to observe the characteristics of material from my surroundings,' says Mun, who is presenting her Inner Portal, Outer World hanging installation at this Galeri PETRONAS show.
'I found the potential of this unconventional medium can bring out another possibility for my art practice. Fog and mist are identical forms and shapes in most of my paintings. I decided to use aluminium to inhabit the marks to translate it.
'It's not about the medium itself which makes it unique, it's about how artists engage with the medium as a bridging tool to explore new potentials on the artwork and boldness to share with the public,' she adds.
Aimman Hafizal, known for his illustrative paintings referencing Malaysian folklore, takes a new approach for this exhibition, shifting into installation.
With The 32nd Silence, he fills a room with batik-patterned chairs resembling sheep, a reference to the tale Serigala Berbulu Domba .
Galeri PETRONAS is also showcasing key works from its collection that have shaped the artists in 'Old School x New Rules'. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
'Normally, I work with more flat mediums, but for The 32nd Silence, I stepped out of my comfort zone by thinking in three dimensions and engaging with space. The idea of extending printmaking logic, which is particularly the repetition and rhythm of batik, turned into a tactile, spatial form allowed me to reinterpret tradition in a way that felt both personal and experimental,' says Aimman.
'The inward, maze-like arrangement of the piece creates a sense of cautious movement and audience can navigate through this installation artwork. This mimics how the folktale teaches us to be alert to appearances. The folktale is always around us,' he adds.
Galeri PETRONAS is also exhibiting selected works from its permanent collection, featuring key pieces that have informed and inspired the participating artists in Old School x New Rules .
Among the distinguished names are Syed Ahmad Jamal, Khalil Ibrahim, Sharifah Fatimah Syed Zubir, Ilse Noor, Nirmala Dutt, Fatimah Chik, and Chuah Thean Teng.
'Old School X New Rules' at Galeri PETRONAS in KL is a free admission exhibition. It runs through Sept 28, and is closed on Mondays.
