Rimbun Dahan

Congratulations to Hasanul Isyraf Idris for winning the prestigious UOB Painting of the Year 2024 award.

Hasanul was a resident artist at Rimbun Dahan under the Southeast Asian Arts Residency for one month in 2015, under a collaboration with Richard Koh Fine Art.

Hasanul's winning art work Durio depicts the ecology surrounding the durian tree, inspired by his documentation of the biodiversity surrounding his studio in northern Perak.

𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘗𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘭𝘶 — another from the Gunung-Ganang collection, in the exhibition 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗗: 𝗛𝗶𝗷𝗷𝗮𝘀 𝗞𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝟴 in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan.

This work is particularly characteristic of Encik Hijjas's style: energetic strokes, strong contrast and sculptural form. It also has the slight softening of the bold black outlines by other colours, which is evident in his more recent works.

Sunday 20 October is the last day to check out 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗗: visit from 10am to 5pm to view the 65 abstract artworks painted in the last two years. You are also welcome to walk about the garden, have a picnic, and tour the heritage kampung house during your visit.

Pictured:
𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘗𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘭𝘶
2022
Acrylic on canvas
121.5 x 122 cm
RM 6500

For more information about the exhibition, see: https://rimbundahan.org/bold-hijjas-kasturi-at-88/

All the works in the exhibition are for sale. 50% of profits from the exhibition will go to UNRWA to support the Palestinian people.

It's the final weekend of the exhibition 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗗: 𝗛𝗶𝗷𝗷𝗮𝘀 𝗞𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝟴 in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan.

The most characteristic motif in Encik Hijjas' work, from his early abstract paintings in the 1980s until today, is an energetic stroke with rising action to the top right. It brings to mind mountainous crags, windswept flames, or spawning salmon fighting their way upstream.

These strokes appear clearly in 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗗 in the works we have dubbed the Gunung-Ganang Collection. Come check them out: visit from 10am to 5pm, Sat-Sun 19-20 October, to view the 65 abstract artworks painted in the last two years. You are also welcome to walk about the garden, have a picnic, and tour the heritage kampung house during your visit.

Pictured:
𝘕𝘢𝘪𝘬 𝘎𝘶𝘯𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘩
2023
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 147 cm
RM 6500

For more information about the exhibition, see: https://rimbundahan.org/bold-hijjas-kasturi-at-88/

All the works in the exhibition are for sale. 50% of profits from the exhibition will go to UNRWA to support the Palestinian people.

We were excited that Angela Hijjas was able to participate in the three-day course about taking samples for herbarium specimen records, at Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) earlier this month. Upskilling to keep our arboretum running smoothly!

We have finally finished responding to the applications for the 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 at Rimbun Dahan for 2025!

Congratulations to the 21 applicants who were selected, and many thanks to all of those who applied.

This year we received a record number of 93 eligible applications (up from 79 applications last year). Here is a little demographic breakdown:

Applications came from 10 countries in the ASEAN region, with the most coming from the Philippines (26), Malaysia (22) and Indonesia (18). Applications were selected with an eye on geographical distribution, as well as on strength of the artistic portfolio and proposal.

41 (46%) of the applications came from women, 45 (51%) from men, and the remainder either from non-binary applicants or from mixed groups of men and women. Of the selected applicants, 8 (38%) are women, 11 (52%) are men, and 2 are mixed gender groups.

In terms of artistic discipline, the largest group of applicants came from visual artists (43%), followed by creative writers (18%), interdisciplinary artists (15%), and performing artists (11%), with a small but significant group working in curation & research (3%). Of those selected, more than half are visual artists, one fifth are performing artists, followed by 2 people each in creative writing and curation & research, and 1 each in filmmaking and interdisciplinary.

The fact that Rimbun Dahan received so many applications for an opportunity that is relatively small and not particularly well funded indicates the enormous demand for similar opportunities across the Southeast Asian region. It also underlines the importance of having regular, ongoing and properly scheduled calls for applications in the arts industries, to allow artists the chance to plan ahead, and to give grant-makers the chance to properly pair the right opportunities with the right recipients.

We are happy to be able to offer these small opportunities, and we wish we could do so much more. We look forward to welcoming our next cherished cohort of Southeast Asian resident artists, starting in January 2025.

The garden tour at Rimbun Dahan on Sunday morning will continue, even if it rains. Please bring an umbrella and shoes that can get muddy. If it is VERY heavy rain, we will keep to covered areas.

The garden tour at Rimbun Dahan on Sunday morning will continue, even if it rains. Please bring an umbrella and shoes that can get muddy. If it is VERY heavy rain, we will keep to covered areas.

The bat lily, 𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘢 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢, is a favourite with photographers visiting the Taman Sari at Rimbun Dahan, for its enormous dramatic black and white flower.

Similar stark contrasts and whispy tendrils can be seen in this abstract artwork by Hijjas Kasturi, currently in the exhibition 'BOLD' at Rimbun Dahan.

The Malay name of the plant, Keladi Murai, refers to the black-and-white Oriental Magpie Robin, a common village bird famed for its beautiful song.

Artwork pictured:
𝘚𝘦𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮 𝘒𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘪 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘪
2023
Acrylic on canvas
101.5 x 101.5 cm

'BOLD: Hijjas Kasturi at 88' is open to the public in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan, on Saturdays and Sundays, 10am to 5pm, until 20 October. For more information about the exhibition, see: https://rimbundahan.org/bold-hijjas-kasturi-at-88/

This Sunday, Angela Hijjas will be leading a garden tour at Rimbun Dahan, from 9am to 11am on 13 October. Sign up for the garden tour here: https://forms.gle/QwMSLFmUGCnJEghi9

Photo of 𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘢 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 by Nur Danisyah binti Mohd Kamil.

Most of Hijjas Kasturi's works in the BOLD exhibition are true abstracts — they were painted without reference to a visual model, simply following the artist's instinctive desire for shapes and colour. But humans are hard-wired to search for patterns and meaning. It's impossible not to look at these works and say, "That looks like... such-and-such!"

In this spirit, we have named a series of works in BOLD for their similarity to blooms in the Taman Sari ornamental garden at Rimbun Dahan.

Pictured:
𝘚𝘦𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮 𝘉𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘢 𝘒𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯
2023
Acrylic on canvas
101.5 x 101.5 cm
RM 6500

'BOLD: Hijjas Kasturi at 88' is open to the public in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan, on Saturdays and Sundays, 10am to 5pm, until 20 October. For more information about the exhibition, see: https://rimbundahan.org/bold-hijjas-kasturi-at-88/

This Sunday, Angela Hijjas will be leading a garden tour at Rimbun Dahan, from 9am to 11am on 13 October. Sign up for the garden tour here: https://forms.gle/QwMSLFmUGCnJEghi9

The return of the king!

The Sultan
𝘊𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘢

The largest red dragonfly in the region, with a hindwing measurement up to 50mm. The sparkling shininess of this specimen indicates it has recently emerged as an adult from its final larval form.

Not seen at Rimbun Dahan since March this year, so we're delighted to spot it today!

This Sunday morning we will host a special garden tour by Angela Hijjas, in conjunction with the art exhibition 'BOLD: Hijjas Kasturi at 88', currently on display in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan.

The 14-acre indigenous Southeast Asian garden at Rimbun Dahan is a certified arboretum, specializing in the slow-growing hardwood rainforest Dipterocarp trees, of which we have a collection of almost 150 species. Angela will also walk you through the Taman Sari, a special ornamental collection of native and non-native plants with medicinal, fragrance or ethnobotanical interest.

9am-11am
Sunday 13 October 2024

Following the tour, you may view the exhibition, visit the heritage houses, or walk around the garden at your leisure. Please bring your own picnic if you wish; no refreshments will be provided.

The garden tour is free, but entry is limited by registration.
Please register for the garden tour here: https://forms.gle/QwMSLFmUGCnJEghi9

For more information about the exhibition: https://rimbundahan.org/bold-hijjas-kasturi-at-88/

For more information about the garden:
https://rimbundahan.org/environment/introduction-to-the-garden/

Here's your opportunity to be part of the ILHAM Art Show, often the most exciting show of the year! Deadline for proposals by Malaysian artists or artists living in Malaysia is 31 December 2024.

Like the work in the previous post, the painting 𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘯-𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘫𝘪𝘸𝘢 hints at motifs from traditional batik craft. It also illustrates a more recent development in Hijjas Kasturi's abstract artworks, in which the use of black outlines as a structuring element, inherited from his architectural practice, are exchanged for whispy outlines in lighter colours, often white. This creates a sense of weightlessness and animation, suggesting souls ascending to heaven.

𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘯-𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘫𝘪𝘸𝘢
2024
Enamel paint & acrylic on canvas
122 x 121.5cm
RM 6500

The exhibition 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗗: 𝗛𝗶𝗷𝗷𝗮𝘀 𝗞𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝟴 is open to the public on weekends at Rimbun Dahan until 20 October.

All the works in the exhibition are for sale. 50% of profits from the exhibition will go to UNRWA to support the Palestinian people.

For more info about the exhibition, see: https://rimbundahan.org/bold-hijjas-kasturi-at-88/

Encik Hijjas Kasturi's mother came from a family of batik makers in Pekalongan, a town in Java famous for its hand-crafted batik in the colourful nyonya style.

Traditional batik motifs crop up in Hijjas' abstract works in the new exhibition, 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗗: 𝗛𝗶𝗷𝗷𝗮𝘀 𝗞𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝟴, now on display in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan.

The Javanese phrase 𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘯-𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘯 is related to the Malay word 𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯, and refers to the random filler motifs that batik craftspeople use to surround the dominant motifs on a traditional cloth.

Pictured:
𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘯-𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘒𝘦 𝘒𝘰𝘵𝘢
2024
Enamel paint & acrylic on canvas
122 x 122 cm
RM 6500

All artworks in the exhibition are for sale. 50% of profits from the exhibition will go to UNRWA to support the Palestinian people.

More info about the exhibition: https://rimbundahan.org/bold-hijjas-kasturi-at-88/

Former resident artist Wong Xiang Yi (year-long residency, 2017, at Rimbun Dahan) presents a new solo show at Back Room, opening this Sunday:

The Back Room is pleased to introduce our next show, 𝘕𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘥, a solo exhibition by Wong Xiang Yi (b. 1987, Kuala Lumpur). 𝘕𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘥 presents 11 new paintings by Xiang Yi, in her seventh solo exhibition and her first presentation with The Back Room. These new works see the artist, who specialised in ink painting, continuing her explorations of the beautiful boy archetype with certain new developments from over the past four years.

In the paintings of 𝘕𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘥, the figures are ageless wanderers who move in clouds of smoke, connected to each other through a secret truce, a mysterious thread of fate with terms that viewers can only guess at. Xiang Yi combines the fine elegance and elaborate patience of Chinese and Japanese ink painting traditions with the androgynous grace of the “beautiful boy”, the immortal muse of artists and poets since the ancient Greeks.

Using subject matter that is “beautiful, immobile, and cheap” (echoing Georgia O’Keeffe’s rationale for making her flower paintings), the groups of boys are simplified into clones, with each boy being an “avatar” for a different facet of personality and each tableaux thus becoming a way for the artist to have a private conversation with herself. The boys appear as innocent, blank vessels upon which the viewer can cast their gaze and project without fear, yet their detachment — conveyed through ambiguous and enigmatic expressions — maintains a cold front across all the paintings. Through shifts of expression, gesture, and composition, the pictures keep various subtle tensions and moods in a delicate balance.

𝒩𝑜𝓂𝒶𝒹
A solo exhibition by Wong Xiang Yi
22 September – 13 October 2024
The Back Room

Opening reception:
Sunday, 22 September, 3 – 7 pm 🥂
All are welcome.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an application the Southeast Asian Arts Residency at Rimbun Dahan for 2025!

Applications are now closed. All applicants should have received an email in response to your application. If you did not receive a response email, we may have not have received your application, so please contact [email protected] or WhatsApp 017-310 3769

We look forward to reviewing all the applications and will respond to all applicants in October.

Pictured: winged seeds of the native hardwood forest tree 𝘙𝘶𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘢 (meranti tembaga) at Rimbun Dahan.

Hear ye, hear ye! Tomorrow the 16th of September is the final day for submitting applications to the Southeast Asian Arts Residency for 2025.

Pictured: Crested Goshawk (Accipiter trivirgatus) in a durian tree at Rimbun Dahan this morning.

More info about the Southeast Asian Arts Residency open call: https://rimbundahan.org/arts/residencies/southeast-asian-arts-residencies/

Thanks to Ar. Tan Bee Eu for this article on the architectural legacy of Hijjas Kasturi, as part of The Star newspaper's special series featuring architectural landmarks designed by pioneering Malaysian architects.

Influential Malaysian architects: Hijjas Kasturi, a pioneer in his field The writer starts a series on established architects in Malaysia, beginning with Hijjas Kasturi, often referred to as the ‘Father of Modern Architecture’.

Looking forward to HANDS Percussion's upcoming festival at Lalaport, Kuala Lumpur, in October. In the meantime, we enjoy the sound of their team rehearsing on the Balinese gamelan in our Dance Studio, with challenging new compositions by Balinese composer I Wayan Sudirana.