Art review: Tanah Ini Ku Punya II — Siri Objek & Objektif

SINGAPORE — As the show’s title helpfully indicates, Tanah Ini Ku Punya (Land/Earth I Owned) II — Siri Objek & Objektif is a follow-up to Ahmad Abu Bakar’s first solo show, Ini Tanah Aku. It’s a series that was inspired by the artist’s trip to the village of his birth in Malaysia, and his subsequent meditations on having a simultaneous sense of belonging and separation — in being at home, and yet not, in both Singapore and Malaysia.

There’s a sense of contemplative mysticism in Ahmad’s consideration of this duality of belonging. There are no cliched signifiers of identity here, which is a welcome respite from the deluge of imagery stemming from Singapore’s Golden Jubilee. Instead, the artist turns to a series of abstract forms which, at first glance, come across as gnomic, and perhaps even measured or guarded.

As a noted ceramicist, Ahmad’s works consist primarily of clay, which seems neatly appropriate in the context of exploring the relationship between land and belonging. While that might be dismissed as mere coincidence, a closer examination of each work in turn emphasises the importance of the artist’s material choices — more than just inert matter to be shaped, there is significance to be found in the material itself, in elemental allusions and other associations. For example, the wood used in Siri Buah Hati Jantung Hati and Sri Ranting clearly isn’t interchangeable with that bought from an industrial supply company. The weathered appearance of the wood suggests a specific provenance — the artist encountered it and decided to incorporate it into his practice.

A common motif emerges when considering these works as a series: Typically, a larger dun-coloured form (varying from geometric to organic) connected somewhat whimsically to a smaller form results in a contrast of sorts — pale nimbus to rich ochre, or brassy, curiously industrial fittings on top-like vessels in a shade of deep chocolate. The series’ prototype, apparently, can be found in the interlocking, sinuous form of Siri Awan, which resembles a yin-yang symbol in earthy red and green, from which emerges a cloud-like form with a delicately crazed glaze, as if to suggest a third way to reconcile two poles in opposition. Throughout the show, there’s a distinct sense of first giving form to various oppositions, conflicts and idiosyncrasies, and then finding some way to restore balance to these forms in tension.

With notions of identity typically explored in imagery, text and other, more explicit, media, it’s a refreshing change of pace to find it expressed in terms of relations of material and form, rooted in fundamental, everyday elements. And while the issues of identity examined here emerge from Ahmad’s own deeply held feelings concerning the circumstances of his life, they may well resonate with many of us in Singapore, as we face the uncertainties and anxieties in articulating our own senses of identity and belonging amidst a rapidly changing landscape.

Tanah Ini Ku Punya II — Siri Objek & Objektif runs from July 4 at Chan Hampe Galleries, #01-21, 328 North Bridge Road. Closed on Mondays and public holidays. Free admission.