Marvin Chan, Behind the Fragrant Veil (iteration 2), 2016, Oil Colour on Canvas, 152 x 122 cm
When politics impact communities, there are often attempts to relive dreams and desires to transform reality. Through Invisible Lives: Tempting Frailty, Chan has produced a serious body of work in an effort to piece together and point to the darker underbelly of our times.
Chan uses his art not only to describe but also to help edit his observations of the world around him as potent events continue to shape Malaysia’s socio–economic landscape. In a world where the personal is often struggling to find pertinence in a materialistic world, he opens up idiosyncratic references to personal visions- dreams and aspirations that may transform reality. Through the details and pigments lie layered meanings that speak purposefully, expressing society’s struggle – personal and intimate, evoking issues of our times. While the content is universal, the treatment is personal, as the surfaces of his canvasses are reminders that bear traces of our own emotional strength or ambivalence.
When viewing Marvin’s paintings, one views a struggle: personal, intimate and caring as the layered surfaces bear traces either of emotional strength or ambivalence. While the detailed surfaces of his paintings provide a particular luxury, his figures and symbols in reality are externalizing deeper themes of desire, containment of emotions and melancholy as they speak between the lines and purposefully so; for In Marvin’s world melancholy and exuberance exist in equal measures.
Opening Night: Thursday, 18 August 2016, 7-9pm
Exhibition Dates: 18 August – 11 September 2016
Venue: Chan Hampe Galleries, located at Raffles Hotel Arcade #01-21, 328 North Bridge Road
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 11am – 7pm. Admission is free.
When: 18 Aug - 11 Sep 2016,
