The venerated Singapore batik artist Sujak Rahman is marking his 71styear by exhibiting 40 of his paintingsin a retrospective of his worksfrom 1978-2020. A strong believer in the importance of Singapore’s ownership of ourculturaldevelopment, Sujak hasdeveloped his personalbatik methodologyover this time, sharing it through his teaching.
The exhibition is aculminative iterationof Sujak Rahman’s workwith newand recentpaintingsas well as artworksdating back to the late 1970s, when the artist first began his batik practice. Highlights include: his early batik work Neighbours (1978), Melting (1987), Pelikat in Tatami (2015), Race (2020) and Return (2020). Embedded in the narrative, the exhibitiontraces the development of Sujak Rahman’s Temasekbatikover 30 years, modernist influences from the works of Cheong Soo Pieng and Chen Wen Hsi, and his position as amajorSingapore artistactively working since the late 1970s.
Through this exhibition, the self-taught artist considershis own motivations, visual language, methodologies and style over 40 years of developmentsincluding his life in Japan, personal insights, triumphs and losses.
Sujak Rahman says, “I want to develop the making of batik, not only by traditional methods, as there are many ways of making batik. In Japan they have other forms of textile arts using mochi rice and dyeing techniques,andMalaysian and Indonesian batiks have their own particular styles. I am trying to introduce a particular batik language for Singapore–Temasek batik is derived from existing and experimentalmethodsand involvesart techniques alongside the use of batik. It isa very personal expression that also amalgamates contemporary art media. Temasek batikcreates a new identity and methodology in batik art in Singapore.”
Venue: Artspace @ Helutrans, 39 Keppel Road 01-05, Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Singapore 089065
Hours: Mon – Fri: 11am – 6pm, Sat – Sun: 11am – 5pm
When: 21 - 29 Nov 2020,
