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HAMIR SOIB - Why do you paint with bitumen? I want to achieve a certain effect in my paintings. Bitumen's texture is different from oil; bitumen feels more like charcoal, so when painting, it feels as if I am drawing. It is a much more flexible and challenging medium. When I paint an image, I am also studying and experimenting with the medium at the same time. It is like drawing, you can scrub, and erase and add onto it. However, it is also a medium that is hard to control, but this is the challenge I welcome. I am a member of the Mahahati art collective. We are supportive of each other as a group but most of the time, we really work on an individual level. When I paint, a lot of people do drop by my studio and I'm okay with that. Occasionally friends will give suggestions and help develop the painting. I like painting because it is a complex medium to work with. I don't think I'm specifically inclined to painting. I like to think I'm versatile because certain ideas and visual languages can only be explored through other mediums and different mediums such as video and installation do have qualities that are unique to them. But I do enjoy painting a lot because of the satisfaction I get from it. I am interested in moving images though and this is something I wish to explore in the future. While content is important in my work, I am also interested in the medium. This exploration is sometimes very addictive. It becomes an obsession of my to keep pushing for new discoveries of what you can do with the medium. This is particularly so with bitumen, we can apply oil to thin it or add other medium to change its texture. Its flexibility allows me to create amazing forms. More importantly, art is a way for me to explore myself, to see what I can do with something and what my limits are. The Quran - Do you work specifically with any medium? In my artistic approach, I do not work specifically with any medium, art form or ways of working. Based on my observations of everyday life, my past experience as well as a desire to know more about our social conditions and develop upon it artistically. I have not seriously thought about this, but I think that changes already began in the 1990s. I think that more and more paintings (as well as painting exhibitions) are being produced at the moment and there might be even more artists painting in the future, but my question is, will the quality increase alongside the quantity of paintings? - Why do you choose to paint, given that new media art practices such as video or installation, is becoming 'trendier' and more 'popular' mediums these days? As a visual artist, I am not solely a painter. In the past few years, I was also experimenting with different mediums. From my point of
view, I believe that each medium has its uniqueness and quality for expressing or representing specific ideas. The main thing we should consider is how I am going to make use of these mediums in articulating my ides and thoughts. To understanding and react to our living environment through art. I don’t have a specific book that given a clear influenced in my perspective on living, thought or artistic approach, but I believe that is influenced come from difference domains and resource around me. ‘Kuala Lumpur Under British Rule’ and a Chinese version of John Berger’s ‘About Looking’ are the books that I am currently reading. - Why is painting with oil or acrylic the artistic medium of your choice? I just love colours. After the birth of my son, Choy Yang. Daily living experiences. What I mean is, from the interactions with people I’ve met and engaged with. Yes. I like what is happening in Malaysia at the moment, in terms of the approaches towards painting. It is more autobiographical and a lot more diverse. - Why is painting with oil or acrylic the artistic medium of your choice? In my new series of work, I have been experimenting and painting with a roller brush to achieve a method of layering, which is translucent and opaque, and use this to play with the accidental effects of texture and the quality of line drawings. I choose acrylic and bitumen as my medium because of their transparency. Both are also mediums that dry fast. - How did this particular series of work come about? When I was working in a gallery for the past one year, other than being an event organiser, my task was also to make sure the gallery walls are always white. After the closing of an exhibition, I had to touch up, paint over the stains on wall and it became a routine to me. By accident, I found this effect of staining quite interesting and started to improvise upon it. This always changes. It really depends on the idea or concept. But currently I am focusing on line drawing, texture and repetitious forms of composition. - Do you tend to work by yourself or as part of a group / in a communal situation? Does this affect your paintings? I prefer working by myself now. Working with a group/collaboration is total different. It calls for a different strategy and level of engagement. - Why do you choose to paint, given that new media art practices such as video or installation, is becoming 'trendier' and more 'popular' mediums these days? After college, I tried working with other mediums like performance, installation and video. But I always return to painting. I derive a feeling of puas hati (satisfaction) from painting. Somehow I feel that painting is a much more personal form of art. Another reason is that I like to experiment with the medium itself. I would like to understand and explore new possibilities in painting. - Name a book or a few books that have influenced your perspective on living. ’The Malay Dilemma’ by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and the Quran. I am an insomniac since a long long long time ago. Often, in the middle of the night, all this weird images start appearing in my head. Well...mostly they gripe about time, space and money... - Why do you choose to paint, given that new media art practices such as video or installation, is becoming 'trendier' and more 'popular' mediums these days? - What do you think is the role of a contemporary artist in society? Joker, Businessman and Dreamweaver… hahaha Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl and Care and Feeding of Sprites by Tony Diterlizzi / Holly Black...yes! I like the formal range that I could explore, which is inherent in the process of layering the medium, as well as the overall tactility and permanency of a completed work. Not sure, but I think it grew out of my fascination with the possible relationship between urban detritus and oil paint and acrylic when I was a resident artist in Rimbun Dahan in 2005. Yes, I do see a more exploratory approach towards painting by Malaysian artists these days. I like the slowness and labour intensive process in painting and its fixed frame. - What do you think is the role of a contemporary artist in society? - Why do you choose to paint, given that new media art practices such as video or installation, is becoming 'trendier' and more 'popular' mediums these days? Are you sure? Painting is always a much more ‘popular’ and ‘trendier’ medium in the Malaysian art scene. - Name a book or a few books that have influenced your perspective on living. ‘Garis dari titik ke titik’ by Latiff Mohidin; ‘Art Scene: A Note on Visual Arts in Malaysia’ by Chai Chang Hwang; ‘Mat Som’ by Lat; ‘Ghost in the Shell’ by Masamune Shirow; ‘Self-portrait of Zao Wou Ki’ by Zao Wou Ki; ‘Representations of the Intellectual’, ‘Out of Place’, ‘Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society’ by Edward Said; ‘Remembrance of Things Part’ by Marcel Proust; ‘The Civilizing Process’ by Norbert Elias; ‘Music: A Very Short Introduction’ by Nicholes Cook. - Why is painting with oil or acrylic the artistic medium of your choice? It is a form most suited to deal with the things that interests me. My paintings are a result of acts of repetition much like memories, history and culture, and these are things that I like. - How did a painting like ‘Cold.Gold.Sold’ come about? This painting specifically, is a continuation of my work with still life paintings and it revolves around the idea of representation. - Do you tend to work by yourself or as part of a group / communal situation? Does this affect your paintings? I do both kind of work on about equal parts.Yes, it does affect my paintings. It creates a sense of responsibility and conviction in pursuing my personal imaginations. - Why do you choose to paint, given that new media art practices such as video or installation, is becoming 'trendier' and more 'popular' mediums these days? I’m not a trendy or popular guy, and I guess I’m so because I generally don’t make decisions based on those terms. Having said that, I don’t think videos or installations are that ‘in’ a form and paintings are any less trendy or popular nowadays. Painting is like rock ‘n roll, man, it never dies. Maybe it has something to do with painting not being trendy or popular. I think painting, as an older art form, is more familiar and recognisable in people’s memory than most other visual art forms, and from this comes the common inference that paintings which are an old and familiar form runs counter to the idea of creativity, and therefore cannot be innovative, new or exciting. I think a new perspective trumps a new form every time. I see an audience with preconceive notions, biases, opinions (and other by products of memory), of what art is and (equally, if not more importantly/), what art is not, as crucial. It’s these notions, biases, opinions (and other by product of memories) that I use as means for expression. A central concept, takda (no), but making art for me is a reckless pursuit of happiness. - Name a book or a few books that have influenced your perspective on living. ‘Chaos’ by James Gleick ‘The Quran’ - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7136440703094429927&ei=hzq_SIXoPIzQwgPfq92mCQ&q=feynman |