Curated by Beverly Yong, Formative functioned as a critical survey of three-dimensional practice in Malaysia, navigating the transition from traditional craft-based lineages to contemporary sculptural inquiry. The exhibition’s title was framed as a “deliberate ambiguity,” referring simultaneously to the physical manipulation of materials and the “progress of sculpture” within a local art historical context. Rather than attempting a definitive account of the field, the presentation sought to expand the discourse by grouping six artists—Chin Wan Kee, Raja Shahriman, Ramlan Abdullah, Sharmiza Abu Hassan, Tengku Sabri Ibrahim, and Terry Law—whose works represent a significant “crux” of the medium’s evolution in the country.

The exhibition highlighted a diverse range of technical and conceptual approaches to form. Raja Shahriman, known for his visceral, blade-like metalwork, and Ramlan Abdullah, whose practice often explores the structural and formalist possibilities of industrial materials, provided a counterpoint to the more narrative or mythological inquiries of Tengku Sabri Ibrahim and Sharmiza Abu Hassan. Sharmiza’s work frequently engages with feminine identity and historical myth, while Tengku Sabri utilizes wood and organic forms to investigate regional cultural memories. Terry Law and Chin Wan Kee further broadened the survey by incorporating varied sculptural vocabularies that challenge traditional boundaries of the medium. Collectively, Formative positioned sculpture not as a static discipline, but as a site of active material experimentation and intellectual investigation into the “formation” of a modern Malaysian aesthetic.