Ceramic sculptor Umibaizurah Mahir Ismail’s latest solo showcase is a feast for the eyes, mind and spirit, writes Sarah NH Vogeler
“WHAT you burnt, broke and tore is still in my hands. I am the keeper of fragile things and I have kept of you what is indissoluble” from novelist Anais Nin’s House Of Incest, are words which sprang to mind upon looking at Umibaizurah’s offerings in her much anticipated third solo exhibition. They relay to the mind an enchanting sense of permanence, of things which remain untouched by even the fiercest of tornados.
After her last solo show, Tag, at Wei-Ling Contemporary in 2012, the artist went on a ‘sabbatical’, participating in residencies and travelling extensively. This resulted in Fragile Recent Works 2015-2016, her current efforts shown at The Edge Galerie.
We sat for hours as she explains each piece, each installation. Umi describes her works beautifully, her ardent passion tenderly evident with every sentence uttered. They are certainly breath-taking. You feel like the Golden Ticket winner, admitted into Roald Dahl’s much longed for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, and given the tour by Willy Wonka ‘herself’ on a trip you will never forget. This is the clay, non-edible version of course, but a feast nonetheless — for the eyes, mind and spirit.
All 17 sculptures comprising paintings (which you rarely see in an Umibaizurah show), wall executions and collage conceptions are curated captivatingly, and considering the limitations in space, each piece is given ample breathing-room, allowing the viewer to manoeuvre between each work without fear of breaking anything.
STUNNING STANDOUTS
They’re all worthy of elaboration, and two, which stand out amongst the stand outs include Yea Sir!. On Duty, a hierarchical array of tiny green soldiers poised in eternal salute, amassed on weighted dices painted with appealingly-feminine florae in blush. The contrast between machismo and almost effeteness is staggering; perhaps the artist’s conjectures on the world’s current state — in our zealousness for ‘power-covet’, we trample on and kill beauty. In retrospect, and perhaps relevant, my brother used to have hundreds of these microscopic plastic soldiers as a child, which he’d arrange to resemble a war zone, each side carefully divided by a sand dune. I recall asking him how he would be able to distinguish one over another as they all looked alike. The (then) 9-year-old solemnly replied, “Does it matter?.”
Fragile’s leitmotifs, shared the artist, are her personal reflections on life. “What surrounds and affects us, stirring matters on love, trustworthiness and fidelity, be it in relationships or matters of the country, and the world in its entirety. The works are of course, fragile, delicate, breakable, but not the message I wanted to communicate in terms of this show.”
Another piece, which beguiles, is Famous Five. Placed at the end of the room, five seemingly ebullient effigies are prepped to be taken over the moon in The Umibaizurah House Of Fun. “It is an exemplification of our country’s Rukun Negara (our declaration of National Philosophy),” explained Umi, referring to the five, of:
Belief in God
Loyalty to King and Country
Upholding the Constitution
Rule of Law
Good Behaviour and Morality
Then you see the expressions embedded in each ‘glazed’ face: Bliss, anxiety, perplexed, numb and hopeful — not in any particular order.
When all was over, we adjourned to the cafe next door, where Umi’s husband, artist Ahmad Shukri Mohamed was waiting. It was a giddy experience, from the roller-coaster ride in Umi’s Toy Factory and afterwards catching up with her spouse, an artist I wrote about 17 years ago, whom I hope and want, to write about again. Conversation went back and forth between their Patisatustudio (both studio and a space for fellow artists to fibrillate/ defibrillate) and upcoming shows, how horrified we all were at Syed Ahmad Jamal’s recent murdered sculpture, (It’s like he died all over again, that pain collectively felt) her future plans. It was a meet of ‘old friends’; surreal and all lovely.
It must be said how inspiring it is to see how well our female artists are faring against the male-dominated art scene.
Apart from Umi, there’s the sublime Sharmiza Abu Hassan, weaver-extraordinaire Anne Samat, sculptor Anniketyni Madian, photographer Nirmala Karuppiah, painter Chong Ai Lei and her oh so burlesque-seductive canvases, watercolourist Sharifah Zuriah Aljeffri whose Chinese brush styles simply stuns, textile maven Fatimah Chik, and so many more.
As the artist impishly says: “I am like a chef. I bake clay for people”, we bask in, get electrified and wowed with Fragile like a child’s ‘eyes on stalks’ upon accidentally (but serendipitously) discovering Santa’s hidden stash.
Coming to mind as our chat came to an end, something from Janis Joplin’s 1967 album Big Brother & the Holding Company, the implosive/ psychedelic song, Light is Faster than Sound: -
Light is faster than sound
My head to the ground
Mind going round
Faster than sound.
What goes up must go down
World goes around
Sun shines around
Faster than sound.
Whoa, suddenly I see your face
Faster than sound
Through the emptiness of space.
Faster than sound
You’re turning my mind all around,
Faster than sound
‘Cause life is faster than sound.
Faster than sound
Faster than sound
AWARD-WINNING ARTIST
Born in 1975, in Johor, Umibaizurah obtained her BA Hons of Art and Design (Ceramics) at the Faculty of Art & Design, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam, Selangor in 2000. She has steadily partaken in various group exhibitions in Malaysia, Indonesia, London, Korea, Singapore, China, Japan, Dubai and Pakistan. Her artworks have garnered several international awards and are collected both locally and internationally.
SELECTED SHOWS
SOLO EXHIBITION
2012
Tag. Wei Ling Contemporary. The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2009
Hybrid. Wei Ling Gallery. Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
EXHIBITIONS
2012
NamYi Seom International Ceramics Festival. Korea.
Conception in Reconciliation .Kembara Jiwa Project 2012. Selasar Sunaryo Bandung & Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
2011
World Travel Market 2011. EXCEL London. London.
Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2011. Korea.
Refreshingly Different. Taksu, Bali. Indonesia.
The Malaysian Rice Plates Project. Convention Centre. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Rogue Wave. Fringe Project Art stage, Taksu, Singapore.
2010
Two Man Show. Ernst & Young, Singapore
Thou Art Women:2010 World Expo Shanghai, China.
Five. Jyugaoka Gallery. Tokyo.Japan.
Tanah Timur. Kyoueigama gallery, Tokoname Japan.
Taksu Singapore’s New Space Opening, Taksu Singapore.
2009
Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Biennale #1, North Art Space. Jakarta, Indonesia.
Malaysia Services Exhibition 2009 (MSE 2009). Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Asia Ceramics Network 08, Cyber & Catalog Exhibition. Seoul, Korea.
2008
Cabinet. Valentine Wille Fine Art. Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.
Emerging Asia. 2008 Asia Arts Network. KEPCO Gallery Seoul, Korea
Out Of The Mould — The Age Of Statement. Malmo Art Museum, Sweden.
Fragile runs until Aug 5. The Edge Galerie, Menara
KLK, Level 4,1 Jalan PJU 7/6, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya. www.theedgegalerie.com