Weekend for the arts: Bayu's 'Resonance Of Souls', Sedar Space's paper trail

The Star

07-06-2025

EXHIBITION: BAYU UTOMO RADJIKIN'S 'RESONANCE OF SOULS'
Venue: Harta Space, Ampang, Selangor
Date: ends June 29
It's always a bit of a local art world event when Bayu drops a new exhibition - and true to form, he's painted the town red, crimson, and several shades of existential maroon.
In his latest solo outing, Resonance Of Souls, Bayu dives deep beneath the skin, using the human body as a stage for silent emotional dramas. The Harta gallery space is ideal to experience these impactful works. With contorted poses, visceral textures, and colour fields that practically hum with feeling, Bayu's paintings don't just speak - they brood, ache, and occasionally whisper something you can't quite hear but definitely feel.
Don't come expecting portraits or personal narratives. These anonymous male figures are stripped of identity to reflect something more universal: the inner battles and unglamorous grit that shape us. It's emotional anatomy class, Bayu-style.
This exhibition marks a mature evolution in the Sabah-born artist's style - blending the physical and the abstract, the seen and the sensed - offering a raw, resonant look at what it means to be human, in all our quietly heroic messiness.
As a founding member of both the Matahati Collective and Hom Art Trans gallery, Bayu carries over three decades of artistic mileage - and it looks like he's still shifting gears.
More info here.
A visitor takes a closer look at Haslin Ismail's works at Sedar Space's group exhibition 'On Paper'. Photo: The Star/M. Irsyad
EXHIBITION: 'ON PAPER'
Venue: Sedar Space, Shah Alam, Selangor
Date: ends June 21
There's always a good chance you'll stumble upon an interesting independent artist-run gallery show in Shah Alam - and Sedar Space continues that streak with the second installment of On Paper.
This group exhibition brings together 23 artists—including Ahmad Fuad Osman, Haslin Ismail, Gan Chin Lee, Samsudin Wahab, Amron Omar, the late Othman Mansor, Lina Tan, Arif Rafhan Othman, Alice Tan, Haziq Shawal, Anissa Abdullah, and more—who push paper far beyond its traditional role, treating it not merely as a surface, but as a medium to sketch, collage, journal, and explore ideas in inventive ways.
Divided into five parts, the show offers a range of approaches to this humble material. Some works feel intimate and autobiographical, touching on memory, culture, and identity. Others are playful, even mischievous - folded, cut, layered, and reinvented into surprising forms. Expect everything from delicate ink studies to bold, spontaneous mark-making and tactile, sculptural compositions.
Whether you're drawn to conceptual pieces or visual diaries, On Paper is a reminder of how something as everyday as paper can hold extraordinary weight. A by-appointment exhibition.
More info here.
A painting by Tong titled 'Blister'. It is part of his solo debut exhibition 'Occurs' in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Tong Fung Chuar
EXHIBITION: TONG FUNG CHUAR'S 'OCCURS'
Venue: The Changing Room, Zhongshan building, KL
Date: June 7-22
It's always encouraging to see emerging artists given the spotlight with solo debuts.
Occurs, curated by independent curator Umar Sharif, marks Tong Fung Chuar's first solo painting exhibition - an introspective series that retraces the raw, often unsettling experiences of everyday life.
With titles like Blister, Screaming Car, and Bloodletting, Tong's paintings tap into the anxiety and quiet chaos we often overlook. While exaggerated in tone, they reflect the internal melodramas we all carry, reimagined through expressive lines, solitary figures, and soft colourways that contrast with their uneasy themes.
The French-trained artist presents pain, fear, and tension through naive, unstructured forms. The absence of recognisable figures leaves space for personal reflection, while the curation favours mood over narrative.
More than an introduction to a promising new voice, Occurs also serves as a case study in independent exhibition-making - a reminder that art can thrive in self-created 'third spaces,' where experimentation and expression go hand in hand.
Tong, who graduated from the National School of Fine Art in Dijon, eastern France in 2021, now lives and works between Kuala Lumpur and Johor.
More info here.
At his debut solo exhibition at Wei-Ling Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Khabir presents a striking series of large-scale wall installations. Photo: The Star/Raja Faisal Hishan
EXHIBITION: KHABIR ROSLAN'S 'SUKMA: MEGAH, TUNDOK'
Venue: Wei-Ling Gallery, KL
Date: ends June 21
After his time in the WLG Incubator Young Artists programme in 2023 under the mentorship of Yau Bee Ling, emerging artist Khabir Roslan presents a solo debut exhibition at Wei-Ling Gallery, exploring time through themes of decomposition, repair, and transformation.
Using compost soil mixed with pigments and oil, along with stitched bandages and cloth, Khabir creates large-scale, tactile works layered with care and memory. Hexagonal motifs - echoing Singgora clay roof tiles from Nusantara architecture - repeat across the surfaces, evoking both fragmentation and continuity.
Titled from the Bahasa Malaysia words sukma (soul), megah (greatness), and tundok (humility), the show reflects on cyclical rhythms of making. Neither quite painting nor sculpture, the works unfold as soil-stained scrolls that stretch floor to ceiling, anchored by a fragment of a boat's hull - merging gesture, object, and grounded reflection.
For those new to his work, Khabir is a transdisciplinary artist whose practice weaves together science, cosmology, and philosophy. A Fine Arts graduate from UiTM Shah Alam, he was awarded "Most Promising Artist" after winning the UOB Painting of the Year 2020 in the Emerging Artist category.
More info here.
Shinya's artwork titled 'Hyonenzu', which is inspired by a painting by Zen monk-painter Josetsu under the commission of a shogun in 15th century Japan. Photo: Artemis Art
EXHIBITION: SHINYA MASUDA'S 'HOJO ZANMAI'
Venue: The Drawing Room, Yap Ah Shak House, KL
Date: ends June 14
If you're on the hunt for a fresh art space in Kuala Lumpur, The Drawing Room is well worth a visit.
Award-winning Japanese artist Shinya Masuda is showing his latest photomontage series, Hojo Zanmai, fresh from its debut at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025. This marks the series' first stop following its premiere at London's Somerset House. The good news is the exhibition has been extended to June 14.
Shinya's practice spans a rich, multidisciplinary spectrum - drawing on Buddhist philosophy, Kantian epistemology, Einstein's theory of relativity, and principles of quantum mechanics. His works are at once meditative and intricate, inviting viewers to pause and contemplate the hidden dimensions of existence.
Hojo Zanmai marks Artemis Art's third collaboration with Shinya, following his solo debut Katsuko (2016) and the virtual exhibition The Hanafuda Shuzuoko Collection (2020).
Free admission. The exhibition is open daily, 10am-8pm.
More info here.
A close-up view of Wong's artwork 'Pakcik Dan Makcik' (acrylic on wood, 2025). Photo: Galeri Sasha
EXHIBITION: WONG PERNG FEY'S 'BEING.HERE'
Venue: Galeri Sasha, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), KL
Date: ends June 21
Galeri Sasha is showing Being.Here, a solo exhibition by Wong Perng Fey, through to June 21. Developed between Austria and Malaysia, the show marks a tonal shift from the psychological intensity of his Beijing years toward a language of clarity, wit, and restraint.
Featuring painting, sculpture, and a contemporary take on wayang kulit, the exhibition explores presence without performance - being rather than becoming. It signals a moment of arrival for Wong, placing him firmly within ongoing conversations around abstraction and self-representation.
Known for his gestural style and evolving material language, the globe-trotting Wong has exhibited across Asia, with works in major collections including Khazanah Nasional, Singapore Art Museum, and Bank Negara Malaysia. He lives and works between Graz and Kuala Lumpur.
More info here.