Five highlights from Galeri PETRONAS' youthful relaunch exhibition

The Star

2 days ago

Four years is a long time away, but Galeri PETRONAS in Kuala Lumpur – which reopened today (June 10) – is set on making up for lost time with an exhibition spotlighting 15 fresh talents in the Malaysian art scene.
In May 2021, Galeri PETRONAS paused its programmes amid a pandemic-era realignment, though the space remained active with cultural and corporate showcases.
Old School X New Rules, the gallery's new group show spanning a variety of mediums (installations and videos to paintings and found objects), marks the return of visitors to the Level 3 arts space at Suria KLCC.
The show's line-up, featuring new generation artists, includes Zulkefli Jais, Aimman Hafizal, Azim Rodi, Yong Hui Lin, Chong Yan Chuah, Yuki Mun, Burhanuddin Bakri, Foong Yeng Yeng (with Lim Soon Hock), Afiq Romi, Haziq Syawal, Husni Osman, Syazwan Jehan, Syuhada Yaacob, and Akif Azmi.
'This bold showcase brings together fresh energy and fearless expression, where tradition meets innovation in unexpected ways,' outlines a Galeri PETRONAS statement.
Old School X New Rules is curated by Galeri PETRONAS' in-house team. The free admission exhibition – closed on Mondays – runs through Sept 28.
Here are five highlights from the exhibition:
CHONG YAN CHUAH
'Apa-Cita?' (single-channel CGI-moving image, 2025)
Tucked into a quiet corner of the gallery, Chong's 15-minute video installation offers a reflective pause. In it, a lone digital figure – resembling a player-character without a game – drifts through glitchy, maze-like environments filled with repetitive structures.
The work explores spiritual longing in the age of algorithms and digital surveillance. Through distorted dialogue and looping visuals, Apa-Cita? questions how technology shapes our perception of purpose, belonging, and myth.
Known for his unique blend of technology and art, Chong's unsettling digital dreamscape taps into our collective anxiety over AI, identity, and disconnection.
A gallery visitor walks through Zulkefli's new installation titled 'Anything But Prison', which has an accompanying five-minute video. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
ZULKEFLI JAIS
'Anything But Prison' (iron pipes, iron fencing, barbed wire, wires and single-channel video, 2025)
Zulkefli, who won the 2023 Bakat Muda Sezaman Major Award (Young Contemporary), is no stranger to the headlines. In this exhibition, he presents a powerful installation alongside a looped five-minute video that explores the lasting effects of forced displacement.
At the centre of the work is a skeletal fence structure made of galvanised iron pipes and barbed wire, which visitors can pass through.
The video plays scenes from everyday city life, accompanied by a repeated voice saying 'pagar' – the Malay word for fence – creating a haunting rhythm. The barrier, both literal and symbolic, becomes a lens through which we confront the realities faced by migrants and the privileges held by citizens.
This work speaks to the invisible boundaries that shape how some lives are restricted or erased within public space.
A visitor photographs Yuki Mun's 'Inner Portal, Outer World', a new artwork created using ink on aluminium. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
YUKI MUN
'Inner Portal, Outer World' (ink on aluminium, 2025)
In this installation work, Yuki Mun reflects on themes of migration and return, informed by her experience working in Dusun Tua, Liu Fine Arts Studio, and Uma Ukit in Sarawak.
The piece, created using ink on aluminium, draws inspiration from the legendary artist-poet Latiff Mohidin's exploration of identity and place.
Her method involves mark-making, a technique where repeated engravings form layered impressions.
The work, located at the front of the Old School X New Rules exhibition, invites viewers to meditate on how our surroundings can influence inner transformation.
A closer look at one out of five windshield panels from Azam's 'Langkah Terasing' series which highlights roadside fruit sellers that roam the city's high traffic areas. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
AZAM RODI
'Langkah Terasing' (acrylic on layered windshields, 2025)
Azam uses car windshields as a storytelling surface, transforming them into a "five-panel comic strip". The artwork captures the everyday scenes of roadside fruit sellers navigating between rows of traffic – a familiar sight in many Malaysian cities.
Seen from the perspective of a driver, each panel reflects the repetitive dance of survival in urban life.
The seller, dressed in sun-protective clothing, weaves between cars only to return to the kerb as traffic clears. It's a moment many have witnessed, now reimagined as a visual narrative.
A view of the textile wall installation by Syazwan titled 'Chromatic Fractures'. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
SYAZWAN JEHAN
'Chromatic Fractures' (tufted yarn on fabric backing, 2025)
This colourful textile installation, situated at the end of the exhibition, reinterprets the abstract language of artist Sharifah Fatimah's emotionally rich paintings, bringing them into a new, tactile dimension.
Using tufted fabric and bold colours, Syazwan translates rhythm and gesture into sculptural form.
Anchoring the work is a large textile piece resembling bursts of stars or atomic explosions – metaphors for moments of rupture, change, and self-discovery. The softness of the materials contrasts with the intensity of the forms, creating a layered emotional experience.
It's a sensory and personal exploration of how colour, form, and fabric can carry emotional weight beyond the visual.