Recent Acquisitions

After years filled with renaming, relocations and rotations of directors, the National Visual Arts Gallery (NVAG) seems to be finally settling into a more mature guise with a focused exhibition calendar that seeks to explore the full breadth of artistic careers, as well as explorations of critical themes in Malaysian art.

This time around, it’s an exercise in chest-thumping with a showing of their most recent acquisitions. Recent being works collected between 2012 and 2014, with 50 of their favourites being put on display. What exactly have they been spending our tax ringgits on? A mixed bag, it appears. ‘Diverse forms and categories of works created in several eras have been acquired based on their impact on the narratives of Malaysian art, from its modern to contemporary period,’ the gallery’s representative explains.

Vague? As it always is with these mixed shows, but the miscellany in ‘Recent Acquisitions’ does afford audiences the ability to traverse across different periods in Malaysian art, as well as gain a cursory introduction into the different artistic gestations from the past century by way of artworks by leading artists like AB Ibrahim, Mansoor Ibrahim, Fatimah Chik, Shia Yih Yiing, Yap Sau Bin, Yee I-Lann, Haslin Ismail and Anne Samat. Newbies will be tickled, and the more seasoned, a tad cynical. Something for everyone then.