The Star Online, North
Wednesday July 7, 2010

Turning old chairs into art

By JEREMY TAN north@thestar.com.my
Photos by K.E. OOI

TAKING pride of place at the junction of Union Street and Penang Street, contemporary artist Leon Lim’s masterpiece, The Last Chairs, never fails to draw the gaze of curious onlookers.

Made up of some 100 old and discarded chairs, and measuring 9.5-feet (289cm) high, 13-feet (396cm) wide and 9-feet (274cm) in length, the public art installation will be on display until July 31 in conjunction with the George Town Festival 2010.

Artist Leon Lim's putting the final touches to his public installation art "The Last Chairs" which is located at the junction of Union Street and Penang Street.

The original work embodies Lim’s fascination with exploring configurations of historical and social narratives, and represents a living work inspired by peoples participation in the influence of urban culture.

It is also aimed at highlighting the absurd aspects of reality through visually emphasising ordinary objects emblematic of George Town’s context.

Lim, who is deaf and fluent in American sign Language, told reporters during a press preview yesterday that he hoped his work would give the public a better appreciation of installation art.

Born and raised in Kedah and schooled in Penang, Lim currently works as a graphic designer and fine art photographer in New York, where such art works are common and popular.

“After moving to the States, I came to realise that over here, many things are left to ruin, are ignored and unappreciated, like these chairs.

“These types of chairs are not made anymore, and that’s why I call them The Last Chairs, for they are the last of their kind,” he explained.

Some of the chairs were donated by Hwa Keong Enterprise Antique Furniture, while others were sourced from schools and residences.

He added that the piece would look more beautiful at night, and better represent his vision.

“Separated into two pieces, the larger one represents the graduation of art in George Town throughout history, while the smaller one represents its path in the future,” he said.

Nonetheless, he invited viewers to form their own interpretation.

Although he initially envisaged a bigger and grander installation, it had to be scaled down due to constraints, while he also had to incorporate elements around it.

The month-long George Town Festival 2010 celebrates the second anniversary of the city’s listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site, and features over 80 arts and culture programmes around the city.

Sumber: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/7/7/north/6617393&sec=North

The Star Online > North
Thursday July 8, 2010

Sculptures on show

FIFTY-TWO caricature sculptures will be put up in stages around George Town to create awareness about the historical and cultural identity of some of the local sites in the city.

Sculpture At Work, the com-pany which won the ‘Marking George Town — An Idea Competition for a Unesco World Heritage Site’, is responsible for the sculptures, of which most of them are made using wire rods.

Its creative director Tang Mung Kian said the concept was inspired by the “voices of the people”.

“The idea was to tell the people about the historical and cultural identity of a place and that is why we chose to put up the sculptures, which is a form of street art, at corners of streets to serve as a marking,” he explained.

Tang said this after Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng visited one of the sculptures themed ‘Goh Kah Kee’, which means five-foot way, on Transfer Road after the festival’s opening ceremony.

The 2.4m-high and 1.8m-wide sculpture, welded at the joints and powder-coated, gives a brief explanation about the purpose and usage of a five-foot way with a sculptured caricature of ‘Mr Goh Kah Kee’ at the foot of the sculpture.

Tang said the next sculpture explaining how Love Lane got its name would be put up there, followed by another one on ‘Kedai Tuak’ (toddy shop) on Lorong Pasar.

Meanwhile, New York-based contemporary artist Leon Lim will see his masterpiece – ‘The Last Chairs’ — become a permanent public art exhibit.

Leon, a graphic designer and fine arts photographer, who was born in Kedah but schooled in Penang, created the art installation specially for the George Town Festival 2010.

When visiting the exhibit at the junction of Union Street and Penang Street, Guan Eng said the state was looking into how the piece could be a permanent fixture in George Town’s heritage enclave.

“Some people may think it’s junk,” he said, only half in jest.

Made up of some 100 old and discarded chairs, and measuring 9.5ft (3.16m) high, 13ft (4.3m) wide and 9ft (3m) in length, the public art installation is on display in conjunction with the festival until July 31.

Leon said: “My original idea was only to have two chairs but the inspiration just grew and I found myself adding more chairs to the installation.

“I wanted to stack them up to about 5m but had to comply with certain local authority guidelines.”

He urged visitors to check out the exhibit during the day and night.

“The light and dark show the different periods in time,” he explained.

“At night, you will not see certain parts of the chairs — this represents a past that is no longer here.

“It took me and my team only five days to create this which is amazing because it usually takes about one to two months for something of this magnitude,” he said.

“We worked night and day and I am so glad we made it in time for the festival’s launch,” he said.

“In Malaysia, public art is still a new concept but in Singapore, there are about 300 public art installations,” he said.

Leon’s works have been exhibited in galleries such as the John F. Kennedy Center, Washington DC and the World Financial Center, New York City.

He was commissioned in 2008 to create a permanent art installation, The 3(656), for a study lounge in the new centre at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Sumber: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/7/8/north/6624367&sec=north