Richard Koh Fine Art
Richard Koh Fine Art (RKFA – SG) is pleased to announce Yim Maline’s (b.1982) first solo exhibition in Singapore. The exhibition is scheduled to run from 7 – 22 June 2019 at Richard Koh Fine Art Singapore and will feature 12 mixed media works comprising of; 8 wall-bound cardboard and paper works, and 4 tissue paper sculptures. In The Shadow of Change, Yim considers reflections on life in motion; the life cycle of birth (and rebirth), living (moving and movements through time, and through emotions of joys and sorrows) and death (dying and decay and the fragility of life). All are enfolded in her practice that is rooted in her lived history as a witness of civil war and now a witness of the precariousness of our natural environments.
In this exhibition, viewers will be introduced to Yim’s unique ‘Decomposition’ aesthetics of amorphous and biomorphic shapes and forms across various mediums which effectively encapsulates the artist’s reflections on the interconnectedness of all matter. At its core, ‘Decomposition’ investigates the notion of landscape and its representation. The series was conceived after a year of residencies and travel to diverse ecosystems on four continents, from which Yim cultivated a deeper consciousness around the tenuous state of the global environment with her home and country as a comparative concern.
Yim navigates the ‘Decomposition’ series via mixed media paper drawings and cardboard relief sculptures. In her drawings, Yim creates imaginary forms, sometimes worthy of a strange planet, forms that are in fact linked to her internal state of mind. As indicated by Yves Zlotowski, “In Colourful Decomposition… one seems to see cells observed under a microscope. Further, the landscape fills the space of the drawing and this technique[…] suggest a form of invasion, the landscape appearing to spill out beyond the frame. The sense of wholeness is reinforced by the large formats[…] in which Maline aims to evoke a sense of immersion in a mental landscape.” In her relief sculptures, Yim challenges her viewer to study the geography of her works that reveal ruptures and scars, temperature changes, spills and leakage, clearings and remains, and rare hints of new growth. In addition, Yim will unveil new tissue paper sculptures that represent a new development from her ‘Decomposition’ series.
Yim is one of a small (albeit growing) handful of female Khmer artists. Whilst they all share a multi-medium approach to art-making, Yim is the only one who produces drawing, and tackles most centrally the changing natural environment around the world.
