It is man versus nature in this solo exhibition from Spotlight 2022’s winner
By Lim Wan Phing
It is said that the best judge of an artist’s skill is in drawing human anatomy. With Aqim Adil’s art, one certainly gets plenty of body parts.
Fingers caressing a cigarette, hands tending a leaf branch, feet by a window, and calves intertwined with flower pots, metal poles, and even ribcages. There are shadows and contours, veins and muscles all shaded in black and white, using only charcoal and graphite.
Aqim’s art may be categorised as dark and surrealist, but his latest collection, PASU, is surprisingly relaxed and tender. Created as a result of winning the Penang Art District (PAD)’s Spotlight art competition last year, Aqim had seven months to put together this solo exhibition with the help of an assigned mentor and the organisers.
Charcoal on canvas: Dalam Pasu (2023) and Beri Perhatian (2023).
Photo: Lim Wan Phing
“PASU is inspired by my daily routine at home and from observing society and plants,” says Aqim, who was born in Kuala Lumpur and currently lives in Kajang. “Body parts represent humans, of course, and as humans, we always need a connection with nature. My artworks depict that connection between man and wilderness.”
But in PASU—which means pot in Malay—that wilderness is tamed and boxed in. Nature is contained in the everyday flower pot, many appearing beneath a lightbulb or by a window sill, exuding friendship and companionship, but also claustrophobia and tiny cubicles reminiscent of stacked city living.
Using a mixture of organic and geometric forms, bodies intertwine with plants amidst the most domestic of things—a shirt hung out to dry, a curtain, a stool, a teapot, a bowl of instant noodles, a journal.
When drawing was just a hobby to pass time
Aqim’s artistic career seems like it is only beginning to take off. The 30-year-old artist first became a Top 15 finalist in a government-run competition called MyCreative way back in 2016. But the chance to exhibit his work didn’t come until 2020. However, in the three years since then, Aqim’s art has been showcased in 14 group exhibitions, including one in Penang’s ChinaHouse in 2022.
Charcoal on canvas: Rehat (2023) and Lampu 2 (2023).
Photo: Lim Wan Phing
“I started drawing seriously when I was about 18,” explains Aqim, who graduated from Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) with a diploma in digital graphic design in 2015. “Before that, drawing was always just a hobby to pass the time. But during my studies at UNIMAS, I started doing a lot of sketches to improve my art, and joined lots of exhibitions to get my work out there.”
It was at UNIMAS (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) that he majored in Fine Arts and graduated with an Honours, while getting his foot in the door in creative spaces like HOM Gallery in Ampang. Since graduating, Aqim has also won the Art Against AIDS Jury’s Pick Award twice in 2020 and 2022 for his monochrome pieces Setia (Faithful) and Pokok Getah (Rubber Trees).
Aqim’s art influences are eclectic and diverse; they include Chinese paintings, the Japanese woodblock genre ukiyo-e, the long, organic lines of Art Nouveau, the untrained, idiosyncratic styles of Outsider art, and even works by the late Malaysian National Art Laureate Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal.
17 pieces on display at Blank Canvas Gallery
When he was picked as the Winner of Spotlight 2022, Aqim was awarded RM5,000 in cash, a mentorship, and a solo exhibition. “I first heard about Spotlight through a friend and decided to enter the competition,” recalls Aqim, whose submitted piece, OSOM, caught the eye of Penang art curator, Ivan Gabriel.
Aqim’s winning piece OSOM is the first piece on display at Blank Canvas Gallery.
(L-R) Curator Ivan Gabriel; Aqim Adil; YB Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang State EXCO Office for Tourism and Creative Economy; and Kenny Ng, Project Manager of Penang Art District.
Based on the Malaysian childhood game one two tali som (a variation of scissors, paper, stone), OSOM was judged based on score points like originality, concept, use of medium, artistic finish, and overall impression.
“When I first saw OSOM, I was secretly hoping that Aqim would win so that I would get to curate his show,” recalls Ivan, who loves Aqim’s use of dark aesthetics and blurring of reality using simple objects. At Blank Canvas Gallery, a total of 17 pieces are on display, beginning with OSOM and ending with Alam dan Manusia (Nature and Mankind).
17 pieces of Aqim Adil’s artwork are on display at Blank Canvas Gallery, for sale with prices ranging between RM800 and RM3,000.
Photo: Lim Wan Phing
In between, viewers can ponder on the nurturing yet claustrophobic pieces like Rehat (Rest), Beri Perhatian (Self-Care), Dalam Pasu (In the Pot), Lampu (Light), and Mi Segera (Instant Noodles), all curated in a zigzag manner to form a flow from stifled pot to bare, exposed roots—wild, free and finally back to nature.
The pot as a symbol for space
Using the pot as a symbol for space, Aqim worked with his mentor, fellow artist Syahbandi Samat whose art is also of the monochrome surrealist genre, to further hone and develop PASU’s concept. Explaining that he is his own hand and foot model, Aqim starts out with basic sketches before expanding them onto a bigger scale.
“This solo has given me a lot of new experiences, and Syahbandi helped me by giving me advice and exposure in the arts scene,” says Aqim. As for the prize money, he put some away for savings and used the rest to travel around Malaysia.
PASU is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 12pm–7pm until 25 June 2023.
Interestingly, Aqim is also the first male winner of Spotlight as the past four have been women since the competition began in 2018, which is open to young and emerging artists between the ages of 17 and 30.
So much can happen in one year to change an artist’s life, and Aqim only has this to say to young artists or anyone considering applying for Spotlight 2023: “If you love making art, start making and don’t stop making.”
PASU, Aqim Adil’s solo exhibition is at Blank Canvas Gallery (2 Lorong Argus, 10200 George Town, Penang) from 3–25 June 2023. The gallery is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 12pm-7pm. Other times are by appointment only. Entry is free and artworks are available for sale, from RM800 to RM3,000
Wan Phing is a Penang writer with a short story collection ‘Two Figures in a Car’ published by Penguin SEA.