Glance of a Dance - 16 August 2024

Dear Friends,
Glance of a Dance, an exhibition of drawings of dancers by 6 visual artists on 16 August, 2024, at Sutra Gallery, officiated by Saudara Izzy Ani Arope, unconditionally hit the heartstrings of guests who thronged the exhibition. Over a period of 10 weeks, artists Shia Yi Ying, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Marvin Chan, Arif Fauzan Othman, Yuki Tham and Wong Ming Hao, soaked themselves in the creative atmosphere of Sutra. They took time to draw the dancers (along with the cats, dogs framed by the sylvan surroundings), who modelled for them.
It was unabashed return to the basics and partly for this reason, it was refreshing. The other factor was the authenticity of their efforts that shone through the drawings - the creative struggles to find the lines best suited to represent the physical forms of the enigmatic and elegant models before them, were palpable. This integrity of intent come poignantly through the drawings. Each artist was challenged to express his/her subject in his/her own style. It was particularly evocative that the same pose might be rendered differently by the artists, thus each exuding different aura.
It was obvious that the guests were excited and identified with what they visually saw and experienced. They were definitely not the pseudo-sophisticated collectors (who are now judged by the price they are willing to pay for their artistic loot), now taking centre stage instead of the artists, but the genuine everyday art and theatre-lovers, who came to the exhibition to partake in the simple beauty of ‘life drawing’, even ‘academic’ drawing. They were the appreciative ‘rasikas’ who were genuinely stirred by the simple integration of dance and the visual art and want to take back a piece home. This was palpable in the way the affordable works were bought spontaneously like hotcakes!
Esthete Izzy Ani Arope, who officiated the launch, spoke of galleries as the neutral space (unlike places of worship, especially in this divisive era of ours, which tend to be soiled with poisonous indoctrinations) where people of various walks of life can celebrate our beauty of artistic and cultural diversity. He thanked the guests for genuinely coming together to celebrate the richness of our multicultural pluralism during National Day.
Izzy keenly observed that only in Malaysia can we have an exhibition that featured Malay and Chinese visual artists unconsciously taking on the subject matter of drawing Indian classical dance!
Truly an insightful observation!
Sutra
#glanceofadance #LifeDrawing #exhibition #bayuutomo #shiayihying #marvinchan #ariffauzanothman #yukitham #wongminghao #sutragallery #sutrafoundation #dancedrawing #visualarts