Gear up for the largest, most significant and prestigious international visual art feast in Malaysia – Art Expo Malaysia! The 10th edition of this yearly art fair will take place from October 20 – 23, at Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC), Kuala Lumpur, featuring 60 established and reputable art galleries / groups from 30 countries, exhibiting 2,000 pieces of artworks (including paintings, sculptures, installation, photography) of various style, expression and medium, under one roof.
Currently the longest-running art fair in South-east Asia, Art Expo Malaysia is probably the most public-friendly art fair in the world, as it does not charge any entrance fee, Free Admission since its inception in 2007!
The Malaysia bandwagon, the largest delegation, will have a good number of reputable exhibitors as well as new players in the local art scene. These galleries will represent more than 100 local artists, a great mix of pioneer artists, superstars, established and emerging young artists. The Malaysian works usually receive well response and good remarks from the visitors. With a strong pool of local collectors specifically collecting Malaysian Art, it is expected that the sales of Malaysian Art would be excellent. Exhibitors’ lineup this year includes the usual past exhibitors and supporters such as Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers, Masterpiece Auction, Bank Negara Malaysia Museum & Art Gallery, National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia, Galeri Prima (NSTP), A2 Gallery, Art WeMe Contemporary Gallery, City Art Gallery, G13 Gallery, Galleria GermAsia, HOM Art Trans, Jeth Art Gallery, Nadine Fine Art, Pelita Hati Gallery Of Art, Pin Wei Zhai Art Gallery, Segaris Art Center, Taksu, Tiny Rose Gallery, TJ Fine Art, Tree & Me Furniture Design, and Yahong Art Gallery. Peter Liew works will be exhibited too, whose booth is sponsored by a corporation.
Some of these galleries also represent foreign artists as well; for example, Art WeMe Contemporary Gallery represents the famous China artist Sanzi; both the art auction houses Henry Butcher and Masterpiece will showcase works by Southeast Asian artists or highlight pieces of the coming auctions.
Strong Singapore Representation
From our neighbouring country Singapore, as many as 9 galleries are participating, forming the second largest exhibitor group, which includes the esteemed Art Asia X, Art Xchange Gallery, ArtBlue Studio, Cape of Good Hope Art Gallery, Kato Art Duo, Maya Gallery, REDSEA Gallery, The Gallery of Gnani Arts, and White Space Art Asia. It is common that galleries in Singapore represent artists of various nationalities. Art Xchange Gallery mainly represents Indonesian artists; ArtBlue Studio mainly represents Vietnamese artists; Kato Art Duo mainly represents Japanese artists; REDSEA Gallery used to showcase works by French, Russian, and Spanish artists, but will be debuting with Korean and Indonesian works this round.
Foreign Exhibitors
From other parts of Southeast Asia, Myanmar is represented by Colour Cube Art Gallery, first-time participant; Thailand is represented by Number 1 Gallery; Vietnam is represented by Viet Art Space, debut appearance in this art fair; Indonesia is represented by REDBASE Contemporary Art, first-time participant, which will be showcasing an amazing interesting sculpture at the main entrance of the exhibition hall (you will be impressed!)
Foreign Asian exhibitors include Hong Kong’s Chit Fung Art that represents top-notch level Chinese ink masters such as Jia Youfu, Pan Gongkai etc; Korea’s Zoom Gallery, in collaboration with Nine Gallery, presents fascinating works of strong Korean identity. Meanwhile, from Japan, besides the frequent exhibitor LSD Gallery, two other galleries namely Gallery UG and SHINSEIDO will be joining for the first time. From Taiwan, the 91-year-old Taiwanese Chinese ink Grandmaster Prof. Li Chi Mao will be exhibiting few pieces of recent works.
Spain’s ATR Gallery booth is visitors’ all-time-favourite booth. Be mesmerized by the latest works of Spanish sculptor Jesus Curia, and pieces by Spanish master Joan Miro, and if lucky enough, if not sold yet, pieces by Picasso!
There will also be an Embassy Zone, which sees participation from 13 Embassies, i.e. Argentine, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, France, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, Philippines, Romania, Russia (debut appearance). Each Embassy proudly represents one selected solo artist from its country.
In addition, there will be the National Exhibition of China, presented by the Ministry of Culture China, that showcases 3 to 4 Chinese contemporary ink artists, at a huge exhibition area of 420 sqm. On the other hand, the usual China Pavilion will shrink down in size, having 5 different groups participating only, so that the China representation isn’t too overwhelming.
Art Expo Malaysia is under the Royal Patronage of Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Perlis, DYTM Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra ibni Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail, and DYTM Tuanku Hajjah Lailatul Shahreen Akashah Khalil. “We, as the Royal Patron, have watched over the growth of the Art Expo Malaysia, and are proud of its achievements and progress. As year goes by, we see better quality of artworks and even masterpieces by some of the most famous names in the art world, we see increasing visitorship and most importantly the increasing awareness towards art appreciation in the public, we see increasing media coverage on the Expo be it locally or abroad as it is worth reporting about, we see participation from more countries, we see a higher sales of artworks recorded, just to mention a few. It is achieved via the hard work and painstaking effort by the organisers, where they overcome daunting challenges and obstacles, keep on striving to improve on the quality of the Expo in every aspects to meet international expectation. This is the Malaysian fighting spirit. We hope the organisers would keep on adding new programmes and come up with interesting attractions, in order to value-add and also to make the Art Expo Malaysia something special that the art enthusiasts, whether at home or abroad, are keen to visit every year. The Art Expo Malaysia has definitely brought the visual arts industry in Malaysia a big leap forward. Syabas!”
Fair Director Sim Pojinn said, “Art Expo Malaysia promotes Malaysia Art in an international art platform, promoting local galleries and artists world widely, educating the public about art appreciation and art investment, promoting arts to a wider community (via intensive marketing) thus nurturing the interest towards arts in them, bolstering Kuala Lumpur as an important art hub in South-east Asia that is active in art commerce and art development, as well as networking within the community. Following last year’s success of recording RM 16.9 million sales of artworks and a visitorship of 24,200 people, we hope to achieve a greater success while we improve from different aspects.”
Founder Datuk Vincent Sim said, “Looking at current economy situation, where share market is uncertain, property market is slowing down, it’s a good time for investors to seriously look into the art market. It is buyer’s market now, good time to start collecting, the earlier the better, as the saying, Appreciate Art, Art Appreciates! Art Expo Malaysia is the right place to start your art collecting journey.”
Project Director Sim Polenn said, “Come with your family and friends, the Art Expo promises to be a good Arty experience for all, don’t miss it, come and have fun, have a good quality time admiring Arts, and acquiring Arts!” At the same time, Polenn also emphasized on a point, “Buy art because you like it; if there is investment return, that’s a bonus!”
Free Admission to Art Expo Malaysia. For more information, please contact 03-7728 3677 / [email protected] or log on to www.artexpomalaysia.com
