Artist-in-Residence Exhibition by Forrest Wong & Jaymar Valdoria
Exhibition run until 10 March 2024
Kapallorek’s Artist in Residence (AiR) program is a unique opportunity for artists to immerse themselves in a creative environment, engage with a new community, and develop their artistic practice. This program aims to provide artists with dedicated time, space, and resources to explore their ideas, experiment with new techniques, and produce work that reflects their unique vision. Selecting artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, the AiR program seeks to foster a dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives, enriching the cultural landscape and stimulating creative dialogue within the community especially in Seri Iskandar, Perak.
Through this initiative, artists are encouraged to draw inspiration from their surroundings, interact with local residents, and contribute to the vibrant tapestry of artistic expression. The AiR program is a testament to our commitment to support and nurturing the creative process, and we are excited to present our two talented artists, Forrest Wong from Penang, Malaysia and Jay Mar Valdoria from Quezon, Philippines to join us in this enriching and transformative experience.
Forrest Wong is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in the interconnectedness between the body and personal history or living experiences, using his intuitive imagination that challenges conventional boundaries. He hope to offer a space for introspection and reflection, creating a counterpoint to the rationality and noise of social happenings. By observing and gather fragments from his everyday life, he weaving them into otherworldly realms that consist of dialogues and transitions between his own imagination and a hint of reality. He constantly shift between drawing, writing, and performance art, with his own intuition to determine which medium critically reflects on the experiences that are significant to him. This approach has resulted in a body of work that is visually evocative and emotionally resonant. He is happy to encourage the notion of play and at the same time introspection, inviting viewers to explore the irrational and nonsensical.
Jay Mar Valdoria embedded his work with everyday life experiences with his social surrounding as well with his own perspective. Experimenting with painting, found object, digital media, audio-video and photographs printing on different surface layering format, his work involve and influenced by where he is and what is his surroundings. By observing, he can be very emotional towards something. His new perspective captured in photo works, regular sceneries in Malaysia that show the diversity of the local people, lifestyles, culture and religions, because for him to understand the culture and the society is to observe and look their surroundings. It also serve as a memories capturing what was now and may be not in the future.
The ‘FIRST’ word keeps popping up whenever they have their conversation. This is where both artists from different countries first met in this first batch of residency program. It was the first time for both artists to join a residency program in the first month of the year. It is definitely an exciting beginning for them to delve into their art making in a place they first encountered. ‘First’ is defined as coming before all others in order, time, amount, quality or importance. It is important for them to share their ideas and stories in a work of art by following their first thought while starting to develop and expand it to other possibilities. The intuitive thoughts may be silly in the beginning but they believe that by taking the first step to explore it, it will become something inspiring. ‘LAST’ mostly means as some specific activities continue for a specific period of time. Once the idea became a piece of art, the story behind it stayed but somehow the audience might carry part of it and evolve into some feeling, thinking or emotion that might last for a while. Nothing can last forever, but before something vanishes little by little, they cherish that they meet, they share, they continue to create in the path of art journey.
Overall, the first AiR program by Kapallorek encompasses a wide array of activities, including artistic innovation, community empowerment, interdisciplinary collaboration, and experiential learning, all contributing to the enrichment of cultural and social landscapes. It serves as a reflection of the program’s success in achieving its objectives and the potential for continued growth and development. In conclusion, the AiR program serves as a catalyst for artistic exploration, community engagement, and cultural enrichment. The residency program not only benefits the participating artists by providing them with dedicated time and resources to develop their practice but also enriches the community by facilitating meaningful interactions and collaborations. As the program continues to evolve, it is essential to recognize its role in nurturing artistic talent, promoting cultural exchange, and fostering a deeper appreciation for the arts. Looking ahead, the residency program holds the potential to further strengthen the bonds between artists and the community, creating a legacy of artistic excellence and cultural impact.