Artist Tang Tze Lye's intriguing journey captured at Wei Ling Gallery

THE works of artist Tang Tze Lye is currently being showcased at Wei-Ling Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. Titled "It's Been a While, and I'm Finally Here…", it's the 33-year-old's first solo exhibition with the gallery.

The talented Tang was one of two artists selected to participate in the first edition of the WLG Incubator Young Artists Mentorship Programme in 2020. The WLG Incubator, an initiative by Wei-Ling Galleries, was launched as a platform to highlight and collaborate on projects with emerging Malaysian artists.

It's dedicated to helping artists create a sustainable art practice, which in turn allows them to develop their confidence towards making art that's authentic, experimental and progressive. Through this Incubator, the gallery hopes to discover and nurture artists and projects, which are critical towards shaping the voice of the next generation.

This new series is a culmination of Tang's experimentations surrounding the themes that he has always been drawn to: the body, identities, and beauty. The main artworks, taking form as a combination between painting and sculptures, once again express one's journey of finding his true identity.

Pink is a colour that predominates this series, as it not only represents femininity, but also serves as a sign of birth and power, which the artist uses to challenge conventional views surrounding gender.

The series also sees the artist placing himself out of his comfort zone as a painter, by adopting ready-made materials such as tissue rolls made into a paper pulp mixture, as well as plastic containers, inspired by the mundanity of life under the lockdown.

To the artist, there's something poetic behind transforming these everyday objects into sculptures, as it mirrors the repetition and meditative processes that mark his practice and life.

PERSONAL STRUGGLES

 Tang Tze Lye, I Am Not Alone I (2021), Tissue pulp, gouache, pencil, vermillion red pigment, mural paint.
Tang Tze Lye, I Am Not Alone I (2021), Tissue pulp, gouache, pencil, vermillion red pigment, mural paint.

Multiple plastic containers are combined together, and enveloped by paper pulp before being painted over, with lines that suggest facial features such as the eyes, the nose and the mouth. Inspired by primitive masks, these faces look abstract, symbolising the beauty that lies within imperfection, as well as the natural metamorphosis of our facial features.

Instead of a mask, I am not alone III (2021) transforms the same materials into a clock, emphasising his slow process of art-making; starting from conceptualising the work, continuously arranging the containers, to experimenting with the colour pigments.

The clock is somehow his attempt at materialising and reclaiming the time spent on the making of these objects, which are deeply personal to him. These materials also find themselves repeating in the mixed media work, Thing Happens I Could Never Imagined (2021), whereby the artist constructed a three-metre composition inspired by the cityscapes.

This dynamic arrangement is covered by a transparent acrylic box, which bears a neon sign of the artwork title. As an artist, Tang's work goes beyond autobiographical; therefore, the phrase has a dual meaning in regards to the theme of gender.

Firstly, it refers to his personal struggles as a non-binary person, and secondly, it evokes his feelings about how gender-fluid individuals are being treated in society — experiences that he could never imagine, which are unfortunately out of his control.

His bold provocative works also shed light on the idea of loving one's own body, while bringing up the issue of "body-shaming", a form of bullying that exists, yet is often disregarded in our society.

 Tang Tze Lye, Refreshing II, Gouache, pencil, vermillon red pigment, mural paint on paper.
Tang Tze Lye, Refreshing II, Gouache, pencil, vermillon red pigment, mural paint on paper.

There's a feeling of hopelessness expressed in this work; at the same time, the light signifies a hopeful attitude towards a better future. Tang, who obtained his Bachelor's degree in painting from the MSU Baroda Fine Art University, India (2014-2015) and his Master's degree in Studio-Based Practice, from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang (2018-2021), extends his attempt at unwrapping the relationship between the body and memory, through his video work Skin (2021).

This experimental video poetically combines footage of natural lights and shadows reflected on the skin, which to him serve as symbols of memory and truth. Inspired by his favourite poet Pablo Nerunda who once wrote, "As if you were on fire from within. The moon lives on the lining of your skin", Tang once again creates a romantic and dramatic impression surrounding the body, as an inseparable element to the self.

intanm@nst.com.my

IT'S BEEN A WHILE, AND I'M FINALLY HERE…

WHERE: Wei-Ling Gallery, 8 Jalan Scott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur

WHEN: Until Feb 26, 2022.

Previews by appointment.

ADMISSION: Free

OPENING HOURS: 10am-6pm (Tuesday-Saturday) Closed on Sundays and Mondays.

CALL: +603-2260 1106 for appointment.

Related Articles