GEORGE TOWN, Aug 22 — The art exhibition based on the number 7, “TU7OH”, at the Hin Bus Depot which ended successfully last month will now make its way to Temu House in Petaling Jaya.
The exhibition, featuring seven artworks by seven artists, saw 30 out of the 49 artworks on show sold by the end of the exhibition on July 31.
Its curator, Ivan Gabriel, said the opening day of the exhibition at Hin Bus Depot saw over 3,000 visitors and they continued to get a steady stream of visitors throughout the duration of the exhibition.
“We got huge crowds on most weekends and we continued to get sales up to the last day where we got buyers who wanted to pay and take the works back with them immediately,” he said.
“TU7OH”, as its title suggests, is a fun exploration of what the number means to the seven participating artists.
The seven are Aboud Fares, bibichun, ERYN, Esther Geh, Mandy Maung, Maizul Affendy and White Bones.
Each artist presented works of different mediums and their own interpretations of the meaning behind the number seven.
Aboud said the whole “TU7OH” collection was like one piece that was broken into seven parts where the harmony between the parts revolved around the visual connection in terms of colour, form and movement.
Aboud presented a set of sculptures titled Bagged. The fibreglass sculptures were of black garbage bags hanging within their frames with imprints of heads inside the bags.
ERYN said the exhibition showed her that it was possible for seven artists of different styles to use different mediums to hold a group show together.
Her works, titled Tribulations, were of multi-layered paper cutouts which tells the story of strength in overcoming trials and tribulations.
Meanwhile, Geh said the diversity in the artworks made the exhibition more accessible to a large audience.
“I have also come away from discussions with various viewers, with a deeper understanding and broader view of the narrative for my works, and also that for many, there is a strange synergy to the collection in spite of our very individual interpretations of ‘TU7OH’,” she said.
Geh, often known for her botanical paintings, produced paintings of local plants titled Of Limited Palette with features that related to the number seven.
With the exhibition heading to Temu House on September 9, the artists have also produced new works since most of the artworks exhibited in Penang were sold.
“All of the artists are bringing new works for next month’s exhibition... there are at least 20 new works,” Ivan said.
The artists are excited to exhibit their works in Petaling Jaya, with some of them having already completed their new works to showcase there.
“I’m excited to show seven pieces of my RABAK series that are very personal to me, these pieces were kept too long in the studio since the pandemic and lockdowns in Malaysia,” said Maizul.
Maung said the exhibition in Temu House is a great stepping stone for Penang artists to expand and showcase their works to new audiences.
“I can only hope that the KL audience enjoy and support the exhibition as much as the Penangites and visitors did in July,” she said.
Bibichun, who presented Ultraman 7 — consisting of minimalist wooden sculptures — is expected to bring more fun sculptures for the show in Temu House as all of the Ultraman 7 sculptures were sold out in Penang.
“TU7OH” was part of George Town Festival 2022.
The “TU7OH” exhibition in Temu House will be from September 9 to October 2. It is open from 10am to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays while visits on weekdays will be on an appointment basis.
