Nine of the 12 women exhibiting at HERstory (clockwise from front left): Beatrice Oh, Lau Wai Leng, Chryssie Ng, Agnes Lau, Denise Wong, S C Chin, Anne Koh, Dominica Claribelle and Amy Nazira (Photo: Art+ Contemporary)
Would you buy art dispensed by a machine? It might raise eyebrows but artists have picked up on the idea. At Art Basel Hong Kong in 2013, Malaysia’s Ivan Lam debuted one such contraption, called COMA 38/500, stocked with works by other local creatives.
Now, Art+ Contemporary’s founder and curatorial director June Cheong is doing the same at its latest show, HERstory: Art in Every Form, the second edition of an exhibition she initiated last year to celebrate International Women’s Month.
Cheong is determined to give people something to remember or talk about whenever they visit her gallery. One way is to redefine art accessibility. After all, she says, “If we never try, we will never know”.
The collaborative art vending machine, filled with works by various artists, allows people to take home “a tangible memory of creativity and soul”, with the swipe of a card. Selections include collectible puzzles of S C Chin’s The Louvre and Anne Koh’s zebras with fluid stripes; cute stained-glass cats and dogs that Chryssie Ng transformed into suncatchers; and Dominica Claribelle’s small portraits of women that are big on motherhood in different cultures.
These works, affordable — they range from RM70 to RM380 apiece — attractive and accessible, encourage conversation and offer a fresh and meaningful way to engage with art.
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Within the Art+ space at Bangsar Village II, Kuala Lumpur, other exhibits speak in different voices, each telling a part of HERstory, which opened on March 1. Agnes Lau’s precise pencil strokes create geometric symphony and optical illusion. Kumari Nahappan sculpts nature’s harvest using bronze and Denise Wong takes the viewer into dreamscapes where reality and surrealism collide.
Datuk Sharifah Fatimah Zubir, the “grand dame of Malaysian art”, evokes motion and emotion with vibrant, multihued strokes on canvas. In contrast, Tofu Sze Yu’s ethereal compositions lure one to wander into the unknown.
Artist and illustrator Beatrice Oh brings Peel, the titular character who slips out of Banana’s shadow in her children’s book, to life with 3D sculptures, poetry and mixed-media compositions.
Lau Wai Leng’s still-life studies of everyday items — straw hats, toys, vegetables and animals — are detailed and realistic, yet whimsical. And Amy Nazira, inspired by painter/sculptor Fernando Botero’s voluptuous, exaggerated figures, paints women raw and real, with stories hidden behind their innocent gaze and curves.
Together, the 12 artists from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia welcome visitors to move from brushstrokes to the soft folds of sarong and kebaya, trace the sculpted edges of chilli peppers, or be charmed by the Swarovski crystals adorning Lisa — a character Chin introduced with The Louvre last year, now back in another series — to experience how women are experimenting and redefining contemporary art.
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Doing things differently with creative output and the gallery space itself enables Cheong to speak to a different audience. “Crazy” or “risky”? She is unfazed.
“If we make money, it’s a blessing. If we don’t, it’s like marketing. When we pay for an advertisement, we don’t know if it can or cannot [work], right? If we don’t try, we won’t know.”
What Cheong knows for sure is there are ups and downs in promoting and selling art, which she is “privileged to have grown up in”. Her love for it developed over time, and when one chapter closed, another opened, she found.
Her mother, Margaret Lim, was in the art business for close to 30 years; her last venture was running Art Accent gallery, also at Bangsar Village. “After she passed away in 2021, I took a break. Coming back to the scene by opening Art+ Contemporary in 2023 is very personal for me because I was brought up in it.”
Lim, who learnt the ropes from working in a shop that made prints, framed artwork and retailed them, had sold her business around 2000 after falling ill. But when she returned to it in 2007, Cheong joined her and they became a tag team.
“She knew what I liked and I knew what she did, and we had good debates about artists and their work. Mum and dad started Art Deco & Frame, their first outlet, at KL Plaza [on Jalan Bukit Bintang] in 1990. From there, the business evolved from prints to limited-edition prints to original works.
“Those days, young artists were new to the business. They came to her and asked, ‘You think my work can sell?’ So, she chose what she wanted to promote and started selling it. She had an eye for art — along with business sense — and sort of knew what was the next thing coming.”
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Mother and daughter were friends and business partners, an unusual combination, she thinks. “We were each other’s pillar of strength, a perfect match,” adds Cheong.
Their approaches to running a gallery differed, though. While Lim was focused on retail, Cheong enjoys curating shows that draw people in. “I would like to add a little bit more, like perhaps how I curate the space to bring out what is unique about the artists’ creations.”
Taking local talent abroad to show what they are doing is part of her plans. Last year, Art+ took part in its first fair, Art Jakarta, where “we had very good feedback. And, the Indonesians got to see a different set of Malaysian artists”.
Art has been a long and interesting journey for Cheong, who is constantly looking for new talent. “Hopefully, they see the vision of the gallery, too, and [come along] with us.”
Having shared the better part of her mother’s art journey, what does she think Lim would have said today?
“If she were here, I think she would be proud of me. She would also see I have achieved what I wanted.”
HERstory: Art in Every Form runs until April 20 at Art+ Contemporary, Level 2, Bangsar Village II, KL. Viewing by appointment only. Call (012) 312 2783.
This article first appeared on Mar 10, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
