Faizal Yunus – Unprecedented Order

Richard Koh Fine Art (RKFA-KL) is pleased to announce Malaysian artist Faizal Yunus’ (b. 1989) solo exhibition in Malaysia. Unprecedented Order is scheduled to run from 1 – 17 April 2021 at Richard Koh Fine Art, No. 34-1, Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The artist will present paintings and sculptures in this exhibition with Richard Koh Fine Art.

In Unprecedented Order, Faizal presents works created in response to the pandemic in tandem with his underlying pursuit of understanding life; both as beautiful and harsh. In an attempt to reflect the uncertainty of today’s world, Faizal begins his visually arresting paintings by instinctively crumpling the canvas to form valleys of unexpected shapes. Invoking a sense of personal nostalgia and reverie, he adopts the technique of automotive painting, a skill he acquired while working in an automobile workshop during his time in university to make ends meet. The works exude a sense of structure within an unpredictable artistic process.

This exhibition stands also as a marker in Faizal’s practice as he transitions from paintings to sculptures – furthering his enquiry into finding that space between structure and turmoil. Though the sculptures accentuate contrast to his paintings, the artistic entry point for him remains steadfast and true.

The works come together as a reminder of humans’ need for structure and order and also nature’s unpredictability. To rise above the unexpected circumstances placed on us is what gives life purpose.

Faizal Yunus (b.1989, Malaysia) is a Malaysian based artist who works mainly in printmaking, painting and installation. He graduated in Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mara University of Technology (UiTM) in 2012 with a major in printmaking. Faizal has been drawn towards nature as he grew up in such a surrounding that has helped him nurture a unique imagination and interpretation of the greenery around him. Autonomy has driven him to believe that the egalitarian society is a vital key to which he adapts the banal practices of everyday life into his art-making-process.

For his first solo exhibition Matrix (2016), he began looking at his daily life for inspiration as he sought to break free from the limitations of the common art materials. Vortex (2018), revolved around his journey to find different perspectives on causes that pushed him to his decision making, it serves as his poetic statement on the current state of pollution that surrounds us and the human role of undoing the beauty within our landscape.

His awards include MEAA 2019 (Malaysian Emerging Artists Award), organized by HOM & Galeri Chandan, Kuala Lumpur. He also completed the Southeast Asian Artist Residency Program at Rimbun Dahan, Selangor, Malaysia in 2018. Selected exhibitions include Malaysian Art, A New Perspective, (2017), Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and S.E.A. FOCUS 2020, Gillman Barracks, Singapore.