After celebrating his 80th birthday with a grand exhibition of 80 works at the Art Center in January, Malang treats art enthusiasts to a rare public viewing of his vintage collection at West Gallery (SM Megamall) starting March 9. Featured are seven works done in 1967 and one work done in 1975. This special exhibition is ongoing until March 25.
None of the works will be for sale, but the exhibit, featuring pieces that will be for public viewing for the first time, does remind both young and old viewers alike of Malang’s older painting strokes, and how he has evolved as an artist four decades later. Still a novice at painting at the time, Malang surely was learning fast. He admits to being largely self-taught, often consulting his more experienced peers when he needed their expertise. His background as a layout artist and cartoonist is evident in the way he composes his designs and uses color, artfully making use of every inch of space in the frame as he shows us his preference for abstraction early on.
While women eventually became one of his more prominent subjects in later years, Malang burst onto the art scene with an eye for landscapes. He saw the city in a different light, preferring to focus on the lighter side and the bigger picture, using colorful patterns of houses built close together in his early barung-barong series. In one of the works, Malang places a woman figure in the foreground, as if giving audiences a glimpse of the things to come. The subjects reflect what Malang saw and felt at the time he started painting them, markedly playful and indicative of the sunny disposition Malang would be known for when he talked about how he would go about painting. He would describe it so briefly, as if it would come naturally to him, always enthusiastic about learning to use new techniques and materials.
This exhibit also gives viewers a chance to see how Malang used materials like ink, oil, and tempera (or gouache, the medium he would soon master) back in the day. He professed mastering oil only in recent years, and it would be interesting to see how he began using oil in the mid-60s and mid-70s, demonstrating a talent he would continue to hone for many years and a deep commitment to the arts that serves as an example to younger artists today.
