Dear Friends,
‘Beyond the Enigma’,
b/w photography exhibition by photographer KF Choy, at Jin’s Art Gallery, 10 Aug 2024 (Saturday), is a quintessential ‘Choy’ at his best. There is hardly a need by the photographer to still justify a search for identity when sensitive viewers (and there were a number of stalwarts present such the distinguished photographers Eric Peris, Shekar, Mike Plascow and writer Cyril Pereira) who would be able to discern a distinctive ‘KC Choy’ stamp. This can be gleaned from the stark minimalist abstraction of composition of lotus or the more lush landscape of countrysides.
KF Choy has, over the years, assiduously abided to his principles of mindfulness, ‘capture to print’, or his philosophy of ‘wabi-sabi’ (seeing beauty in the ordinary) to achieve a style, or if you want to describe it as ‘identity’, which is entirely his own.
First of all, what permeates in his works, is the subtle presence of integrity in the flow of essential intent and aesthetics of composition. Integrity is a precursor to spirituality, not of the overt variety but that in which the authenticity of raison d’etre comes to the fore.
This easily places KF Choy’s works in the realm of ‘serious’ art photography as opposed to the commercial, or just clicking the camera for social media. KF Choy’s involved and meticulous process of ‘birthing’ his works, is one of the conscious decisions to make the right choices from ‘capture to print’.
This is the very reason that both KF Choy and Siang Jin (the founder of Jin’s Gallery) believe in the need to ‘educate’ the public, so they may understand beyond the enigma of the photograph they are viewing. (That art is not just enigmatic but there is a hugely compelling story of ‘creation’; of making conscious decisions to arrive at creating a piece of art; from the printing process, the choice of paper, the framing and presentation etc.)
As such Siang Jin and KF Choy, have made it their mission to try and reach out to the public through the ‘story-telling’ of the articles they would write and lectures that they would give when promoting the exhibition.
The cosy and green atmosphere of Jin’s gallery is the other good story of how an individual decides to chart a path, indeed, one that endeavours to increase the social capital of the community which would contribute positively to the ‘happiness’ index of the community.
For this Siang Jin should be congratulated and praised for his individual effort to have founded Jin’s Gallery which endeavours to expose his community, easy access to the Arts and Culture.
One can sense by the manner of the detailed care of the elegant presentation of the exhibition that it is a labour of love.
May he be blessed with success!
Ramli