Holding Pattern – An exhibition of loneliness, estrangement and an endless 'waiting'

When you’re strange, 

Faces come out from the rain,

When you’re strange,

No one remembers your name,

When you’re strange,

When you’re strange,

When You’re strange.

~ People are Strange ~

The Doors, September 1967

THE line-up is superb: Ahmad Fuad Osman, Nadiah Bamadhaj, Luke Heng, Ha Ninh Pham, Chong Kim Chew and the late Roslisham Ismail (Ise). Each artist presents works which are the sign of our times – they are familiar, re-created and re-examined to give meaning to what our ‘now’ is.

‘Holding Pattern’ is that waiting game we all play. It does not have an end, and most of us have forgotten when it began. Maybe it has always been this way, and will remain so for a long time to come. 

Gallery owner Joshua Lim says, “In the midst of Malaysia’s second movement control order, (MCO 2.0) we present ‘Holding Pattern’. In aviation, a holding pattern is the flight path maintained by an aircraft awaiting permission to land – an operation designed to delay an aircraft that’s already in flight, while keeping it within a specified airspace. 

“This exhibition is aimed at coming to terms with both the uncertainties and possibilities of waiting – it expresses the idea of not being grounded, but of staying in motion and having a destination.”    

The title itself is intriguing, and although the idea here is being inside a plane waiting to land, it can also be viewed from an opposite angle – a plane waiting for lift-off. 

Personally, this hits close to home. I was a flight attendant for years. In a Boeing 747, a full load of passengers are over 400, excluding the cockpit and cabin crew. 

There are many times when flights are delayed. We usually inform the passengers, “Please be patient, our flight deck crew will inform us soon when we are able to take-off.” 

Or when in a holding pattern, “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats and fasten your seatbelts. We will keep you apprised, and the Captain will speak shortly.” We were trained to keep passengers calm, but it is not easy when there is one flight attendant responsible for fifty people. 

After a while, they become restless, there is agitation, babies crying, exhausted mothers, exasperated fathers, couples huddled imagining their honeymoon and people worried about making it to their connecting flights. There are also those who are eerily calm, sitting still with their seatbelts buckled so tight you’d think they were dead. 

We prepare trays of beverages and snacks, we smile until our jaws cramp, and we do our best to keep the situation contained. But there is no way to fully control everyone. 

All it takes is one person to have a full-blown anxiety attack during an air pocket (turbulence) and all goes to Hell. The sky is falling. It becomes this terrifying chain reaction, a mass hysteria and amidst the chaos, it is strange how alone you feel. You do not get used to it, and it follows you like a despicable doppelganger forever. 

And the plane is still there on the ground, or circling space. This of course does not happen on a regular basis as most passengers are frequent flyers, but when it does, you start praying to any God on rotation. 

It is a holding pattern. It is in every work in this exhibition.

Ahmad Fuad Osman’s ‘Dreaming of Being a Somebody, Afraid of Being a Nobody’ is a series of works which he began circa 2013 and as of now, there are 40 pieces and counting. The idea came to him years ago – he jotted it down and kept it in his memory bank. 

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the artist Ai Wei Wei and Bruce Lee stare at us. Using UV prints on mirror and variable dimensions, Fuad mulls on the concept of reflection, literally and figuratively. 

Take a photograph of the works and you unwittingly become part of them – that manifestation which is the opposite of you. 

Fuad’s ‘Dreaming of Being Somebody, Afraid of Being Nobody’ is stage-struck not only by social and intellectual consequences, but also by individual consciousness and character. Time here is a continuum; there is nothing neat about it.

Nadiah Bhamadaj has always been an artist I deeply respect. The first time I saw her works was at The Phillip Morris Art Awards a long long time ago, and followed her work ever since. 

The 'Anthropocene (a combination of anthropo - Ancient Greek ‘human’ and cene – Ancient Greek ‘recent’) Series 2019' describes what scientists’ debate on the current geological era controlled by human impact on Earth. 

Scientists are at loggerheads on when the Anthropocene began, but alterations in climate and terrors to biodiversity, the increase of non-biodegradable materials are all anthropogenic aftermaths. 

This series looks at landscapes from aerial views that are intemperately scarred by the human hand. Nadiah selected three positions from various parts of the planet, which have evidentiary if not permanent causation on biodiversity, an indefinite quantity in carbon emissions through deforestation, and a visual collision on the Earth’s surface.

Ha Ninh Pham’s work is a mind-twister, and seriously addictive. In ‘The Institute of Distance’, the artist creates a videogame where the player possesses the capabilities of choosing/ regenerating body parts and deciding one’s fate or destiny, resulting in being reincarnated over and over. 

‘The Institute of Distance’ is a component of an on-going project called ‘My Land’, which he started in 2017. Pham is The Creator: there are no rules but his alone. The universe he designed is an anomaly, and does not adhere to any known culture. The dominion is outside of the human realm, existing as a thought experiment of an alternative sphere. The link to this game is http://haninh.com/mylandgame.html 

Singaporean artist Luke Heng [work pictured as article's main pic] is curious about the rationale between painting, object, and picture- making. His previous practice orbits around the formulation and physical expressions of painting, his works often react to the history of painting while drawing from diverse art forms to influence his ‘plan of attack’ and noesis. 

His latest works absorb ideas of liminality, the ephemeral and transcendent space, strengthening his quiet fire with complete feeling. His family are Chinese physicians, and much of his work stems from Traditional Chinese Medicine. 

In recent years, Heng’s works have developed along two chiselled trajectories – the tralatitious oil on linen works and the second, a conceptual thread that focuses on materiality, the process of natural action, and the internal representation of painting. 

Roslisham Ismail’s (Ise) comic drawings are funny, witty, poignant and intense. There is an oecumenical spirit in his works. The ones shown in ‘Holding Pattern’ is just a sliver of the artist’s large collection but nevertheless depict his journeys, friends, strangers and places. 

In 2005, Ise and Nur Hanim (a powerful figure in our art fraternity) published sentAp!, a contemporary art magazine which gained a substantial following. Hanim says, “Over the years, Ise’s relationships with friends and collaborators from different backgrounds and disciplines had become one of the most important elements that helped develop his artistic career. 

“When A+Works of Art approached me to publish a special edition of sentAp! With support from the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, I instantly agreed without giving it a second thought.” For those who miss him, seeing his works at the exhibition brings back many memories.            

When not writing, I read because sleep often eludes, whilst smoking so much my head grew its own chimney, and I watch every single ‘doomsday’ film ever made, including the most ridiculous ones like Snakes on a Plane. But these are ridiculous times. 

But a particular quote from World War Z keeps playing over and over inside my head:-

“Mother Nature is a serial killer. No one’s better. Or more creative. Like all serial killers, she can’t help the urge to get caught. What good are all those brilliant crimes if no one takes the credit? So she leaves crumbs. But the clue’s there. Sometimes the thing you thought was the most brutal aspect of the virus turns out to be the chink in its armour. And she loves disguising her weakness as strengths. She’s a b***h.” -  The Vibes, February 28, 2021  

Exhibition February 23 - March 17 2021

A+ Works of Art

d6-G-8 d6 Trade Centre

801, Jalan Sentul

51000 Kuala Lumpur

018-333 3399

[email protected]