ASIA'S ARTISTS TO WATCH

Hong Kong's Art Month 2023 has been made especially exciting by the city's long-awaited full opening to international traveller. To celebrate, we've taken on the colossal task of identifying the region's new stars, those who we think are worth observing closely. From emerging to established, these visionaries are enriching our cultural dialogue, one work at a time.

NAJIB AHMAD BAMADHAJ
MALAYSIA

Najib Ahmad Bamadhaj was always attracted to beautiful things, but it never occurred to him that he could make a career out of art until he set foot in a museum on the Malaysian island of Langkawi and found himself in a state of complete awe. Art, the representation of something beautiful and meaningful, became everything to him. His favoured method of conveying art is through painting, using acrylics, bitumen, charcoal, wood panels and fabrics.

Bamadhaj's focus is on Pop art, and he thus finds it imperative to use quick-drying acrylics; wood panels also come into play in his animal paintings, which he says "makes sense, as wood comes from trees and is the animals' home". Adding another layer to the symbolism, he uses wood panels recycled from old Malay houses.

His subjects have ranged from women to animals - and now flowers. Behind these nature-inspired paintings stand messages that revolve around Malaysia and its politics.

To Bamadhaj, art's role is to represent issues and deliver messages, and in creating his works he responds to his surroundings. To avoid stagnation, he's constantly on the lookout for new subjects that fit his current vision, in hopes of sparking conversations and igniting actions.

Bamadhaj participated in a group exhibition at TAKSU Singapore during the recent Singapore Art Week, and is currently preparing for a group exhibition in Kuala Lumpur and solo shows in Bangkok and Singapore.

CHEUNG TSZ HIN
HONG KONG