M13 by Haffendi Anuar – About a City

 Embedded in M13 is  a poet’s calling – Charles Baudelaire, credited with coining the term “modernity” (modernité) to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility art has to capture that experience has, advocated artists to flock to the city, the concentration of modernity and be inspired by contemporary life rather than delving in reproducing the past.

 Artists are (until we are proven wrong) consciously and subconsciously in tune with their environment, absorbing everything around while being absorbed into it at the same time. M13 is a portrayal of one such mind – Haffendi Anuar, a sculptor who has so subtly recreated the city he lives in.

M13 is a portrayal of the standardization of our lives, be it in buildings, shapes, forms and perception. With pre-fabricated materials in this body of work, observations of standardized objects that surround us in everyday life are connected to the uniform ‘architectural objects’ that house the majority of the population today. 64 sculptures have been created – grills, support pillars , blocks and window, all representing Haffendi’s interpretation of the city are constructed from store-bought and found melamine bowls to the geometric paneled.

For example, each Piloti pillar is made up of bowls, mugs and saucers connected by a rod and held together by puttyfilla and sand. Enamel paint is applied 50-100 times, sanded between layers to create an aged effect.

Be greeted to a miniature city when visiting M13, imagine walking through the blocks, metal frames, grilled windows and colourful pillars. Enjoy the details of the interpretation and creation of these everyday sceneries. Finally, when you step out to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, see if the environment may seem different now.

M13 By Haffendi Anuar

15 – 3 0 April 2015

RK Fine Art

2 F-3, Level 2 Bangsar Village II

Jalan Telawi 1, Bangsar Baru Kuala Lumpur 59100, Malaysia