This beautifully and intelligently hung exhibition brings together a diverse range of sculpture from six Malaysian contemporary artists. When invited to participate in the exhibition the artists were asked to contribute their work under the title ‘Formative’. As Beverly Yong, the gallery’s curator says, this title was chosen because it was ‘deliberately ambiguous’. In putting the exhibition together, Beverly did not want to squeeze Malaysian sculpture into a specific genre or type and intended the exhibition to be more of a ‘survey’ than a forced grouping of common themes. If there are similarities, these are more a co-incidence than an intention.

As well as being ambiguous in its nature, the title ‘Formative’ implies the exploration of space and form – whether this be through the use of light, contrasting materials, suspended objects, or the interweaving of everyday domestic materials within abstract sculpture. And exploration is something this innovative exhibition definitely achieves.

On entering the gallery one immediately notices the work of Ramlan Abdullah. Ramlan is a winner of numerous national and international art awards and has really established himself at the forefront of contemporary sculptural practice in Malaysia. His latest series of work, Built Form (2003), was commissioned for the exhibition and consists of a series of narrow oblong shaped glass boxes that incase an array of domestic and functional glass objects – such as wine glasses. The boxes have been placed at the front of the gallery next to the large window and the strong play of light against the glass effectively emphasizes the interplay between form and space and the interdependency of the two. In the past Ramlan has worked with a range of materials, from metal to concrete, to fibre-optics, to resin and stone. When asked why he chose glass as his main medium for this exhibition, he replied that working with glass and all its fragility makes one very aware of the ‘process of forming’ and the ‘calculative measurements’ that one has to make when working with such a material. This in turn helps us to move ‘towards a closer understanding of form and what this constitutes’.

Built Form, with its square, angular boxes that encase rounded glass objects also touches on another theme in Ramlan’s work – that of the geometric versus the organic and the duality that this creates. This duality can also be seen in some of Ramlan’s other work that is on display. With Come Together (2003), there is a great tension between the hard-edged metallic shape that acts as a backdrop to the sculpture and the soft painted circular forms that have been transposed on to the metal.

Ramlan’s work is surrounded by Tengku Sabri Ibrahim’s hanging works that are suspended in space throughout the gallery. Again these large and yet delicate wire shapes exploit the use of light and have been hung in such a way that they throw fabulously shaped shadows against the gallery walls. Vaste and yet weak and shell like in their structure, these sculptures play with what is and what is not. The shadows they create are impermanent and continually evolving and through the delicacy of the materials used to create these somewhat amorphous shells, one is struck by the fragility of things.

Fragile and impermanent is a word that cannot be associated with Raja Shahriman’s work. Shahriman’s series of sculptures are wrought in heavy iron and have an immediate and violent presence within the gallery. With work on display from his landmark series, Gerak Tempur (1995), Shahriman has created a tribe of abstract figures who are aggressive, sharp and war-like in their stance wielding pointed knives at all angles. These are both powerful and yet disturbing in their aggressive nature.

Whilst his contemporary, Sharmiza Abu Hassan, also uses pointed domestic objects, violence and aggression are the last things intended by Sharmiza. Her work consists of a fascinating series of sculptors that use and re-mold recognizable domestic objects. Each sculptor makes innovative and thoughtful use of domestic home implements. In some, we see the base of a wok being used to create the main foundation of the sculptor, whilst in others there are beetle nutcrackers, knives and compasses. As Sharmiza says, she ‘wanted to show that sharp objects do not have to be violent or aggressive and can have another meaning.’ By interweaving these domestic objects into her thoughtful and unique work, Sharmiza firmly locates herself both within her past and everyday life, illustrating the journey between her work as an artist and teacher and her role at home as a wife and mother.

Domestic objects seem to be far from the mind of Terry Law and her sculptures are both brave and eclectic and seem to challenge the viewer of all conventional pre-conception. A range of Terry’s work is on display, but her suspended piece, R&D (2003), has the most immediate impact on the viewer. Hanging mid-air, R&D is striking in both its starkness and angularity. Made of steel, steel cables, shackles and pulleys, R&D, plays on the tension between gravity and anti-gravity and is fascinating to watch. With its striking simplicity, R&D strips form down to its bare bones – to space and matter and no more. As Terry says, this work intentionally defies our need to classify and interpret - ‘Instead of proclaiming its meaning, this sculpture frustrates readings, blurring our intellectual need for identification.’

Somewhat more conventional, but no less aesthetically striking is the work of Chin Wan Kee. Wan Kee works in bronze and focuses primarily on the human figure. His raw, thin and distorted figures from his earlier works, Familiar Stranger (1996), remind one immediately of the European early twentieth century sculptor and painter, Alberto Giacommeti. In his most recent series, Modern Primitive, which is based on a series of tribal masks and carvings, Wan Kee explores the relationship between the modern and the primitive and whilst there is a powerful and awesome strength to these pieces there is also something immensely peaceful to the masked faces – so much so that I would have liked to have taken one home with me.

With Formative, The Willie Valentine Fine Art Gallery has brought together an exhibition of sculpture that is both refreshing and uninhibited. Free from cliché and stereotype this exhibit proves that Malaysian contemporary sculpture has a strong and independent voice and is well watch watching for the future.