Presented by DMR Productions and The Old Parliament House.

About CausewayEXchange

CEX is a joint arts and culture initiative between Singapore and Malaysia that aims to serve as the premier exchange platform between the arts and creative communities of both countries.

MINDSCREEN BY JEGA RAMACHANDRAM

Mindscreen is part of Jega’s “human watching” series which was the result of many years of people watching. His first in black/white ink on canvas was exhibited in his first solo show at Petronas. Subsequently he painted seven males and seven females based on the day they were born, in watercolour, giving birth to Mindscreen. He then decided to reduce the usual three feet size paintings to a few centimeters, putting to test his belief that size is only a perception that the regular mind feels comfortable; an experiment to break the mindset of the regular and seeing miniatures with the same seriousness as they would, when they viewing a larger pieces. Unlike visual light wash common in watercolour, the colours are strengthened and its intensity enhanced resulting in a vibrant display that’s attention seeking and captivating.

Jega’s work is priced for their originality and unique symbolic nature. As art writer Anuverendra Jegadeva summarizes “Jega’s work does not seem to fit any of the ‘isms’ or directions within current Malaysian paintings, but employ the element of many: figurism, surrealism, pattern and decorations, primitivism, cubism, orientalism and occasionally expressionalism, all of which marries very harmoniously within the sanctuary of what is best described – if you can forgive the irresistible pun – kind of mystical realism!”