A Thousand Words by Malaysian artist and Magicbird co-founder C. K. Koh
PUBLISHED March 10th, 2015 07:11 am | UPDATED June 17th, 2020 06:09 pm
Albert Einstein is believed to have said, ‘Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.’ Regardless if one is an adult or a child, that ticket to everywhere is often found stuck between the pages of a good book, but a new series of three exhibitions to be held at SPRMRKT from 26 March to 18 August will focus on the unsung heroes of the imagination – book illustrators.
The exhibitions will be held in conjunction with the Singapore launch of non-profit children’s book publisher Magicbird Publishing and organised by SPRMRKT and Galerie Steph. The series will coincide with the Asian Festival of Children’s Content happening from 30 May to 6 June.
‘Depending on where you are in the CBD, the fast and furious pace can get in the way of imagination and creativity. We hope that by showing these works – many of which are amazingly illustrated – people will be inspired,’ said SPRMRKT co-owner Quek Sue-Shan.
The series will begin with Malaysian artist and Magicbird co-founder C. K. Koh whose illustrations are influenced by manga, pop culture and Western fairy tales. C.K. has illustrated two picture books which feature his signature box-head characters. He will be followed by Malavika PC from Tamil Nadu whose illustrations are in a book by Ken Spillman, one of Australia’s most prolificwriters of children’s books. The final exhibition will be by multiple-award-winning Malaysian artist Khairul Azmir Shoib whose works have been exhibited around the world.
The exhibitions will feature a mix of the artists’ personal works and those created for Magicbird’s books. Pop-up book sales will be held at SPRMRKT on the opening weekend of each exhibition. A reading of The Magic Bird, written by Ken Spillman and illustrated by Malavika, will also be held. Under its Wisdom Club Programme, Magicbird Publishing channels its profits towards literary and reading projects.
About C.K. Koh:
C.K. studied in the UK and is currently a senior lecturer at the One Academy, Malaysia’s award-winning college of art and design. He has exhibited widely across Southeast Asia. Influenced by manga and pop culture as well as Western fairy tales, he first created his signature Box Head character as a response to the myth of Pandora’s Box. Becoming a father led C.K. to take his ‘search for hidden hope amongst the monstrous, grotesque and ugliness of our imperfect world’ into the world of children’s books, and to the creation of Box Boy and his
quests for answers. C.K. lives in Kuala Lumpur.
This event is running from Thursday, 26 March to Tuesday, 26 May at SPRMRKT.
For more information, please click [here](http://www.sprmrkt.com.sg/).
